While many are still in a euphoric state after the very successful papal visit last week, it seems reality has set in for most. The news, after covering the pope for a full week, is now filled with the usual stuff. Politics is back, the Senate is back investigating monumental acts of corruption, the fight against MRT/LRT rate hikes, why prices of most goods have remained unchanged despite the large drop in fuel prices, even China is back in the news, in a bad way for us, of course. Over the weekend, blood pressures soared as drivers had to contend with road re-blockings all over the metro. One cannot help but wish that events such as the papal visit could occur more often, if only to escape from the realities that burden us. But as the pope himself had said, reality is superior to ideas. How true.
Several stories caught my attention. One is the ongoing investigation into the supposed unpaid food allowances to policemen who served to secure the pope during his visit. Reports first came out as saying that the fund was missing. It turns out some policemen were given P2400 for supposed food allowances, but did not complete the five-day duty. Good luck trying to get them to give the money back. Those who replaced them only got P700. But the issue is that the policemen were not supposed to be given cash. According to PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor, the funds allocated were for their food while on duty. But obviously, there was a screw up on who would purchase the packed lunches, snacks, and dinners for the police. Since then, many policemen are now lining up to receive their allowance, but as I've said, it was never meant to be given out in cash. The budget officer of the Police Security Protection Group has now been suspended, while the investigation is ongoing. A blemish on an otherwise top-notch job in securing the pope. I can only hope that this is just a case of bad logistics, and not someone lining their pockets with the funds. Hopefully the PNP learns from the foul-up, and makes the necessary changes to prevent a similar situation.
The second story is the Palace admitting that they indeed received information about the pope being assassinated while in the country. Whether it would come from Al Qaeda, ISIS, the ASG could not be ascertained. This was the reason for the very tight and rigid security that the PNP, AFP, MMDA, and even the CBCP put in place for the duration of his visit. This also explains why the papal convoys were moving a lot faster than usual, and the pope did not make a lot of his well known stops while on the road. I just cannot imagine the mayhem and backlash if something did happen to the pope on our watch. I'm sure that when the pope entered his chartered plane back to Rome and took off without problems, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.