If memory served me right, the idea that a ‘pulis maynila’ is a law unto himself began in those days when the mayor had influence on who should be recruited as a policeman.
It began, I was told when one applicant had the temerity to ask how much was the monthly pay.
“Hijo,”the processing officers shot back: “Maliit lang. P5,000 monthly plus the city of Manila itself. Take it or leave it.”
That extra incentive, I was told, explains in part why not a few policemen in Metro Manila think they are a breed apart. It explains why some preferred to lead a double life: as a uniformed government wage earner on one hand and as a shady character engaged in one irregularity after another.
The times have changed. But the culture remains, embedding itself into the system.
In the case of a group of a policemen based inside Camp Crame itself, it is ‘tokhang’ with kidnapping and one unfortunate victim was former Hanjin executive Jee Ick Joo who was abducted in October last year.
It seemed that even after his family coughed out P5Million, his kidnappers robbed him of his golf set and finally snuffed out his life inside the police headquarters itself. Just like that.
Now here comes the idea that PNP director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa should resign purportedly to save President Rodrigo Duterte from further embarrassment and to restore respect to the office of the PNP. This does not wash for a number of reasons.
First, it is the unkindest act that should be thrown at the PNP chief’s doorstep at this point and time. Second, it smacks of disloyalty considering that the House Speaker (who asked that Bato resigns) was as much a part of ‘Team Duterte’ as Bato.
Third, to give credit where it is due, there is nothing wrong with the PNP as an organization. It has in fact become stronger and it is solidly behind President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs and corruption.
But as the war against drugs had shown, the basket is not without its rotten tomatoes in the form of rogue policemen. Old habits die hard and the bright side is that their true colors are being revealed slowly but surely as this administration goes on its leisurely course.
It is a problem that has stared the government in the face even when Fidel Ramos, himself a former PNP chief, became president. It was there in 2010 under PNoy’s watch when a disgruntled PNP officer named Rolando Mendoza hijacked a bus full of Hong Kong tourists at the Rizal park that ended in a carnage when he opened up with a rifle, leaving eight tourists killed and several wounded.
It was there four years later in 2015 when 44 Special Forces police rangers were slaughtered in Mamasapano in exchange for a fingertip of the terrorist Zulfiki Marwan. In both cases, nobody asked for the head of PNP chief, although both incidents clearly put the Philippines in a bad light.
In short if there is something wrong with the PNP, Gen. Dela Rosa had nothing to do with it because he merely inherited the organization. And as fate would have it, it is an organization where the rogue policemen appeared to have long been embedded into the structure, or how else would you interpret their utter disregard for life and for the organization in the furtherance of their actions.
De la Rosa was like Duterte a probinsyano cast into a bigger picture. He may appear like fumbling at the start but there is no questioning his resolve and his commitment to help rid this country of drugs and corruption.
It is certainly a tough row to hoe. And while the PNP director general may be able to pull through the cleansing of the organization given more time, Team Duterte should back him up all the way if we are to see meaningful change in the police organization. The least that the PNP head needed at this stage is to ask for his head which would be playing right into the hands of the scalawag. If that happens, kawawa si Inang Bayan. (30)
