Punchline
Thinking the unthinkable
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE notion of change has not permeated mindsets of our province’s 1,334 barangay kapitans.
Where things stand for most, they are either still in complete denial about the impact of President DU30’s war on drugs in the country, or simply believe they are still God’s gifts to politicians to think they have the right to arm themselves on their say so.
I was aghast on receiving the report that BM Jinky Zaplan, as president of the Liga ng mga Barangay Provincial Federation, is set to ask Acting-Provincial Police Director Ronald Lee to grant them authority to carry firearms for their personal security.
Our kapitans who desperately need the blanket authority to carry guns must be identified because without a doubt, their motives are suspect. They should be on top of the police’s watch list for illegal drugs!
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FIVE REASONS FOR REJECTION. Are the kapitans thinking at all? Or being a kapitan is all that matters to them?
First of all, neither the PNP provincial director or the governor has the power to grant any individual or sector the authority to buy and license firearms. That authority lies only with police units in Camp Crame, tasked specifically to process and issue licenses for firearms. Even the President of the Philippines is required to apply for the processing and licensing and permit to carry in those two units in Camp Crame. This fact was pointed out by Sen. Ping Lacson when then President Erap Estarda was required to accomplish and submit the forms for the licensing of his guns.
Secondly, there’s no reason for PD Lee even to endorse the request knowing that, as President DU30 himself acknowledged, many kapitans are behind the illegal drug trade. Why would PNP agree to arm the kapitans, mostly suspected of protecting the drug trade in their communities, when they could use the same guns against law enforcers during legitimate buy-bust operations or implementation of search warrants?
Thirdly, the kapitans have not received any endorsement for their planned request by the governor, any mayor or board member, much less by the association of mayors of legislators. (It’d be interesting to see who would be stupid to endorse the request because that would give away the endorser’s interest in the illegal drug trade).
Fourth, the kapitans certainly have very short memory about the fate of the shotguns issued to them by Guv Spines’s administration for them to think they can be authorized again to carry firearms. Recall that the kapitans were directed by the police to surrender their shotguns for “safekeeping,” which in reality meant: the kapitans did not have the permit to possess and carry the shotguns, and, therefore not authorized. If they can’t have their shotguns back, what makes the kapitans think they can and should be issued blanket authority to possess and carry guns today? Tsk-tsk. What hubris.
And finally, as prime suspects in the operation of illegal drug trade in their communities, the kapitans must face the same risks like all other suspected drug personalities. They are public servants, as President Duterte constantly reminds all, and have no business having special privileges.
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MERE LIP SERVICE? It’s been more than four months since Ms. Zaplan filed her resolution with the provincial board directing all barangay chairmen and members of their councils to take the drug tests.
How many have complied? I don’t believe Ms. Zaplan herself knows. She has not made public any update on the expected compliance by the Liga members. In fact, Ms. Zaplan herself has not reported whether her colleagues in Sta. Barbara have fully complied.
Was it the intention of Liga and Ms. Zaplan merely to pay lip service to the war on drugs to escape accountability? If that was the intention, they seriously misjudged Mr. DU30’s determination.
But it’s still not too late to demonstrate their full support. After that resolution, Ms. Zaplan should follow it up with a frank assessment of the Liga’s members’ compliance and drop the self-serving request to be authorized to carry firearms.
If there’s anything that I hope Ms. Zaplan should seek to accomplish, it should be the public acknowledgment by Mr. Duterte that Pangasinan had the least number of barangay kapitans involved in the illegal drug trade, and Pangasinan had the most number of barangays cleared of drugs.
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BISHOPS’ CONTENTIOUS ISSUES. Finally, The PUNCH was in receipt of an update on the progress of the war on drugs in Pangasinan.
Thanks to acting-PD Ronald Lee, we’ve been provided the statistics in response to our series of questions uppermost in Pangasinenses’ minds. There is progress. (Read our headline story).
But with the constant talk by President DU30 of barangay kapitans, mayors and congressmen to be behind the illegal drug trade, many are wondering who among our officials are in the President’s three-inch thick blacklist. What is certain is the fact that inclusion of names of our local officials have been validated by our local police chiefs and the provincial police, with counter validation by PDEA!
Perhaps our Catholic and other sectoral bishops in the province will become more supportive of the war on drugs if the provincial police and PDEA can consider giving them more sensitive information about who’s who in their communities pose serious threats to all their church members.
And perhaps, if they are told who among their benefactors have been contributing drug money to their spiritual programs, they might even go for the death penalty. But until then, the impact of the war on drugs will remain an emotional contentious issue between the government and the Catholic Church, mainly.
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WALKABLE. There’s another piece of buzzword that our mayors, particularly of our four cities, can learn from Makati City.
Mayor Abigail Binay aptly referred to streets and sidewalks as “walkable streets.” What she simply means is for the city government to ensure that streets and sidewalks are made functional and safe for the elderly and the children!
For this purpose, she identified where the ‘walkable’ streets should be, and to date the city’s Department of Environmental Services have cleared targeted 272 streets in six months!
The guidelines are clear and simple: Remove all scrap materials, basketball stands, metal bars for tents, tires, wood, debris, chairs and tables of eateries and food stalls, ambulant vendors found on the streets and sidewalks.
Establishments that extend their product (clothes, bicycles, furniture, etc.) display to the sidewalks and streets are fined daily!
Let’s have more ‘walkable’ streets in Pangasinan!
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