Punchline
Absence of basic courtesy
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
SOMETHING appears to be very wrong with the education of our police officials.
I recall the justified rage felt by then members of the provincial board when then provincial police chief PD Smiley Barba continued to snub the board’s invitations for months. Lucky for him, he got out of his stupor quickly enough. Now comes the new PD, Sr. Supt. Rosueto Ricaforte, who has not even paid a courtesy call upon assumption of his new command, and has not indicated when he would present himself to update the board about his command’s activities in response to the board’s invitation.
Since when were our police officers taught that they can willfully ignore calls by duly elected officials of the province to render reports? This is certainly a dangerous mindset by this generation’s police officials. It is impertinent of Mr. Ricaforte, at the very least, to believe he is not accountable to our board members, never mind that some of them can’t even think things through clearly like threatening to declare Archbishop Oscar Cruz as persona non grata, really a no-brainer.
Indeed, Mr. Ricaforte and his successors ought to be officially castigated and taught a lesson in basic courtesy that he and his ilk should never forget, for believing they can insult the highest legislative body in the province with a series of snubs. In this case, a declaration of persona non grata would be appropriate this time around. But will the board members do as they threaten? I’d like to believe Mr. Ricaforte would not give the board members that privilege.
In anyone’s book, a police officer called to report to civilian authority must do so promptly, without delay. As a professional public servant whose salary is paid by the people, that’s the very least professional conduct expected of him.
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BETTING IS ON. Is jueteng back in the province? The indicators say: yes, it’s back! What are these indicators, you ask.
First, the regular bettors in many towns unabashedly admit having resumed their habits with the help of their friendly kubradores who have since began collecting bets for small town lottery established in neighboring provinces.
While some mayors are now appearing and arranging press conferences “to categorically” deny the existence of jueteng operations in their respective towns, I would think that mayors who do stand in the way of jueteng need not proclaim the demise of jueteng in their territories. It’s enough that their respective communities know that alternative livelihoods have been established and offered to those affected by the disappearance of jueteng.
So far, 7 mayors bravely dared local media to verify their claims that jueteng has ceased to operate in their towns. So, we’ll see about that. The volunteers of former Archbishop Cruz would just be too happy to validate their claims this month and next month thereafter. What’s the score with the rest of the bunch?
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In towns and cities where jueteng is reported (or claimed) to have been stamped out, one would expect the unemployed kubradores trooping to politicos for alternative livelihood but that still remains unheard of in many towns today. Curiously, not even the provincial board members are echoing the urgency to provide for alternative livelihood for the supposed jobless rank and file of jueteng.
Then, we have not heard of any town police chief being called on the carpet by the provincial police. It’s too eerily quiet in the frontline…simply no reports of cat-and-mouse chase at anytime just like in the good old days when jueteng was rampant. The situation on the ground as claimed by the provincial police is too clinically clean bordering on being incredible. How is it possible that the mayors and police chiefs who’ve had it so good for years would simply fade and walk away from a lucrative retainer (translation: payola!) without attempts at resuming it? It can only mean it’s already business as usual in the towns with help from cooperative police chiefs.
I can believe jueteng has not resumed once arrests and raids and, yes, reliefs of police chiefs are reported and so far no such reports have titillated media so far.
No wonder, the PNP’s “one-strike” policy on jueteng is becoming the biggest joke in the province. Worse, Guv Spines is already being made to appear a liar.
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IS P-NOY IN CHARGE? The long debates in Congress about the Cash Conditional Transfer (CCT) program of the Aquino administration have many anti-corruption advocates astir particularly now that what was deemed an atrociously large budget for the project, all P21 billion, was not slashed, not even by one centavo!
And with reason.
The CCT program started by PGMA is ironically now the flagship project of the Aquino administration after calling her administration as one of the most corrupt. To be sure, the CCT is one program that is unlike other flagship programs in the past. It does not involve a bidding process for the implementation of the P21 billion project. It is unique in that all P21 billion will be spent and implemented on a strictly “cash-and-carry” basis by DSWD officials.
That prospect is enough to lure mayors all over the country to have a slice of that rich and hot “pizza pie” for the poor. How so? If you haven’t heard of how payroll padding has siphoned off millions of public funds in the past then you were certainly born yesterday.
Worst of all, the prospect of seeing this flagship project being milked dry has never been so high for this project all because P-Noy refuses to sign the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill as urgent. Without FOI, implementing agencies will not be compelled to make their documents public or accessible to an empowered citizenry allowing grafters and corrupt officials in local government units assisted by ingenious operators sniping off the carcass of P-Noy’s touted CCT program all year long. After all, who can name the “poorest of the poor” in their towns and barangays but the mayors and barangay kapitans.
I am beginning to wonder if P-Noy understands how the web of corruption works in this benighted land, and if he is truly in charge.
