Punchline
The Chief PNP’s legacy
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
CHIEF PNP D/G Arturo Lomibao has begun singing his swan song. He will retire on July 5.
In his statements to the local media recently, he said he wants to be remembered as the chief who restored dignity in the police service.
As a fellow Pangasinense, I sincerely wish him the best and pray that he will be remembered fondly and kindly by all Filipinos whom he had served to the best of his ability. To his credit, he mobilized resources trying to improve the lot of the policemen during his watch.
Unfortunately, recent events will likely obfuscate his desired legacy.
Going into his last two weeks as chief PNP, people will long remember that the country chalked the highest number of deaths of journalists and political activists under his watch. And he had not done much to stop the killing rampage.
Under his watch, just when he made people believe that it’s possible to have a jueteng-free country, jueteng has resumed operations in his home province, with a vengeance just months into his retirement. Curiously, his uncompromising stance in enforcing his “one-strike” policy no longer appears to be there. In spite of confirmed reports from mayors that jueteng has resumed, no city/town chief of police was ever made to suffer his wrath. This only bolstered stories from jueteng operators themselves that it’s the period for “fund-raising” for his “despedida” gift.
So unless and until he can collar a dozen of suspects in the killing of journalists and militants and restore a jueteng-free country before he retires (and moves on as NBI director), he can forget the legacy that he dreams for himself. Sayang.
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D/G Lomibao’s attempt to belittle the implications of the number of journalists killed in the country was disturbing to say the least.
He admonished practitioners to tell the truth as if the deaths were brought about by lies. No doubt irresponsible statements have paybacks but no one deserves to be killed for them.
Then he went on to define what makes a journalist.
He doesn’t consider individuals who buy “blocktime” from radio stations and use the time for their own public affairs program as journalists, and since these, he said, comprise majority of the so-called “killed journalists”, ergo, it cannot be said that many journalists were killed under his watch. Wow!
This would be akin to saying that policemen detailed as bodyguards of politicians are not policemen but mere security guards.
That Mr. Lomibao tends to belabor what he obviously doesn’t understand only indicates his own helplessness to contain the situation. He is grasping straws for alibis to explain his organization’s inability to creditably stop the killing of journalists and militants.
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A radio/TV block-timer is no different from a newspaper publisher or columnist, or the host of a radio-network sponsored public affairs program, who reports and comments on current events.
What a block-timer simply means is he is not employed by a radio/TV station. But what he has to say on air is no less credible than what other commentators employed by radio/TV stations say.
A block-timer’s views are as good (or as bad) as any columnist or commentator but only his public can validate his credibility as a journalist. A journalist may be working fulltime or part-time as a teacher or as a businessman (in some cases shamelessly working as propagandists for politicians). These are ethical issues in the practice and the only distinction that one can attempt to make is whether a journalist is independent, fair and ethical or is he corrupt and irresponsible.
This being the case, it’s the public that passes judgment whether a journalist is credible telling the truth, whether the journalist is professional or corrupt by his statements and practice.
Certainly, it’s not for Mr. Lomibao to make those distinctions about journalism practice. His is to keep peace and order and stop the senseless killings of journalists and political activists.
Evidently, Mr. Lomibao is not even aware that journalism practice is the only practice in this country that is protected by the Constitution. Check it out!
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COMMISSIONER NIC TO THE RESCUE. We share the pride of Pangasinenses in the much-deserved appointment of Justice Nic Ferrer as a commissioner of the Commission on Appointments. In my book, he is the epitome of Mr. Clean.
And now that his appointed to a constitutional body (where one can only be removed by impeachment) has been signed, and has already perhaps expressed his gratitude to Mrs. Arroyo for the appointment, he must perforce now show his independence of mind and his dedication to public service by leading the way to a graft-free computerized automation of elections.
I join our kabaleyans, therefore, in praying that he will be God’s instrument to help make Comelec an institution that will help rebuild the country’s faith in our political leaders, that the days of Hello Garci will never be repeated, that duty, integrity and honor shall be the only motivation for Comelec to perform its mandate.
Heaven forbid that this good man will be co-opted by the system that has brought down many decent men and women to ignominious end.
Good luck Commissioner Nic, God speed!
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MAYOR BENJIE REPORTING. First the good news. Dagupan City Councilor Nic Aquino will render a report on the monies he received and the expenses incurred during the Bangus Festival on June 30!
The bad news is – it was not Councilor Aquino who made the statement but a Mr. Emi Bamba, an assistant of Mayor Benjie Lim.
Does this mean it is now Mayor Lim who will be expected to do the accounting for Mr. Aquino? Gee, who’s really working for whom?
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PSSST NO BUDGET DEFICIT NA. City hall is learning fast from its past mistakes.
For the past two consecutive years, the PUNCH has reported budget deficits in the city which the city officials adamantly denied and were wont to describe the issue merely as “shortfall” in revenue collection.
This early, the city’s finance officials are already admitting to shortfall in collections ostensibly to preempt another report that the city suffered another budget deficit.
This time, they have the city councilors in tow to complete the scenario. The onor-onors obediently cancelled a number of projects to erase the perception that the city failed to fund the projects because of budget deficit.
Smart move . . . but you guys are not fooling the public.
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