PNP attempts to
mask the trust fails

The Philippine National Police attempts to downplay the excesses in the Iloilo provincial capitol assault fell short of public expectations, and failed to satisfy the most "forgiving" citizen. Instead of seeking forgiveness from the family of Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas and the people of Iloilo, they tried to come up with a lot of explanations that could only further deepen the gravity of the mistakes committed.

"The issue is simple. Who gave the Regional Mobile Group the mallet used in destroying the rear doors of the capitol?" That was the question which a group of mediamen bantered about Saturday at the Negros Press Club. And many of these were identified as sympathetic to the administration.

In short, according to the mediamen, the RMG were equipped to wield a weapon used only in forcible destruction of padlocked room. But when it was wielded, the instruction had earlier given to use it in busting the glass cover of the rear doors of the provincial capitol.

And the most bothersome question was raised by mediamen. "How come the President who normally reacts with indignation to such incidents has yet to utter a single word about it?" Yes, that's the strangest thing. Although the majority of those at that brainstorming session believed that perhaps she may come out with a belated reaction to the incident and order an exhaustive probe and to pinpoint responsibility for the fiasco.

For it was a real fiasco that must have reddened the faces of the government officials. Instead we have Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez trying to pin the blame for the mess on Gov. Tupas and his resistance to his ouster.

He even went to the extent of blaming human rights chairman Secretary Quisumbing for viewing only the video footages of what happened. "They were not there and did not know what actually happened," was the charge of Secretary Gonzalez.

They may not have known what Secretary Gonzalez claimed he had knowledge of, but the video footages were more than enough proof that the PNP did worse than had originally been anticipated, was the point raised by Ely de los Santos.

Forthwith, Gonzalez claimed that he had information that the New People's Army had been smuggled into the capitol by truckloads and that some of the provincial jail inmates had also been issued weapons by the provincial guards and rushed to the capitol.

That argument was the one used to justify the use of long firearms by the Regional Mobile Group under Senior Supt. Pedro Merced.

Unfortunately, the Merced group barged into a capitol that had already regular policemen inside. And these had mingled with the employees sans any incident.

That did not deter the group from manhandling several of the civilians around. Some of them fell to the ground when brusquely thrown by the scruff of their necks by the burly policemen.

It is very evident that the regional police force had received a separate briefing on their mission from the PNP higher ups. Only they got caught flatfooted by the cameras of several TV stations, including even by the government station.

No, gentleman, you got caught with your pants down. The most important thing to do now is to apologize to the wronged parties and ask for their forgiveness. Trying to justify the clear violation of human rights will only deepen public suspicions that the country is now in the grip of an unannounced martial law.

The consequence of that mess remains to be assessed. But one of the most telling point is that no one can stand up to challenge Tupas for the governorship of the province. And the fallout could even affect the other pro-administration bets for elective positions.

The first casualty will be definitely be reelectionist Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. And even, if the justice secretary will run, himself for the post held by his junior, he likely will have to count his eggs by the end of the balloting.

Even Marilou Lesaca may find herself loathing to cast her bet into the third district ring or for the governorship. And even, perhaps, TESDA Secretary Augusto Syjuco may find it difficult to justify his defense of GMA and her administration.

The police may have lost the respect and admiration of the people of Iloilo and many parts of Western Visayas. And Merced and his men run the danger of getting re-assigned to Sulu to fight the better-equipped Abu Sayyaf and extremist Muslim terror groups there.*

***

Well, for the moment, the most important development is the joint venture between Negros Occidental's provincial government and the Philippine Forest Corp. to plant jatropha in 37,571 hectares of land in various parts of the province. Governor Joseph Marañon deserves congratulations for immediately unwrapping long-term held plans of biodiesel production with jatropha. This is a program that will benefit many of the province's small and poor families. And, together with the bioethanol program of the government, it will truly revolutionize the provincial economy. What is important is that it ensures diversification within the scope of the monocrop industry of the province with only jatropha as the single element introduced, although the latter is endemic in most areas of Negros Island. Let's cross our fingers that this will be the liberating development program for Negros Occidental.*

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