Manila’s Finest

Dito po sa mahal kong Pilipinas, things happen for no apparent reason. 

When things do happen for a reason, the basic reason for the event is most often than not, flawed to start with. 

Let me spin you a tale about  “Manila’s Finest”, a long tradition of police brotherhood organized to serve and protect the good people of the City of Manila. 

“Manila’s Finest”, is a feel-good slogan for the long decaying status of the Philippine National Police.  The forerunner of the PNP is the PC-INP (Philippines Constabulary, Integrated National Police) which was crafted to be a military force masquerading under a so called “civilian authority”. 

Being a creation of the military, the PNP or PC-INP in not known to be a defender of the people but rather a tyrant’s tool in enforcing totalitarian rule in our fledgling democracy. 

There were no “suspects” under this ideology. In military blunt-speak, a civilian who crossed a person in authority was either considered an enemy of the state or a combatant who does not deserve human rights.  

For years, this has been the sad story state of the PNP. This has been resonated in whatever branch you might want to call it. 

Yesterday, August 23 Y2010, is another dark day for my beloved Philippines.  A Senior Police Inspector of the Manila Police Department held hostage a tourist bus with 26 souls for 12 hours. 

What was his flawed premise? He claims that the Ombudsman had no jurisdiction to hear his alleged corruption case since it was already investigated by the NAPOLCOM (National Police Commission) Internal Affairs division. 

For a member of Manilas Finest who served for 30 years prior to this incident, he sure forgot about the basics.  In my beloved Philippines, cases or complaints versus government officials are lodged through the office of the Ombudsman.  It’s S.O.P….it’s in the rule book of the Civil Service Commission.  So you see, the basic premise of his grievance if wrong. 

Perhaps he was boxed into a corner? Perhaps he flipped over the deep-end? Or maybe it was just an act of desperation for someone who felt that he has served his country well and this is what he gets a year before he retires. We will never know, for Manila’s Finest made sure that the old saying holds true once more ..“Dead Men Tell No Tales”