Show no mercy
Published Sep 15, 2022 12:02 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
That’s the Vice President talking, and she was addressing the police and warning criminal elements and terrorists.
You don’t have to belong to a terrorist organization to be feared as a terrorist. Any person, man or woman, armed with a gun – yes, that includes cops licensed to keep the peace – is presumed to be dangerous, but in the context of VP Sara Duterte’s order to the military and police, it’s the enemies of the state who must be neutralized, i.e., shown no mercy.
What a far cry from the PNP chief who announced on television last Tuesday that the police would need “six months to one year to stabilize the situation.” What? Whaaat?
Not one to read a policeman’s mind or to interpret what is clearly a futuristic appreciation of the peace and order situation, I would not dare add to or subtract words from the quote. Whatever they mean, let’s hope the VP-Madam Secretary of Education will formulate an educated guess from or consult with the chief of the national police for an accurate assessment. Perhaps the general was thinking out of the box.
Arsenio Evangelista, president of the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption who lost his son to killers who then torched him and his car, said the rising incidence of crime, despite PNP data to the contrary, means that the drugs trade is back with a vengeance. Senator Bato de la Rosa, himself a former chief of police, advised in no uncertain terms, “Upakan sila!” – I’m sure there’s a word for it in English, but it wouldn’t carry the same weight, urgency, color and texture as “upakan” with an exclamation point! It may sound like a dirty word but it isn’t, but I cannot imagine Ms. Sara saying that one word; onomatopoeic.
If criminals speak and understand only the language of crime, violence, and defiance, then we should expect the cops to go after them hammer and tongs, with the full force of the long arm of the law, dragnet and fishing net in tow, guns blazing if need be. Not, added Mr. Evangelista, with “diplomatic”-sounding threats of arrest and capture.
Are the statistics on index and non-index crime more important than the citizens’ peace of mind?
Jullie Y. Daza
That’s the Vice President talking, and she was addressing the police and warning criminal elements and terrorists.
You don’t have to belong to a terrorist organization to be feared as a terrorist. Any person, man or woman, armed with a gun – yes, that includes cops licensed to keep the peace – is presumed to be dangerous, but in the context of VP Sara Duterte’s order to the military and police, it’s the enemies of the state who must be neutralized, i.e., shown no mercy.
What a far cry from the PNP chief who announced on television last Tuesday that the police would need “six months to one year to stabilize the situation.” What? Whaaat?
Not one to read a policeman’s mind or to interpret what is clearly a futuristic appreciation of the peace and order situation, I would not dare add to or subtract words from the quote. Whatever they mean, let’s hope the VP-Madam Secretary of Education will formulate an educated guess from or consult with the chief of the national police for an accurate assessment. Perhaps the general was thinking out of the box.
Arsenio Evangelista, president of the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption who lost his son to killers who then torched him and his car, said the rising incidence of crime, despite PNP data to the contrary, means that the drugs trade is back with a vengeance. Senator Bato de la Rosa, himself a former chief of police, advised in no uncertain terms, “Upakan sila!” – I’m sure there’s a word for it in English, but it wouldn’t carry the same weight, urgency, color and texture as “upakan” with an exclamation point! It may sound like a dirty word but it isn’t, but I cannot imagine Ms. Sara saying that one word; onomatopoeic.
If criminals speak and understand only the language of crime, violence, and defiance, then we should expect the cops to go after them hammer and tongs, with the full force of the long arm of the law, dragnet and fishing net in tow, guns blazing if need be. Not, added Mr. Evangelista, with “diplomatic”-sounding threats of arrest and capture.
Are the statistics on index and non-index crime more important than the citizens’ peace of mind?