|
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Malilong: Incident involving Dumpit
By Frank Malilong
The Other Side
I am a policeman's son. My father raised his family on the P30 he received from our municipal government every month. The money was always not enough but I never heard him complain even if the salary increases were little and far between.
By the time he retired in 1974, his monthly pay was P60. He had to retire otherwise I would not be able to review for the bar examinations in Manila. I remember the joy in his face when he handed to me the P10,000 that the Government Service Insurance System paid him as "lump sum benefits."
The Philippine National Police was unheard of during his time. There were only the local police and the Philippine Constabulary. Those were the days when policemen were underpaid, ill equipped and poorly trained. (My father walked with a limp because a clumsy colleague shot him in the leg during an operation.) But what they lacked in material resources, they more than made up for with their honesty and dedication to duty.
It therefore pains me every time I hear of a policeman being found on the wrong side of the law. My feeling is that every man in uniform who disgraces himself and his badge desecrates the memory of my father.
For the same reason, I rejoice when I hear stories about policemen standing up for what they believe is right. It was thus that I praised officer Adonis Dumpit for not backing down from a confrontation with foreign students, mostly Koreans and Japanese, who were drinking in the middle of the road. In my view, it is not just a policeman's right but also his duty to defend himself from unlawful aggression.
A number of readers disputed my position and wrote me letters, some of them nasty. I always strive to be as fair as possible but this column has no space for threats and gutter language. Those who think they can win points by threatening me are advised to shove their letters up their behinds.
Choi Jungwon (cebugarden@yahoo.
com) should serve as model for sobriety. Still on the incident involving Dumpit and the Korean students, Choi said he wrote to set the facts straight because, according to him, the version that printed in the papers came from an American teacher who was not there.
He claimed that Dumpit's car bumped and injured a Korean student and then pulled his gun, frightening the students who tried to run away. It was then that the policeman fired his gun and shouted at the students not to move. It is not true, he said, that the foreigners tried to attack the policeman, who, he claimed was drunk and even slapped the guy whom be bumped.
Choi said that there were many Filipinos who witnessed the incident and are willing to testify. If that is so, then these witnesses should be asked to execute sworn statements on what they personally know. In the meantime, we will close further discussion on the incident in this space unless officer Dumpit wants to have the last say.
(fmmalilong@yahoo.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 15, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
