|
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wenceslao: PMAyers in the PNP
By Bong O. Wenceslao
At first glance, Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s critique of the tendency of the Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy to appoint Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduates to plum posts sounds sane. But a closer scrutiny would show it is a lame reason for his refusal to pick a replacement for acting Cebu City Police chief Melvin Gayotin.
The truth is that in the peculiar setup of the PNP now, there’s no escaping those PMA graduates at the top level of the police organization. This is because when the PNP was created, PMA graduates in the old Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police were brought in. The phasing out of the PMA elite in the PNP is still ongoing.
Besides, not all PMA graduates are bad, in the same way that not all non-PMA police officials are good. In fact, many PMAyers have contributed to the effort to professionalize the police organization. Thus, I do not buy Osmeña’s arguments against PMA graduates. Apparently, he is only using the PMAyers as convenient scapegoats.
I say it’s time for the mayor to look closely at the names in the list presented to him by the PNP hierarchy. He should drive away the pride and biases clouding his judgment on the issue. Cebu City needs qualified officers to head the Cebu City Police Office and it should not continue to make do with a police chief in an acting capacity.
***
Writing about the rebellion of the Left is tricky, considering the propaganda output of its protagonists. As a former participant of that rebellion, however, I find some of the actions of the Left and the government predictable---a sign that since the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1969, nothing much has changed.
It is not difficult, for example, to see through the defense put up by Armed Forces spokesman Tristan Kison to allegations the military is behind the killings of leaders of militant groups. I am referring to the claim that the killings is part of the purge launched by the CPP against its own people and are not the handiwork of vigilantes or the military.
The purge of deep penetration agents happened in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, a moment in the history of the communist movement that its leaders would rather forget. The killings were not done in the open but in secret, the victims lured into interrogation camps. There is nothing similar there in the current attacks on leaders of militant groups.
Maybe Kison was referring to the rift between the main CPP organization and the breakaway factions that resulted in the deaths of ex-CPP leaders like Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara. But those killed the past months were not members of the breakaway factions but were with groups the military claimed are aligned with the main CPP group.
I am not prepared to say with certainty, however, that the military is behind the killings. Only a thoroughgoing probe can do that. But it is possible that the killings are part of efforts to lessen the influence of militant groups and their ability to win in party list elections. By the way, the use of terror against militants is not a new phenomenon.
TEXTREAX. Here’s a good question from an unidentified texter: Would Dan Brown, the author of “The Da Vinci Code,” have written a blasphemous book about the prophet Mohammad?
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 25, 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
|
