Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Malilong: Taking no prisoners By Frank Malilong The Other Side
BACK in the late sixties when I was a reporter covering the police beat, it was very seldom that we heard about a policeman being shot or otherwise harmed.
When I shared this observation with the then chief of the operations division of the Cebu Police Deparment, Maj. Manuel Arengo, he said that the explanation was simple: “The criminals know that when one of them dares attack a policeman, we will go after all of them.”
And, as I would later on know, they didn’t take prisoners.
Alas, that fear of swift police retaliation doesn’t seem to scare people anymore. Too many men in uniform have, in the recent past, died violent deaths in the hands of civilians, most of whom have had previous brushes with the law.
The name of Police Officer 1 Noriel Luage has just been added to the list, ironically on the same day that he received recognition for his contribution in the fight against crime.
My late father was a policeman and when one of his colleagues was killed during a benefit dance at the town plaza. I saw how devastated and how angry he was.
But what I remember most was the grief painted in the faces of the slain policeman’s family, especially the wife, upon who was suddenly thrust the burden of raising two young children alone.
The killer was arrested, charged and eventually convicted. Our town’s policemen, including my father, who must have been itching for revenge, never got to lay a hand on the criminal.
I am not sure, and I wasn’t able to summon enough courage to ask my father why. As for the widow, she left town with the children not very long after her husband’s death. I do not know what became of them afterwards.
It must have been my memory of her, the children and the body of her husband sprawled in a pool of blood that made me nod in agreement when I read the reaction of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Jorge Corpuz to the death of Luage’s killer. “Pumatay siya ng polis eh, di siya pwedeng mabuhay.” You steal a life, you pay it with your own.
My friend, Delfin Bontuyan, made sure that the rule was observed to the letter.
In that sense, I think he did better than my father and his colleagues.
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Supporters of detained priest Robert Reyes should look for a more persuasive argument for his release than the fact that Bishop Julio Labayen was similarly freed. Labayen is old compared to Reyes who, because of all the running that he has done, is as sturdy as a narra tree.
Also, they should not forget who is holding Reyes. More than any other organization, the military and the police value rank. To demand equal treatment for a bishop and a priest is the same as asking that a general and a private should be treated similarly.
I suspect that the military and the police also read the Bible and are familiar with the admonition to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, those that are His but have interpreted and applied it in a rather blasphemous way: Unsay para sa obispo, sa obispo ra; unsay para sa pari, sa pari ug sa obispo ra; unsay para sa sakristan, para nilang tanan.
Simply stated, the rule is that a buck private has to become a general before he can have oyster sauce. In the meantime, he will have to make do with Rufina patis.
