BEING called cowardly is the most shameful thing a person could suffer, more so when he is a man in uniform.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas must have been so angry that he decided to publicly accuse two of his men of running away and hiding when they heard rapid gunfire in the course of the simultaneous police operations against loose firearms in Negros Oriental. He must also have been very sure of his facts because in a monolithic organization like the police, the commander is not known to throw his subordinates under the bus.
Of course, we still have to hear the side of cousins Thomas and Melvin Cañete. It better be a good one. The claim that they got lost along the way obviously didn’t wash with their superiors so they have to offer another one such as that they were legitimate objectors to violence. But even that is unconvincing because, otherwise, they should have never joined the police.
In fact, the only option left for them is to hand in their badges. Their career as policemen is over. Even if they are subsequently cleared, which as of now is a long shot, their reputations are forever stained by the label, coward. It is a stigma that they have to carry the rest of their days. Sad but that’s life.
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The Cebu City Government deserves praise for the One-Stop Shop that facilitates the renewal of business permits. According to a SunStar report yesterday, an applicant had her license renewed in one day. I suppose the process for securing an original permit takes a little longer.
But not as long, I hope, for securing a building permit, which takes about two months, if you’re lucky. I’m speaking from experience.
Last year, I applied for a permit to introduce improvements in a small condominium unit owned by my children so I could use it for my law office. The first step, which was to secure a locational clearance from the barangay captain, took two weeks. I thought that the barangay document was a simple thing that can be processed in two days at the most, but I was wrong.
The longest delay happened in City Hall because the application goes through so many offices that apparently are overburdened. Note that I was not applying for a permit to construct an edifice, only to improve a room in a building that had, I assume, not only a building permit but also a certificate of occupancy.
But the process is so convoluted that the papers had to go through so many pairs of eyes each of which requires so many days of examination to be convinced that your design meets their standards and that your room will not become a fire hazard. So many man-hours were spent following up on my application before it finally reached the office of the building official for signature.
I went through the same ordeal two months later when I wanted the adjoining unit improved. I applied in early November last year. I finally got the building permit last week.
My only consolation was in the knowledge that I was not the only one who went through the ordeal. Others had gone through worse, I would later know. Why, I am still trying to figure out.