23 September 2005
OPINION: Cops on the beat & ordinance that hurts
AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr
OH, yeah, we like it!
And so do many Dagupenos we’ve talked to.
The sight of regular uniformed cops walking by pairs in and around the city, something we’ve not seen for a long time, police chief after each reassigned police chief, gives many Dagupenos this added feeling of safety – and the quiet satisfaction that they’re finally getting their taxes’ worth from their sworn public protectors.
It was such a simple order to make and yet many previous police chiefs (provincial police directors?) somehow forgot to bark it to their men at the Dagupan City’s Finest – go out and really pound the beat, talk to pedestrians, watch out for suspicious characters, get direct and actual confidential info from otherwise hostile sources, observe the hour-by-hour pace of life of ordinary citizens like you were their true guardian angel.
We don’t know how long the welcome change among the men of Sr. Supt Edgar Basbas, the new police chief (he’s actually been in the saddle for a month or so now) insofar as physical police presence in the main thoroughfares will last. Maybe until their conspicuous grey-blue uniforms fade from the constant patrolling under sun and rain, or maybe until their regulation shoes get worn out on the heels. Someone quipped – until Basbas gets thrown out as in the vernacular term ibasibas.
Whatever, we’ve always believed police devotion to duty should always start with the basics. After all, that’s how the cops of old did their job, full sacrifice and great honesty, earning the admiration of a grateful populace.
Seeing the present uniformed ones engaged in friendly banters with people on the sidewalk, talking to a storeowner at a roadside in Malued one early morning, taking down notes as an ordinary barber blabs on in front of him at corner Perez-Herrero, watchful on any sign of something amiss among passersby along Arellano-Bani, even (and this, a friend had seen personally) helping an elderly woman in ragged clothes with his apo cross the street at the busy downtown area just rekindles tremendous affection and fondness for the often derided pulis.
Your friendly neighborhood cop is back. Let’s hope things stay that way.
* * * *
Thru this space, we’d like to take the cudgels up for city jeepney drivers who had meekly sought us out last week -- one of them as we rode on his Bonuan-bound jeepney and he somehow recognized us, glancing up to his front mirror as he talked and drove -- bewailing their being caught unawares by the effectivity of the new day coding system for public utility vehicles.
It turns out from our talks with POSO bossman Robert E.Mejia and sangguniang panlungsod info officer Ging Cardinoza that the ordinance indeed had already taken effect (“since last September 8,” Mejia said) after its publication in a local newspaper.
Now, it’s the familiar finger-pointing on how come some drivers and operators appeared not to know exactly when the ordinance was published - a vital knowledge that would have guided them about its actual start of implementation in order to avoid apprehensions and the gargantuan fine of P1,000 per violation. The drivers blame POSO for its heartlessness, the POSO blames the association presidents and representatives for failing to advise or notify their complaining members, the members blame their heads of association for not duly informing them and the heads of jeepney associations toss the blame back to the driver-members for not attending the meetings where such matters were disseminated.
In all these, one thing’s quite apparent: Not everyone read the ordinance published in a local newspaper. And so, not everyone knew that the counter for all violations had started. Thus,the griping and howling and cursing at the gates.
The sangguniang panlungsod may just want to correct the lapse in judgment and quiet down the noise by (okay gentlemen and ladies, just a studied suggestion here) suspending the ordinance implementation till such time that the requirement for due and adequate publication has been satisfied. What’s P25,000 or so for the additional publication of the ordinance in at least five more newspapers to gain the needed maximum public information?
That’s peanuts, some other expenses for “public welfare” of that body considering.
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr
OH, yeah, we like it!
And so do many Dagupenos we’ve talked to.
The sight of regular uniformed cops walking by pairs in and around the city, something we’ve not seen for a long time, police chief after each reassigned police chief, gives many Dagupenos this added feeling of safety – and the quiet satisfaction that they’re finally getting their taxes’ worth from their sworn public protectors.
It was such a simple order to make and yet many previous police chiefs (provincial police directors?) somehow forgot to bark it to their men at the Dagupan City’s Finest – go out and really pound the beat, talk to pedestrians, watch out for suspicious characters, get direct and actual confidential info from otherwise hostile sources, observe the hour-by-hour pace of life of ordinary citizens like you were their true guardian angel.
We don’t know how long the welcome change among the men of Sr. Supt Edgar Basbas, the new police chief (he’s actually been in the saddle for a month or so now) insofar as physical police presence in the main thoroughfares will last. Maybe until their conspicuous grey-blue uniforms fade from the constant patrolling under sun and rain, or maybe until their regulation shoes get worn out on the heels. Someone quipped – until Basbas gets thrown out as in the vernacular term ibasibas.
Whatever, we’ve always believed police devotion to duty should always start with the basics. After all, that’s how the cops of old did their job, full sacrifice and great honesty, earning the admiration of a grateful populace.
Seeing the present uniformed ones engaged in friendly banters with people on the sidewalk, talking to a storeowner at a roadside in Malued one early morning, taking down notes as an ordinary barber blabs on in front of him at corner Perez-Herrero, watchful on any sign of something amiss among passersby along Arellano-Bani, even (and this, a friend had seen personally) helping an elderly woman in ragged clothes with his apo cross the street at the busy downtown area just rekindles tremendous affection and fondness for the often derided pulis.
Your friendly neighborhood cop is back. Let’s hope things stay that way.
* * * *
Thru this space, we’d like to take the cudgels up for city jeepney drivers who had meekly sought us out last week -- one of them as we rode on his Bonuan-bound jeepney and he somehow recognized us, glancing up to his front mirror as he talked and drove -- bewailing their being caught unawares by the effectivity of the new day coding system for public utility vehicles.
It turns out from our talks with POSO bossman Robert E.Mejia and sangguniang panlungsod info officer Ging Cardinoza that the ordinance indeed had already taken effect (“since last September 8,” Mejia said) after its publication in a local newspaper.
Now, it’s the familiar finger-pointing on how come some drivers and operators appeared not to know exactly when the ordinance was published - a vital knowledge that would have guided them about its actual start of implementation in order to avoid apprehensions and the gargantuan fine of P1,000 per violation. The drivers blame POSO for its heartlessness, the POSO blames the association presidents and representatives for failing to advise or notify their complaining members, the members blame their heads of association for not duly informing them and the heads of jeepney associations toss the blame back to the driver-members for not attending the meetings where such matters were disseminated.
In all these, one thing’s quite apparent: Not everyone read the ordinance published in a local newspaper. And so, not everyone knew that the counter for all violations had started. Thus,the griping and howling and cursing at the gates.
The sangguniang panlungsod may just want to correct the lapse in judgment and quiet down the noise by (okay gentlemen and ladies, just a studied suggestion here) suspending the ordinance implementation till such time that the requirement for due and adequate publication has been satisfied. What’s P25,000 or so for the additional publication of the ordinance in at least five more newspapers to gain the needed maximum public information?
That’s peanuts, some other expenses for “public welfare” of that body considering.
