Manila’s Finest, now Manila’s worst

What’s happening to the Manila Police District (MPD) that prides itself as “Manila’s Finest?”

They have become the country’s worst, if we go by the number of Manila cops involved in various crimes.

Senior Police Officer 1 Noel Dimaano, 51, and Police Officer 1 Loui Aban, 30, are the latest addition to the MPD rogues gallery.

The two were accused by four women recently of forcing them into a taxicab after accusing them of shoplifting from SM City North Edsa in Quezon City.

The women said two of them were picked up by the cops long after they had left the mall.

Dimaano and Aban were clearly out of their jurisdiction as they made the arrest in Quezon City.

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Last month, two Manila policemen were arrested after they were identified as  the men who robbed the  occupants of a house  of their money and valuables.

Last year, a Manila cop shot to death a Norwegian who tried to pacify a man beating up a woman on a street.

The man the Norwegian was pacifying punched the foreigner who hit back.

The Manila policeman, who was the brother of the man who engaged the Norwegian in a fist fight, shot the foreigner many times.

I cannot recall the other incidents involving “Manila’s Finest,”  but these were widely reported in the newspapers and on television. The others were kidnapping, homicide and robbery-extortion cases.

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The WPD, then called the Western Police District, had its share of hooligans in uniform in the years I covered it as a police reporter in the ’70s and ’80s, but erring members then were juvenile delinquents compared to the present crop of hoodlums.

And they were swiftly punished with suspension or dismissal from the service.

Those were the days when police forces were part of the defunct Philippine Constabulary and were subjected to military type discipline.

Policemen are now covered by civil service rules and, therefore, administrative cases against them take time to be resolved.

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Since R. Espineli, the company that submitted the lowest bid has been disqualified in the P1.2-billion firearms procurement program of the Philippine National Police,  the second lowest bidder has now taken over.

The second lowest bidder, Trust Trade, will replace Espineli which sells Israel-made Jericho pistols. Trust Trade sells Glock pistols made in Austria, and a favorite of US cops.

But the pistol will have to undergo a durability test of 20,000 rounds fired continually in one setting.

I was not paid by Glock to say this, but I can attest to the pistol’s durability.

I fired my Glock 23 (cal. .40) during practice shooting twice a week for two years, spending more than 100,000 rounds of ammo.

After two years, the  ejector gave way, which I promptly replaced. There were very few instances of stoppage during those practice sessions.