THE ARMED Forces should change its tactics because government troops always end up being clobbered during encounters with enemies of the state.
Nowhere is the lack of tactics more evident than in the death of 18 soldiers and the wounding of six others in their recent clash with the Abu Sayyaf, a ragtag group of Moro bandits.
The soldiers fought the Moro band for 10 hours in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan province.
What happened to the maneuvers the soldiers learned in their training?
That span of time would have been favorable to the government troops because they had helicopter gunships and probably jet fighters at their beck and call.
But what happened to the OV-10 propeller-driven fighters of the Air Force which could have strafed and bombed the position of the enemy?
Huey helicopters, each armed with machine guns on both sides, could have flown low and strafed the ambushers of the troops.
And what happened to the 21 attack helicopters Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had ordered from Rice Aircraft Services Inc. (Rasi), a supposedly reputable US aircraft manufacturer?
Those helicopters could have been used in Basilan had they been available.
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Defense Gazmin has filed libel and other cases against Rhodora Alvarez, former Rasi country representative, who had accused him of rigging the P1.2- billion contract to buy 21 refurbished Huey choppers.
The cases are meant to harass Alvarez who said that officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) and some Philippine Air Force brass chose Rasi in exchange for a 7-percent commission.
Of the 21 refurbished choppers delivered, only two can fly.
Gazmin said no irregularities were committed in pushing for the contract according to the results of the investigation he had ordered.
But of course, how could investigators accuse their boss Gazmin of irregularities?
The problem with Gazmin and other Aquino administration officials, for that matter, is they think the public is stupid!
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Three policemen, one of them with the rank equivalent to a lieutenant in the Army, have been tagged in the kidnapping, robbing and killing of a businesswoman.
The victim’s body, 50-year-old Adora Lazatin, was found sealed in a drum floating in the Pasig River.
The National Bureau of Investigation identified the police official as Insp. Eljie Jacobe of the National Capital Region Police Office.
The involvement of policemen in crimes—especially heinous ones such as kidnapping, murder, robbery and rape—has become so common the citizenry is no longer outraged.
Why is the citizenry not outraged? Because they have become callous to so many reports of abusive and arrogant cops.
Coupled with the citizenry’s indifferent attitude is the government’s apathy toward the oppression of ordinary citizens by the very people who are supposed to protect them.
Especially in this administration whose leader, President Noynoy, is not feared by cops.
Policemen think P-Noynoy is a joke and a clown, according to former Manila Times columnist Rick Ramos.
Only a Rody Duterte presidency can stop policemen’s involvement in crimes.
In Davao City, the mention of Duterte’s name sends chills down the spines of criminals, as well as abusive cops.
The dreaded Davao Death Squad, the creation of which is attributed to Duterte but which he denies (naturally), does not distinguish between notorious criminals and abusive cops; both types end up dead.
The need of the hour is a leader with a “kamay na bakal” or iron hand, and only Duterte has it.