For Bato, there’s no other way

A wag suggested on Friday the renaming of Camp Crame to Camp Crime.

The wag was one of the listeners of “Karambola,” a popular commentary program on radio station dwIZ.

He was alluding to the killing of kidnapped South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo right inside Camp Crame, national headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Jee was strangled by one of his kidnappers in an office building a stone’s throw away from the “White House,” the official residence of Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the PNP chief.

The killing is the most shameful in the history of the PNP, considered among the most corrupt and abusive police organizations in the world.

So shameful is the crime, committed by the very people who were supposed to protect the Korean expatriate, that Dela Rosa said he wanted to “melt away in humiliation because it happened inside Camp Crame.”

No, Dela Rosa, you cannot melt away because you are not an ice cube.

You should resign. There is no other way but for you to give up your badge; that is, if you have any delicadeza left in you.

Even Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who is a very close friend of President Digong, is calling for the PNP chief’s resignation.

“Grabe ang gihimo nila sa Koreano, bai (What they did to the Korean was execrable, my friend). I will make an official statement,” the Speaker told me over the phone on Friday.

Many citizens will rally behind the Speaker.

***

Let me tell Bato an anecdote about a town in Japan, where citizens value their honor and reputation.

Many years ago in that small town, a patrolman on the beat raped a housewife.

As an aftermath, the patrolman’s immediate supervisor killed himself in shame.

The town’s police chief also committed suicide.

The town mayor resigned his position.

The message of the anecdote? Bato should know—if he has enough brains.

***

The President’s noble intention is to make the Philippines a crime-free society like what happened in Davao City when he was its mayor.

But how can he achieve this if many of our policemen, who are supposed to protect us from criminals, are themselves criminals?

Now is the time for the President to undertake an internal cleansing in the PNP in the wake of Jee’s murder by policemen.

If Mano Digong is trying to purge Philippine society of scumbags, why not include those among the police?

***

Senators Migz Zubiri and Antonio Trillanes nearly came to blows on the floor of the Senate over the probe into the P50-million bribery scandal involving two immigration commissioners.

Had blows landed between the antagonists, I’m sure it would not—repeat, not—be Zubiri who would be lying flat on the floor.

I’ve seen Zubiri spar with fellow aficionados in full-contact karate and arnis, the Filipino martial art of stickfighting, and he always came out standing; his opponent down or beaten to a pulp.

But Zubiri is a man of peace; just don’t drive him into a corner.