LAST January 4, 2023 Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos, Jr. asked the full Colonels and Generals in the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit their courtesy resignation.
Abalos however, was quite reckless in his statement to the point that he was very ambiguous as to the meat of his intention in issuing such a call. Yes, the DILG Secretary was not clear as to where shall the mentioned police officials resign from. Was he demanding that they should quit from their ranks; or he wants them to submit their courtesy resignation from the present assignment that they are posted?
It seems Abalos, Jr. was strongly expressing his exasperation on reports of the alleged involvement of several police colonels and some generals in the proliferation of the illegal drugs trade in the country. We believe that the call of the DILG Secretary for the police colonels and generals to offer to resign was his immediate reaction to the many cases recently of policemen most of them at the level of colonels and generals are tagged as protectors of drug syndicates. And these PNP officials failed to restrain their subordinate from actually engaging in the illegal drugs business.
We have no doubt that Abalos, Jr.’s challenge stems from recent events where multi-billion worth of illegal drugs were confiscated in drug busts and those arrested working for the distribution of the same included policemen from the lower echelon.
What could have given these police scalawags the courage to betray their sworn duties? Without doubt it is the assurance that they have their backs covered by their immediate superiors mostly Colonels and Generals.
We believe though, these Police Generals and Colonels cannot quit from their ranks. They earned it whether through honest and hard work, or through manipulations and even bribery in form of money, in being subservient to those at the top, or through material things like lavish gifts. So it is unlikely that those who earned the ranks will casually offer to return them to wherever or whoever, Abalos Jr. a lawyer knows that.
But certainly they can offer their courtesy resignation, even if on courtesy basis, from their current assignment, say as Police Regional Office (PRO) director, as head of the PDEA, as provincial or city police director. This, we believe, is where Abalos, Jr. must be very specific.
And we can only appreciate P/Brig. General Alexander Tagum who is the new PRO XI Director. Tagum did not hesitate in immediately saying he is supportive of the DILG Secretary’s move to cleanse the Police ranks of the termites within it.
However, the spokesperson of PRO XI was quick to make some clarifications by saying that while the regional command is supportive of the DILG Secretary, it cannot just do what is being asked of (reiterate the Abalos call to all colonels in the command) because up until yesterday afternoon, the command has yet to receive the official document on order to be implemented in the Southern Mindanao Police Command. Hmmmmm, sounds we have heard of the same order and reaction some time ago.
And by the way we should not fail to congratulate Brig. Gen. Tagum for his new assignment as head of our Regional Police Office XI. His new command’s jurisdiction is no alien to him. Brig. Gen. Tagum used to be the City Director of the Davao City Police Office, the acknowledged prime assignment of aspiring police officers.
Again, we owe General Tagum our congratulations. He definitely deserves the new assignment. May he not fail all the Davaoenos’ expectations and not let them down in his performance level as what he did while he was head of the DCPO several years back.
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This glitch in the computer system of one of the country’s leading banks, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) could possibly be a major drawback in the government’s desire to be having its businesses in the country fully digitalized.
Imagine the “lucky” ones suddenly finding twice the upward adjustments in their bank balances? And woe unto those who were “unlucky” they found their bank balances adjusted several ladders downwards. Some of their transactions like withdrawals have been doubled or entered twice. Meaning, their balances were deducted twice for every on-line banking transaction conducted at the duration of the glitch.
It is incidents like the computer glitches that could cause some reservations by other businesses to support the government’s push for a digitalized operation.
