DOWN SOUTH
Disarm the dangerous
Security personnel follow protocols for engaging targets that are considered to be armed and dangerous. The first rule, as every security guard, policeman, soldier, and mercenary knows: Before one can make an arrest, he first has to disarm the target. In layman’s language: Hands where I can see them, pretty please.
Even the bandits who abducted the ill-fated Mangudadato party at the Bgy. Masalay, Ampatuan, Maguindanao checkpoint morning of 23 November 2009 followed this rule. They probably didn’t say “pretty please”, but they first divested everyone in the convoy of arms, cellphones, money, and any other instrument of aggression or persuasion that could be used to derail the accomplishment of their “constructive arrest”. (Pardon the term. I’m taking a leaf from Secretary Jess Dureza–new phenomena could only be adequately captured by new jargon.)
In the days after 23 November 2009, public clamor went up for the Ampatuans to be arrested and for the government to make them take responsibility for the worst cold-blooded massacre of women, media practitioners, lawyers, and hapless civilians in recent history. TV, radio, and media personalities have been having a field day attacking the military for dragging its feet at arresting… who are we supposed to arrest exactly? Basta. Arrest them all. Then we would all feel better.
“Arresting them all” is easier said than done, for it’s not only public perception that tells us that the Ampatuans in Sharif Aguak and in Maguindanao are armed – and are therefore to be considered dangerous because of that. Let me spell it out: If the Ampatuans are to be arrested, first they have to be disarmed.
Now, may I have a show of hands for who wants to do the disarming?
And who, pray tell, is to do the arresting? Why is every TV, radio, and newspaper personality calling on the military? Shouldn’t it be the police who should be doing the arresting? There seems to be confusion here about the respective roles of the police and the military in situations like this.
Media practitioners need to clear up their own personal confusion before subconsciously relaying erroneous prescriptions that lead the public to clamor for some expected and acceptable outcome. As it is, this strident electronic and print noise is generating a public outcry for the employment of irregular means. I don’t think that is a very responsible thing for to do.
Now may not be the best time to say so, but bad things have been known to happen when media practitioners choose not to be responsible about making distinctions. Increasingly, we find newsmen editorializing, encroaching into the domain of the opinion column and not separating fact from personal expectation. This indiscriminate disregard for boundaries damages our institutions and scares the life out of every law-abiding citizen out there.
I believe TV, radio, and newspaper personalities who are weighing in on this matter should disclose their personal assumptions on institutions they trust and not trust that warrant their goading the military to do police functions. They should come out and say that they do not believe the PNP to be up to the task and that is why they insist for the soldiers to take a more proactive role beyond the Army’s show of force in Sharif Aguak that is intended “to provide ready support to the police in the eventuality of the outbreak of violence.”
Of course, we all understand that TV, radio and newspaper personalities are cautious about coming out to say that police credibility at this moment is below sea level and that arresting the Ampatuans is a job they expect the military to do. And I do not believe it’s because of their ignorance about the distinction between police and military functions. Or is it?
They’re pussyfooting on their assumptions that Maguindanao’s Finest is incredible because such would logically lead to publicly advocating for the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. Martial law anywhere in these islands is a specter no self-respecting media practitioner in the human rights age would openly suggest to bring back. But reading between the lines, martial law in Maguindanao is what these TV, radio, and newspaper personalities feed to the public as the appropriate course of action in order to “arrest them all” and make the rest of us feel at peace.
We want peace, no arguments about that. Personally, I agree that the best way to do it is for all of us to recognize the Highlander rule: There can only be One. There should only be one armed force in these islands. Every other armed force has to disarm or be disarmed for peace to a reality.
No, I don’t believe martial law has to be declared for that dream to happen. I have my head in the clouds and I see people who genuinely want peace laying down their illegitimate arms of their own volition, even as they are disgruntled and smarting from real or imagined grievance, even as they are fearful of real or imagined threat, even without need for the issuance of a search warrant or seizure orders. My head still in the clouds, I am willing to draw from my personal resources and give the one who does that a can of mace instead. Maybe buy him coffee now that his hands are free to hold a mug.
Look, I’m sorry if I’m coming on short and caffeine-deprived. I had a late night last night and today is a weekend. We need rest. But I woke up at 8:30 this morning to find my inbox overburdened by messages. It took me thirty minutes to make sense.
The second rule in security matters is: Trust people to do their jobs.
Don’t tell them how to do it, get out of their way so they can do it faster, then we can all go for coffee tonight, all right?
I have sent out a “God be with you, my soldiers” to every soldier and commander I know who will live up to the mandate of the AFP despite political pressure, despite the issuance or non-issuance of arrest warrants, despite pressure from every visceral driven TV, radio, and newspaper personality screaming for military action now to address their mounting passions and frustrations. I sent out that message more times than I care to count.
So. They say there’s an Old Man Ampatuan who came into my town and checked into the Davao Doctors Hospital while I was sleeping. That’s just all very well. Oca Lactao is at work making sure the Highlander Rule is followed. And hey, surprise! Contrary to public expectation, it’s not the peace of the graveyard that reigns in Davao City today.
I am now going back to sleep.
