Who’s to blame?

Batas Mauricio

WHO are we to blame for the arrest of four children allegedly on account of their having been found inside a drug den in the place and of police reports that they are in fact being used as drug couriers transporting illegal drugs to addicts?

Is it the owner of the drug den who is said to have been responsible for mobilizing the children to distribute illegal drugs? Or their parents and relatives who not only did not have any concern at all for the minors’ well-being, but even clearly consented to their illegal transactions involving drugs?

Or, can we blame the law authored by Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, which is the Juvenile Justice Law — the law which removed the criminal liability of children who are below 18 years of age — even if they have committed even the most heinous of crimes like peddling and trading of shabu and other illegal drugs?

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Here are some parts of an article written by Social Work and Development Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy which I think should be read by those who, until now, support politicians who are opposing President Duterte, especially those who are supporting former President Noynoy Aquino. I translated portions of that article in Filipino for the Filipino version of this column.

Read on:

“We’re such a wounded people that we understand better a president who, through his terrible incompetence and indifference–an indifference I find unforgivable—not only caused the deaths of 44 of our men in uniform but when they died, refused to meet the bodies of our heroes and lend weight to their deaths.

“We understand better this incompetent and indifferent president than we do this President who leaves the comfort and safety of his palace and actually goes all the way down in the battle zone where bullets can take him down.

“…And when a hail of bullets meet him and he is forced to take shelter in a mosque, the one thing that we’ve allowed to enter our consciousness is not how this President risked his life to be with his men and not how we’ve never seen anything like it — ever before.

“Not his heroism and his great love for us but this — this — is what has tied up in a bunch: that he forgot to take off his shoes as he ran to take cover in a mosque when a hail of bullets rained down on him. And we give him hell for it. The inanity of it all.

“We understand better a president who plays Dota all day than we do a President who works hard all day. We understand better presidential plunderers than we do this President who is incorruptible…”

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Did the leadership of the Philippine National Police (PNP) really think that ousting some 1,000 policemen from Caloocan City and transferring them to another station on account of their involvement in various heinous crimes would have any beneficial effect on them? Would they be changed by their re-assignment and retraining?

Well, when will ranking PNP officers, and others from different government agencies whose employees are also into graft and corruption and criminality, learn that merely transferring the assignment of erring policemen and other personnel, or subjecting them to a re-training, will not work to transform them?

We have seen the spectacle of past re-assignments and retraining that the government and the PNP for that matter have implemented through the years. But, many in the PNP and in many other government offices remain possessing criminal minds (and, of course, behaviors). Indeed, what is needed to instill true discipline among them is a firm system of punishment to make them better policemen and officials and employees.

In fact, according to a book that is now very old, if the penalties for a crime are not enforced or carried out, people would be filled with schemes to do wrong, and would continue in graft and corruption, and in criminality. Criminals or people with a criminal disposition are encouraged to remain as criminals since they know they will not be punished anyway.

I remember the story from the book, “The Art of War”, which is said to have been written by a very intelligent Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu. One day, the king in China wanted to teach discipline on parade marching  among his thousands and thousands of warriors in his kingdom. Included in these warriors are the king’s favorite concubines. So, the king called on his generals to be the ones to teach discipline to them.

Unfortunately, the generals failed to impose discipline among the kingdom’s warriors, because the king’s favorite concubines were themselves leading in mischief. Dismayed, it was at that point that the king called for Sun Tzu, whom he asked to replace the generals in the job of instilling discipline among his warriors.

On the very first day that Sun Tzu started teaching the troops, he saw that the soldiers did not show any interest in learning discipline, precisely because the concubines were themselves undisciplined. Sun Tzu then called for the concubines and presented them to the king and the warriors.

Sun Tzu got a sword, had the concubines bow down, and, suddenly and without warning, cut off the women’s heads, killing them instantly. Everybody got awed as the king expressed his grave loneliness. After that, Sun Tzu resumed teaching discipline to the troops. To the surprise of everyone, the kind included, the warriors suddenly displayed discipline, making them very good at marching.

Indeed, this is what is happening in the Philippines now. The corrupt and the criminals in government — and in the private sector, too — know they wouldn’t be punished anyway. So, our country has the spectacle of almost everyone in government engaging in corruption and criminality. Perhaps, Filipinos show now use Sun Tzu’s tactics.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com