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Batas Mauricio .

I MUST have to admit that the plan of the National Police to teach “moral values” to our country’s policemen is a good one. There is now an overriding need to teach the police force, the military, and everyone else in this country, at least the rudiments of “moral values.” There is a question though that must have to be addressed right away: what system of teaching would the PNP employ to teach “moral values” to its policemen? First, who will teach “moral values” to the PNP officers and corps?

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Policemen, too? I am not trying to generalize here, and I am not branding all policemen negatively, but, undeniably, there are many policemen, whether vested with rank or are still mere patrolmen, who display skewered sense of morality. Indeed, many of them have paramours. And if the truth be told, when I was yet a police reporter during the waning years of the 1970s, policemen already have a parlance for their paramours. They call their lovers then “301s.”

What does the number “301” indicate? One paramour for a policeman. If the number is changed to “302,” or “303,” or even more, what that would amount to would be an increasing number of paramours for one policeman alone. Well. How could a patrolman support several lovers all at the same time? Where would he be sourcing out the daily sustenance of the paramours, and the children he has sired with them as well?

What is more, many of the rank and file of the National Police would always seem to be afflicted with “hepatitis B” — or the ailment that makes the color of a person turn yellowish. Why yellowish? Well, the reason is that many policemen are usually enamoured with adorning themselves with glittering gold — in their watches, in their bracelets, in ther rings, in their pendants, and even in their ear rings. And if you ever caught them with their lovers, even the lovers would also be displaying yellowish colors.

Where do they get all of these from? Good question, if you ask me. Too, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) may want to visit police stations. I am certain Napolcom officials would be hard put finding parking spaces for their vehicles, because the stations’ parking lots would be filled to the brim — with the cars, jeeps, and other vehicles of the policemen working there.

I would also bet that, when a lifestyle check is ordered against higher ranking police officers, many of them would be found living in posh residences, running profitable businesses particularly security agencies, with their children studying in expensive schools. Yes, how could they be having and affording these grandiose lifestyles?

I am hoping our friends who are affiliated with the National Police will not misunderstand what I am writing about here. As I stated earlier on, I am not generalizing about bad policemen. There remain policemen who are true to their oaths as public servants. They remain to be one-spouse persons, undergoing economically challenged lives, simply because they refuse to perform the same miracles that have sent many of their comrades wallowing in the good life.

But it would seem to me that policemen of this kind and good nature could be counted only with the fingers of our hands and feet. This is the reason why I will say that it would be a mockery of the objectives of teaching “moral values” if the ones who will teach them are policemen who have no values at all. The duty of imparting moral values to policemen are those who have truly displayed a higher sense of goodness in all their lives. No taints, no smudges, no personal interests.

As of now, there are many of these people who have already been in the thick of teaching our policemen the virtues of honesty, good faith, and truthfulness. I am already seeing them in Facebook. These are the preachers and workers of Christian Churches who, despite not being paid anything by the policemen they are trying to share the good principles of life with on a regular basis, continue their work to bring more PNP men and women closer to the Word of God, the Bible. These are the personalities we need to talk to so they could expand their work, based on the Word of God!

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We are extending our heartfelt congratulations to Sen. Manny Pacquiao in his impressive and convincing split-decision victory over the much-younger Keith Thurman in their welterweight championship fight on Sunday. With this win, Pacquiao, 40, now holds a 62-7-2 world record. He also became the super welterweight champion, and is honored as the only boxer who has beaten Thurman so far.

Indeed, Manny has gone a long way in his life. Billionaire champion boxer, a lawmaker who wields a considerable influence in the Republic of the Philippines, most sought-after product endorser in the Philippines and in the whole world, and is now the most famous worker and preacher of God worldwide.

Yes, Manny has gong a long way from the Pacquiao that I first came to know in the 1980s, when he was just starting his career in boxing. During those tumultuous times of his life, he was content with simply leasing a dinghy below-the-road-level room in a house in Malabon, Metro Manila. Most of the time, he was unable to pay for his rent, prompting his lessor then to repeatedly threaten him with eviction.

Pacquiao was introduced to me by his boxing promoter in the 1980s, the late Rodolfo “Ompong” Nazario. Ompong called me one day and implored me to call Manny’s lessor, so that the boxer could be given a little more time to settle off his unpaid rentals.

By a stroke of good luck, the lessor agreed to be more lenient with Pacquiao, especially when he, the lessor, was told that the room he actually let to the boxer then was always flooded with ankle-deep and murky water. After that, Manny aslready scored successive victories in boxing, but I had lost contact with him (perhaps because he no longer needed someone to talk to his lessor about unpaid rents).

But even at that point, however, I was already having an inkling that he would somehow be used to bring more people back to God. The reason was that, from the first time I talked to him, I already saw a humble heart, and a heart that always deferred to God’s will, what with his respectful and deliberate way of talking.

So, the question: does Sen. Manny Pacquiao have any right to be talking and preaching about the Word of God considering he has no formal training to become a preacher? In my Bible readings and in the discussions among members of the “Children of God Blood Kin of the Christ Church,” I saw that God chooses and sends even those who belong to the lowest class of society.

As 1 Corinthian 1:26-27 is saying, God calls those who have less in life, those who have nothing in terms of riches and power, to shame the rich, the powerful, and the intelligent ones. The truth is that, performing God’s work of preaching and saving souls are not dependent on one’s status in life. It is dependent on the heart of man, especially a heart that wishes to truly serve God.

God has shown the truth of 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, because He is sending Church members who weren’t able to obtain any collegiate degree, who have no riches, and who are even deprived of their rights, to do His work of guiding and teaching others.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com, mmauriciojr111@gmail.com

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