Of police escorts and ningas cogon

On the way back home from Laguna last Sunday at around 6 p.m., we got caught in usual afternoon traffic on the national road at Calamba.

Let me correct myself – for it was not exactly usual. Spotting blinking red and blue lights in the rearview mirror, I thought an ambulance was coming up behind us. I prepared to bear right and let it through.

Except that it wasn’t an ambulance. It was a duo of motorcycle cops, brusquely waving vehicles to move to the side on that otherwise peaceful day. Aside from turning on their blinkers (which should only to be done so in an emergency, thank you very much), they were also sounding off their sirens and – in GMA-era retro – executing reckless maneuvers as they bullied their way past traffic.

That caught me a little by surprise as I hadn’t seen that kind of bullying arrogance in a while since PNoy made his “kayo ang boss ko” speech.

With that in mind, I wondered who the boss of these arrogant cops were (and, more importantly, whether said boss knew what they were doing) as they quite literally being hazards to the public at large.

I had no recourse but to let them pass lest I bumped into them, so I heaved a sigh and pulled back. I would have forgiven that bit of brash hooliganism if these jerks were escorting an ambulance.

But lo and behold, these policemen were escorting a tourist bus! Got that right: a tourist bus. It was laden with bored looking Asian foreigners. I don’t know if it’s post-Mendoza SOP these days for hagad to pave the way for these buses, but the last time I checked, other people’s lives and safety are valuable, too.

I was still fuming when another set of blinkers appeared on the rearview. Oh, what luck!

Sure enough, two more policemen on motorcycles swerved and wrestled their way past traffic so that another bus could plow through. I shook my head at such impunity that these bozos thought came as standard issue with their blinkers and badges. I tried to make out the plate number of the escorts, but they were moving too fast, along with their dangerous swerving. One of the idiots also put a translucent gray cover on his bike’s plate number. As if that didn’t obscure it enough, he put in one more thing that was the icing on the cake of his crime – a yellow ribbon.

Wow.

PNoy ought to summon you and bonk you on the head, you arrogant, shameful members of the PNP. How did I know they were? They had clearly marked bikes, wore police jackets and telltale helmets. I also know, like anyone else, that blinkers aren’t allowed on civilian transportation anymore.

We did manage to identify one of the buses. It was a Marvan tourist bus with plate number TWM 693. My question to the operator: how much did you pay those policemen to escort your bus? Sunday rates must be pretty steep, huh?

How do we restore respect to the uniform when we see instances like this when the cops are the ones who brazenly break the law? What if, because of their maneuvers and counterflowing (yes, very dangerous, asinine move), they got into an accident (a head-on crash is not unlikely)? Who’s fault would that be? What if they sideswiped a motorist or, God forbid, a pedestrian? Could they in all honesty say that it was an accident? Or would they just scratch their heads and say “Di ko naman sinasadya e. It was an accident.”

When P-Noy put his foot down on blinkers, sirens, and escort protocol, we all clapped. But we also wondered, with the great Filipino reputation for ningas cogon, how long would this last?

A couple of weeks ago, The Philippine STAR ran a photo of cops on bikes escorting a wedding car. What kind of impression are we supposed to have about our policemen when a lot of them shamelessly do business on the side?

Do we not go ballistic when we see cars with red plates on the road on weekends? Cops using state property (along with their state-issued credentials) to earn a fast buck should induce even more outrage.

The hours these unscrupulous few spend securing a wedding car or a VIP should be used to protect the ordinary Pinoy. And why not? The oath these morons took calls for it.

While we’re at it, how about those nameless “VIPs” routinely secured by policemen (again, this is making a comeback)? Now don’t get me wrong. Nothing wrong with escorts for senators, congressmen, and other high-risk public officials.

But when you’re stuck in traffic in EDSA and you see plate-less high-end cars escorted by the same policemen on motorcycles, you can’t help but question if this is a legislator rushing to make it to a congressional meeting, or just to have coffee with his high-society friends. Or it may just be a well-heeled civilian with enough means and connections to afford escorts while the rest of us taxpayers are left helpless to suffer in the worsening traffic.

In the (supposedly) hallowed halls of the Senate and Congress, we raise hell over anomalies and less-than-ethical decisions and moves. On the streets of our great republic some men in uniform sully and soil the honor that others die to protect and keep sacred.

But hey, honor aside, in the final analysis, we paid for these cops’ services too, didn’t we? You don’t see us asking for police escorts – not that you’d give us.