Soon, Bible-toting cops

Soon, the Holy Bible or the Koran would be part of a law enforcer’s official get-up.

This, as Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina plans to distribute pocket-sized Holy Bibles and Koran to the country’s more than 100,000 policemen "to bring them closer to God."

"Soon, the Philippine National Police would become Pulis ng Panginoon (Police of God)," he told reporters.

Before receiving their Bibles or Koran (for Muslim police personnel), law enforcers would undergo spiritual renewal seminars, Lina said.

He said troopers who took part in Desert Storm, the US offensive against Iraq in the early 1990s, were required to always carry pocket-sized Bibles.

Lina cited the need for the "spiritual cleansing" of policemen to rid the service of scalawags and misfits. This he added would be part of efforts to review the recruitment of new law enforcers to weed out undesirables.