Too many bleeding hearts - Gotcha

Jose Ma. Sison says that, while Joseph Estrada always tries to look macho, ex-general Fidel Ramos didn't have to prove his toughness when dealing with communist rebels.

That's because Ramos prepared for the Presidency and studied the difference between military and civilian thinking. He learned that with soldiers, he just needed to bark commands to get things moving in unison. With civilians, however, he had to go work long and hard to reach consensus on national issues.

With Estrada, calling for unity -- as he did a day after a Prayer Breakfast -- is to sic the military against the press that supposedly is destabilizing his reign.

So, with the Court of Appeals declaring spray-painting of drug pushers' houses unconstitutional, what now? Will human rights lawyers also petition for a similar ruling against declarations of drug-risk zones in Marikina, posting of drug lords' names and addresses in public offices, and announcement of the same through barangay loudspeakers? Any argument can be used to buttress such petitioners -- restriction of the right to mobility, violation of due process, even noise pollution. Civilians who are fed up with the growing drug menace are wondering if rights lawyers can come up with innovative schemes to drive pushers out of their locales.

That's not our job; that's for the police and public officials to worry about, the lawyers say. Yet everyone knows the PNP is too corrupt and too inept to do the job. So clean up the force and train it, the lawyers retort. But that'll take years to accomplish even through radical means; meanwhile, the drug menace can overtake it.

This is not to say that court ruling is wrong. Civilians accept such legal and constitutional interpretations as part of the growing body of law. Yet they also know that fighting drugs -- any crime -- requires team work among policemen, fiscals, judges and civilians. And the term "civilians" includes rights lawyers.

Informal radio polls in recent weeks bore out the civilians' lament. Eleven-to-one, they assented to Marine patrols in malls; 7-to-1, to spray-painting. Even dissenters said they'd like to see mansions of big-time drug lords spray-painted. The underlying sentiment is that too many bleeding hearts are spoiling the campaign against crime.

Squatting is a crime. But when squatters defy shanty demolitions in compliance with long-standing court orders, clerics decry human rights violations. "No Filipino is a squatter in his own country," they shout. All the while, also in compliance with law, relocation sites await the squatters -- just that they don't like the place.

Even media coverage of crime is romaticized. The use of sidewalk diners and corner stores as fronts for shabu trade is justified by sweeping statements that the sellers are poor and know no other way to earn a living. Magsaysay's famous line, "those who have less in life should have more in law," has acquired new meaning: that the law should be bent in favor of the poor, it no longer applies equally to all.

Still and all, the crime-busting job does remain largely with public agencies. Yet even in this area, things stop moving when they fall into a rut. Sr. Supt. Wally Sombero of the PNP-Criminal Investigation Group laments that shabu lords get off the hook because of corrupt judges. He cites the case of the Manila judge who, upon request of the defense lawyer, released a drug dealer despite findings that police had arrested the latter with a kilo of shabu, which makes the case nonbailable.

Sombero, Dangal ng PNP awardee for earlier refusing close to P1 million in bribe from three Chinese in two separate drug busts, knows only too well what made the judge relent. He says that by filing charges against the three of nonbailable attempt to corrupt a public official, he can send a message to drug lords that bribery will only worsen their case. Civilians will say he's day-dreaming.

INTERACTION. Ramon Mayuga, Essen, Germany: "It's unfair to label as flip-flopping Fidel Ramos' call for businessmen to support Erap. The opposition's role is not only to criticize a ruling party's inefficiency, but also to muster support for administration projects that are in the nation's best interest."

People are so frustrated they want to see war, Ramon.

Naldie Bayloon, Los Angeles: "Corruption brews even in the most obscure agencies. Just look at the cases filed with the Ombudsman. Records should be made public since the officials are on taxpayer's payroll. Or, the Civil Service Commission could spray-paint the houses of those officials."

That's if taxpayers have money left for paint after thievery, Naldy.

Concerned, myplace.com: "MRT missed out on a gold mine of passengers by not building the line up to Monumento, a short distance from North Avenue. There's a sea of humanity of Camanava and Bulacan commuters every rush hour."

They're planning to extend the line to the gold mine, Concerned.

Dante Gutierrez, La Mirada, Ca.: "Forty-five of us went home to campaign for Fred Lim in '98. We saw Erap as a big mistake and Lim as the country's savior. Not anymore. His admission of violating criminals' human rights and his targetting of only small fry for spray-painting turned us off."

Is it Lim himself, or because he joined Erap, Dante?

Joey Labrador, yahoo.com: "Government wants new taxes even if it can't collect old ones properly. And what did it spend our tax money on last year -- in a Lakbay-Aral of junketeers."

Join the government and see the world, Joey.

Thank you, Lulu of laguna.net, EJS of cybercomm.net.

HIS BODY. The greater the hair loss on the top of a man's head, the higher his risk of having heart problems, CNN quotes researchers who say they've confirmed previous studies linking baldness to heart disease.

HER BODY. Women taking a combination of estrogen and progestin hormones run a greater risk of breast cancer than women using estrogen alone, the American Medical Association says. Menopausal women are often prescribed estrogen to reduce symptoms like hot flashes. Estrogen also seems to lower incidence of heart disease and brittle bones during menopause.

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