How does a police general take protective ‘custody’ of a luxury sports ‘Jaguar’?

The rich are different, it’s long been said, from you and me.

Now it’s coming out that generals – both military and police – are surely different from the rank and file. Despite the uproar over his unexplained wealth (though dear wife Clarita is disastrously "explaining" all over the place) and his overseas bank deposits, Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia still managed to withdraw another P19 million – this time from AFPSLAI (The Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association, Inc.)

Since the AFPSLAI, which is imbroiled in other controversies, is dismally short of cash, putting in jeopardy even the payments of benefits and pensions to its soldier members, shouldn’t Garcia’s assets there have at least been placed on "freeze" pending the current investigation?

To top it all, AFP Chief of Staff, General Narciso Abaya – who also chairs AFPSLAI – tossed the investigation and possible prosecution of General Garcia over to the Regional Trial Courts and the civilian justice system. When a soldier in the service is suspected of wrongdoing or failure to properly honor his military duties (Garcia is a military Comptroller), shouldn’t he be placed in Armed Forces detention pending a military Court Martial – if the evidence so warrants?

Abaya, who’s retiring October 29 on his birthday, is suddenly swamped with problems. But he can’t sidestep them and ride merrily off into the sunset.

* * *

The police are no different.

Philippine National Police Director General and Chief Edgar "Egay" Aglipay will have a lively time of it when he is our Guest Speaker next Friday night in the Manila Overseas Press Club "PNP Night" Dinner. This will be held at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Dusit Hotel in Makati, and is certain to be well-attended.

General Aglipay whose record as a tough, honest and courageous cop speaks for itself was tasked by President GMA to clean up the PNP within the six months’ "extension" granted to him. In six months? Poor Egay. He can’t even trim police waistlines in half a year, even if he rigorously enforced the trendy South Beach diet.

Now, he’ll have to explain why Director (General) Eduardo Matillano, chief of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), took "custody" of a seized Jaguar sports car. Did Matillano use that sports car, or did he merely mothball it in his private garage, doing all of us a favor by acting as an "evidence custodian"? That’s what a stammering Aglipay is trying to tell the public today. To be sure, Aglipay is not to be blamed for letting Matillano have that impounded car since this did not occur during his watch – but he’ll be blamed if, during his tenure, there should take place a whitewash and cover-up.

General Aglipay has always had the enviable reputation of being a straight-shooter. He cannot act cross-eyed in this case.

* * *

It does not sound plausible, even if the Dangerous Drugs Board gave its permission, for a Police general like Matillano to be keeping a Jaguar in his "custody" – what a great personal sacrifice! To save the vehicle from getting its parts "cannibalized"? Gee whiz. Let me help out by giving me "evidence custody" of the next impounded Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari or Chedeng Sports, which has to be kept "safe" by the police. I volunteer wholeheartedly.

Don’t we remember what former PNP Chief, then General (now Senator) Panfilo Lacson did in 1999 when he took over command of the police during the Estrada Administration? His first act was to round up the more than 320 "carnapped" cars, SUVs and other vehicles being used by police officers and their families, and return them to their proper owners.

The aggrieved car owners, who had despaired of ever getting their snatched vehicles back, were in an ecstasy of gratitude to Ping Lacson, and the general populace was pleased and heartened by the realization that they, at last, had found a police chief who would crack down on corrupt policemen.

How in heaven’s name could police officers explain the fact that they were using 320 stolen cars – even if these were "recovered" from carjackers – and not returning them to their owners? One of the questions I threw at Lacson on my ANC/ABS-CBN Impact 2004 program when he was running for the presidency was why those "erring" policemen had not been sent to jail. Lacson replied that he had prosecuted them, but when he himself was ousted as Police Director General when the former President Estrada fell in January 2001, most of those cases withered on the vine.

Thus we have hundreds of... well, secondary "carnappers" still in the police service?

And now comes Matillano. Aglipay, who hails from Dugo, Cagayan, (PMA ’71), is no slouch when it comes to interpreting the law. He is a law graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University (1987) and has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of the Philippines. Yet he says Matillano won’t be investigated since we "should even thank General Matillano for taking the car into custody (when) no agency wanted to keep it for ‘safekeeping’." He pointed out that former DILG Secretary Jose Lina had signed the documents allowing Matillano "custody" of the P3-million vehicle. Gee, thanks, General M for being so generous.

How tenderly Matillano is being treated, in sharp contrast to the way he treated former Executive Secretary Ramon "Eki" Cardenas. If you’ll recall, Cardenas voluntarily went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Police when he heard he was being accused of allowing his empty house in Dasmariñas Village, Makati, to be used by the Magdalo rebels who subsequently holed up in the Oakwood in their now famous mutiny, Ergo, the cons and NBI concluded at once Cardenas was part of the mutiny, possibly even a ringleader.

Immediately, Eki Cardenas was taken into custody and charged with aiding and abetting the rebellion, etc. Matillano forced the former Cabinet official to don a T-shirt, garishly yellow, on which were imprinted the words: "Detainee". Then Cardenas was paraded by him before the television cameras, photographers, and media – with the result that his photos were flashed all over the world, as if he had already been "convicted" and was guilty. He was slapped into a cell in Camp Crame.

No tender treatment for poor Eki. In Matillano’s case, the police protect each other – even, it seems, from the mere hint of scandal.

How many more cops are back to the old practice of being "evidence custodians" and sacrificing themselves by keeping cars in custody – surely, not to be utilized by their maids when going to the supermarket to buy groceries?

* * *

THE ROVING EYE... By the time you read this I’ll be in Zamboanga, possibly in Basilan, too. My next column will arrive by carrier pigeon.