Manila police should be investigated

The dispersal of peaceful protesters by Manila policemen on Friday should be investigated by PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao and also by the Commission on Human Rights. There is certainly no justification for blasting water on former vice president Teofisto Guingona, the religious and senior members of the opposition in that rally. By this time, the facts should be in and the truth can be determined in the maze of the many press releases about the incident.

Given the fundamental contradiction between the rallyists and the police - their goals being too different from each other - there is still room for accommodation for both sides. For instance, common sense will tell that many of the rallyists are too old to be a threat to public order. This premise should have been assumed by the police when they made their tactical decision to disperse the small crowd.

If good sense prevailed during the rally, there should have been, first of all, a dialogue between the two sides. One report said that minutes before the water blasting on the demonstrators, Congressman Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna) and some congressmen were negotiating so that a.) the police would be able to maintain the peace while b.) the demonstrators could air their grievances. With the violence, both sides were not able to attain their objectives. Parehong talo!

With the violence, the issues have been confused. Now, you don't know what is the issue that the demonstrators were trying to say. The unfortunate violence has eclipsed the message. Are the demonstrators trying to say that GMA should resign? Or are they saying that the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy of the police was wrong? Lalong gumulo ang issue. On the part of media, the whole story has become a police story, instead of being a legitimate political rally with a clear message.

For the administration, it should monitor closely this policy of CPR (why not describe it merely as a "flexible response?") because of its strong political implications. If I were President Arroyo, I would ensure that there is a senior member of the cabinet who will manage the handling of sensitive rallies by the opposition. We recall that during martial law, former President Marcos made it very clear that on matters of rallies where there are senior members of the opposition in attendance, he made sure that he had a direct hand in policy-making. I learned that President Marcos was pissed off by the arrest of such personalities like former senator Lorenzo Tañada, Joker Arroyo and now Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in 1978.

Demonstrations are too complicated to be left to the police - with apologies to the PNP leadership some of whom are decent like Lomibao. For instance, had Mayor Lito Atienza been at the site of the rally or in command of the police, the water blasting on Guingona would not have happened. Next time, the police should be guided by GMA's political commissars because, in truth, they are just trained to focus on the job at hand and not to deal with political questions.

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Will town lottery eliminate jueteng and masiao?

Mayor Edward Hagedorn who heads the presidential task force against gambling told a Quezon City forum on Saturday that only by coming up with an alternative game can jueteng be checked. He said this game is the town lottery that was introduced during the Cory administration.

Hagedorn said that STL is still gambling, but it could check the worst features of jueteng. Unlike a state-managed STL, jueteng games, specially the "guerrilla" games, are really swindling operations where people bet on something that has no chance of winning. Besides, it only makes the jueteng lord rich to the sacrifice of the poor bettors in the communities. By replacing jueteng with STL, the games would be more professionalized. Besides, the state can make use of the revenues.

Under STL, small people like the collectors will be employed. There would be no displacement if STL were immediately organized upon the total elimination of jueteng. Hagedorn explained that the mayors who have agreed to cooperate in the anti-jueteng campaign have asked the Palace to come up with an alternative so that people will have a livelihood.

When asked how masiao - the illegal numbers game that is believed to be popular in Cebu and in Mindanao - could be checked, he answered that the establishment of STL is still the solution. If masiao or jueteng is eliminated without any alternative, people will invent their own form of gambling.