A taste of the PNP's 'Maximum Tolerance'

While we wrote a lot of positive articles about the 26th Sinulog festivities last weekend, I'm glad that there where no major untoward incidents reported that would have marred the holding of the Sinulog. But that is not to say that there were no ugly incidents that happened as the parade ended and nightfall came. I came upon one such ugly incident when I was virtually given a ringside seat to drunken hooligans that brought in a lot of policemen into the area, including Cebu's Swat officers.

For a whole day, we watched the Grand Sinulog Parade in our office building along Mango Ave. and when the parade was over, my brother Bing invited my family and me for dinner in our cousin's place in Baseline Restaurant. Since traffic was virtually snarled in all intersections leading to the parade route, walking was the right thing to do and so with my kids and grandchildren in tow, we walked from the office towards Baseline.

At that time, Juaña Osmeña St. was clogged with people and cars wanting to leave the area. A few meters before Baseline Restaurant, we could see a boisterous and obviously drunk crowd who were street dancing in the corner making it all the more difficult for vehicles to maneuver out of the traffic mess. Things started to get worse when a Grand Majestic Catering multicab van tried to make its way towards Redemptorist Church. The hooligans surrounded the vehicle and rocked it back and forth. Someone climbed the roof and danced, to the delight of the drunken crowd.

The hooligans did the same to the next vehicle, which was a bigger aluminum van used for water or ice. Some of the hooligans wore football (… I think some of them belong to the pink shirted Flamingo Rugby Team) jerseys from a Rugby football group, which included a couple of male Caucasians. Notice I didn't say that they were Americans because I wasn't sure of their nationality. Too often we mistakenly say that all "puti" are "Kano".

As they rocked the vehicles, the poor drivers were probably scared to death believing that if they protested, the lawless mob could maul them! I took a picture of that incident just in case. The next target was a Lancer taxicab and then another taxicab was victimized.

Good thing that Councilor Raul "Yayoy" Alcoseba was also in Baseline Restaurant and saw that the crowd had gotten unruly and called in the police. In five minutes two teams arrived followed by another group. These policemen fanned out to appease the crowd. But then drunken persons cannot recognize authority. They merely engaged in a debate with the police.

Obviously resentful that the police stopped their having a great time at the expense of scared motorists, the hooligans tried to talk to the police that they weren't doing anything wrong. Then someone raised his voice and soon, a mini scuffle ensued; thankfully, it didn't explode into a street brawl.

I was with Councilor Alcoseba when someone in the crowd approached him (we were now standing in Cest la Vie Hotel across Baseline) claiming that a policeman had boxed him; another fellow claimed that a policeman grabbed his throat. Councilor Alcoseba calmly told the fellow that if he had a complaint to file it at the police station. But I protested and told the fellow straight on his face that they had gone too far and refused to listen to the police. This fellow left in a huff!

The other fellow tried talking to me about his claim. I asked for his name (I know his father very well) and told him that if only they listened to the police that wouldn't have happened. Mind you, the police wasn't dealing with left-leaning protesters or squatters… they were scions of rich people! Truth to tell, it was a hairline close to a street brawl!

We've written many bad commentaries against the police, especially those bad eggs in the PNP. But that night along Juaña Osmeña St. I got my first taste of the PNP's "Maximum Tolerance". Both Councilor Alcoseba and I already wanted the police officers to arrest the drunken mob because that would have ended the tension, and for all I care, those drunks can explain their case inside a jail cell. But no, the police stood their ground to our utter frustration.

Again, while this incident didn't come out of the news, I'm writing it here to remind the people that most of us came to the Sinulog to have fun. But there are people who cannot have fun on that day. They're the traffic enforcers, street cleaners and our police. My commendations go to Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Gayotin because the police showed their courage and more importantly their discipline and restraint. It was easy to round up those drunks and haul them off to jail. But that would have made the news and marred the peaceful observance of the Sinulog. Kudos to the PNP!

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