‘Desperate housewives’ can now dial 117, sez GMA

La Presidenta GMA’s speech – much of it impromptu – at yesterday’s 15th anniversary celebration of the Philippine National Police at Camp Crame was a combination of soft-soap, razmatazz and hip-hip-hoorah. Of course she lauded the courage and steadfastness of the men in blue, with only a passing frown directed at their shortcomings.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re all for beefing up the morale of our national policemen, and praising them for their valorous deeds – yes, they have performed gallantly in a number of conspicuous ways – but the PNP’s performance still leaves very much to be desired. Police Director General and Chief PNP, Arturo C. Lomibao, who has exhibited the energy to rush almost everywhere (no desk-bound Police Chief is he), has been doing his level best. But it’s just like the Herculean labor of cleaning out the Augean Stables. There’s too much fart and horse-dung all over the place.

The dilemma is that, after practically just a year and a half at the helm, General Lomibao may be compelled by the calendar to retire on his next birthday, this July 5th, 2006. (He was born in Mangaldan, Pangasinan, on July 5, 1950).

Unless the President does the unorthodox and unexpected, extends Lomibao as Police Chief for another two or three years, the PNP Director General is by now a "lameduck" – coasting towards the end of his tenure before even having enough of an acceleration time to bring himself up to speed. The same will be true, alas, of almost any successor now in prospect to Art Lomibao. A quick in and a quick out!

At this stage, the bad eggs in the police establishment must be gleefully awaiting the coming retirement of Lomibao, so they can get a more "friendly" police boss, one who shares their shakedown sentiments and their enjoyment of the profits of racketeering. What I’m trying to say is that Police Chiefs, no matter how earnest or reform-minded, come and go with such remorseless rapidity that they cannot even hope to manage to put a dent in the system.

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We’re all for GMA pledging our cops P1.5 billion or so in housing and other subsidies, scholarships for their children, an uplift to alleviate their own poverty, and providing them with better telecommunications equipment, 40,000 new handguns, etc. Our policemen need and deserve all these. But forging our policemen into a fighting outfit which is trim, motivated and clean, takes much more than honeyed words and a few budgetary flourishes.

A couple of months ago, according to the National Security Adviser, Secretary Norberto B. Gonzales, Lomibao had gone over the figures with him and said that the PNP needed at least P33 billion to modernize itself, retrain, recruit and expand its reach – which includes, besides battling crime, battling insurgents like the Communist New People’s Army.

The other day, in this corner, I reiterated that the Armed Forces could be transformed into a formidable military only by allocating the huge, one-time amount of P100 billion to bring it up to scratch – creating a streamlined, well-equipped, adequately-armed, military force, which included helicopters, aircraft and naval craft, attuned to our needs in this 7,100 island archipelago.

While we're kicking these figures around, might as well put in what Education needs – hold your breath: It was estimated by the DepEd that P133 billion is required, if truth be told, to upgrade our dismal educational set-up – in which, by the way, by the calculation of the short-time DepEd Secretary Butch Abad (before he decamped to join the "Hyatt 10") more than 70 percent of our high school students do not even qualify for college.

Where to begin, since such substantial sums are not easily available at the same time, is the immediate problem. Each of the three choices cries out for priority and urgency. But we can tackle them only one by one. Doing all three at the same time would simply overwhelm us.

On the slopes of hesitation, however, too many a battle has been lost. No matter what: Let us begin!

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I wasn’t at the Camp Crame rites, but listened to GMA’s remarks on television. One of the things she said struck me. She announced that in the recruitment of new police officers, she had decreed that 15 percent of the vacancies be reserved for women. (This is somewhat less than the old Chinese observation which asserts that "women hold up half the sky." The Chinese have an old proverb to suit every occasion).

Why should 15 percent of the ranks of rookie cops be reserved for the feminine gender? GMA’s explanation was simplistic, though it held some sense.

She smiled as she hinted that women were kinder, gentler, etc. With more women in the police plantilla, she dimpled, "desperate housewives can now . . . what was it? . . . now Dial 117 for police assistance, confident that they’ll find a friendly face at the police desk" when they get to the police station. Now, it’s cute to know that La Gloria, like most mortals, enjoys watching that fascinating American television series featuring the fables, follies, and foibles of Desperate Housewives in Wisteria Lane (even Laura Bush does so, by her own earlier admission), but I’m not altogether sure that women are necessarily kinder to other women. On the other hand, I’m no expert. To the day I die, I confess, I’ll never understand them. If the Bible says that God fashioned Eve, the first woman and our world mother out of Adam’s rib, she and her daughters have been ribbing man ever since. (Please forgive me for that awful pun, but it was both vulgar and irresistible).

In any event: When the citizen dials 117 for police help, what’s important is that help comes, not another robber, bully or hoodlum, this time in uniform.

GMA was right to indicate that our policemen must regain the people’s trust. She pledged them police patrol cars, and other equipment, to enhance police visibility, so that our citizens could look at the patrolmen on the beat and in their prowl cars and feel "safe" that their guardians of the law are guarding them.

Anyway, many grand words were expressed on the PNP’s 15th anniversary yesterday. The men and women in uniform stood stolidly in the sun, absorbing the President’s message. Let’s see how this will be translated into action.

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In his own welcome remarks, a brief speech recalling the past 12 months of his stewardship at the helm of the Police Force, Lomibao stated that establishing 250 new police stations is the goal he has set for himself during his watch. Twelve new police stations are now standing in Boracay; Manaoag (Pangasinan); Panglao (Bohol); Baguio City; Cebu; Mambajao (Camiguin); Davao City; and Buguias (Benguet), he stated.

"Forty-five more are in various stages of construction and 34 more are scheduled for this quarter alone," he said. By the time he "retires" in July, he vowed, his 250-station target will be reached.

Then he retailed his own shopping list. General Lomibao disclosed that we need 50,000 more policemen, 20,000 more handguns, and 734 more police station buildings.

"We need 500 patrol jeeps and cars for our city and municipal police stations. We also need 180 troop carriers for our mobile groups in the regions and provinces to complete our mobility requirements."

"And these are just the basics," he reminded the audience in the grandstand – but those remarks were obviously directed to the President.

Lomibao, alas, is racing against the clock. Over his head hangs the specter of the fact that by next year’s 16th anniversary commemoration, he will be long gone. This is why it is essential for him to do something for which he will be remembered.

America’s General of the Army George C. Marshall (after World War II fated to help rehabilitate and raise Europe, including defeated Germany, from the ashes under his great Marshall Plan) said the following in his September 27, 1941, address to the first graduates of the US Army’s Officer Candidate Schools:

"Remember this: the truly great leader overcomes all difficulties, and campaigns and battles are nothing but a long series of difficulties to overcome. The lack of equipment, the lack of food, the lack of this or that are only excuses; the real leader displays his quality in his triumphs over adversity, however great it may be."

This was just before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sneak attack, on December 7, 1941. Within weeks those same OCS graduates were embroiled in combat – lacking equipment in an armed forces which had seen its battleship fleet destroyed at a single blow; Bataan and Corregidor conquered by the Japanese, and a war having to be fought on three continents. By the time World War II ended, with 10 million Americans under arms, the United States had assembled – aside from the Russians (assisted by US Lend Lease) – the mightiest army. But it was the early months that counted, with all of Marshall’s doubts set aside and the "difficulties" surmounted.

Can Art Lomibao surmount his present "difficulties"? This is the challenge.

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THE ROVING EYE. . . We had a quiet dinner with President GMA in a private Makati residence last Sunday, not to celebrate the New Year of the Fire-Dog, but to discuss some of our country’s doggone problems. It was a frank and candid dialogue, almost all of it I’m not at liberty to disclose. Some of this meeting’s conclusions will be announced by the President herself in due time . . . What I can say is that, at the tail-end, we talked about my outsized proposal that a one-time P100 billion budget be programmed for our armed forces to modernize it, provide our troops with the best weaponry and equipment, retrain them, rejuvenate their morale, and thereby forge a topnotch fighting force we can send into battle to crush insurgency and provide a respectable "defense" for our country. "I’ve already begun," the President said, "by giving the military P5 billion – and that’s for starters." Of course, P1.5 billion of that goes for housing for soldiers’ families, perhaps another P2 billion for streamlining the AFP communications network, the rest will go for weapons and other immediate needs. When you consider that annually, about P7 billion already must be earmarked for pensions and retirement benefits, P5 billion may look substantial, but is far from adequate – even for a start. Oh well. Once the concept gathers momentum, I’m hoping, it will develop a life of its own. I repeat what I wrote the other day: the first courageous act of GMA as Commander-in-Chief must be to trim the military Table of Organization, meaning fewer generals but more soldiers fit to fight. In sum, with the fat removed, the AFP must be transformed into a "lean and mean machine." It’s not wise to say: "Boys, here’s the money – come to us with your shopping requirements." We must redefine our military mission, then assess our hardware and software needs, such as planes, ships and ground equipment. Here’s how someone in the bowels of the military put it to me not long ago: "We must cleanse and rid the Table of Organization (TO) of sinecures, and superfluous and overblown titles and designations. We should downgrade the number of general and flag rank officers who have no meaningful command assignments. We must require our officers to work in the operating theaters, and actually man ships and fly airplanes. If there are too many high-ranking officers at the top, they will have nothing to do except create high-sounding titles and "commands" for themselves while enjoying the perks of star rank, such as aides, cars, housing, etc., and engage in playing golf and tennis. Etc." . . . By the way, one of the contributing factors to the increasing politicization of our military is the requirement that officers from the rank of Colonel or Captain in the Navy must be confirmed by the Senate. No wonder there’s such a coup-coup mentality in some members of our officers’ corps. An army above and beyond politics, an army of warriors, is what we must have for our defense. Easier said than done, but it must be done ... What kind of men must we have as soldiers of our country? I’m reminded of an unforgettable Commencement Address delivered by General Gordon R. Sullivan on June 3, 1995, to the graduating class of the US Military Academy at West Point: "Last year I was privileged to participate in the Medal of Honor ceremony in the White House. I sat there and observed the President of the United States, our Commander in Chief, issue to two widows the Medal of Honor, posthumously awarded to their husbands – two sergeants who were killed in a firefight in Mogadishu in 1993. Those non-commissioned officers of the US Army, the United States of America, saw one of our helicopters go down and asked three times to go to the aid of their comrades. They knew the risk; they did not hesitate. They did not hesitate. Courage! Courage! They defended their wounded comrade. Loyalty! They defended him with their last bullets. They defended him with their lives. Heroes! Three times." Remember the movie, Blackhawk Down? What General Sullivan spoke about was reality, blood and guts, not a motion picture. We already have such brave men, such heroes three times, in our own armed forces. We must give them the bullets, the guns, the weapons with which to fight.