EDITORIAL — We should not debate about security plans

The top police official in the region happily reported that Asean security protocol officers were satisfied by security arrangements for the 12th Asean Summit in December. The protocol officers were in Cebu recently to have a look-see.

But before we get carried away by that bit of happy news, let us not forget that protocol officers are trained to act in a certain way. For instance, even if they were not pleased by what they saw, they were not expected to ruffle our feathers.

According to our police official, some of the protocol officers suggested bringing in their own vehicles for use by their respective dignitaries. That is a very revealing suggestion made in a very diplomatic way.

There is perhaps only one country that almost always insists on bringing its own armored vehicles for use by its own head of state. And that is the United States. The US Secret Service insists on its own precautions.

As to the member states of the Asean, the security arrangements by individual governments are not generally known or made public. Maybe some insist on their own and maybe some would leave much of the job to the hosts.

But for a request to be made that an individual government would like to take security matters in its own hands, while neither insulting nor surprising, cannot but leave the impression that whatever is in place has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

In some areas on matters of national security, the Philippines has done incredibly well. Our contributions to the war on terror are in the history books. We helped bring about the fall of Ramzi Yousef, planner of the World Trade Center bombing and the plot to kill JP2.

But we cannot also help blowing our cover. A gun ban or search for weapons is a standard security precaution. Yet here we are, subjecting it to raucous public debate, right in front of Asean protocol officers. If they felt like pissing in their pants, they did not show it.