Bodyguards

Additional bodyguards cannot stop determined assassins. The police bodyguard of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin was killed ahead of the congressman. Pasig Rep. Robert "Dodot" Jaworski escaped death not because he was dragged to safety by his numerous bodyguards but reportedly because he saw smoke coming from the side of his Innova van moments before it exploded last Dec. 12.

I never heard of a bomb that announced its presence and alerted its target by emitting copious smoke before exploding, but hey, we’re glad the young congressman and his brother managed to leap out of their van in time, just like in the movies.

Now Jaworski has reportedly armed himself and has an even larger security contingent. He is also tooling around in a bulletproof SUV. That was quick. Is the SUV bombproof?

Let’s hope all those security escorts won’t leave the guarding of his SUV to watch-your-car boys. Let’s hope the bodyguards can tell a bomb from a newfangled design in a car chassis.

And let’s hope Juan de la Cruz isn’t footing the bill for the upkeep of all those bodyguards.

Didn’t the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announce just months ago that it was pulling out all cops from bodyguard duty to augment the woefully undermanned national police force?

Like all the best-laid plans in this country, that one ended as soon as the announcement came out in the news. Or maybe sons-in-law of DILG undersecretaries get VIP exemption.

Now other congressmen, worried about similar attacks, are also asking for additional security. By the time enough cops have been deployed to secure 250 congressmen and senators, their wives, children and grandchildren, the Philippine National Police would be down to just half of its entire force.

What’s left can then be divided among the hoi polloi at a ratio of 1 per 1,500 population.

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And still the assassinations would continue, especially with the approach of the midterm elections.

Police have been careful not to declare politics as the motive for the attack on Bersamin and the blast that destroyed Jaworski’s car. Jaworski, after all, has also made enemies of drug dealers in Pasig.

But neither have investigators ruled out politics. Because from the days of our founding fathers, murder has always been used as a means to a political end in this country.

A century ago, General Emilio Aguinaldo eliminated his rival for the revolutionary leadership by ordering the execution not just of Andres Bonifacio but also his brother Procopio.

One of the ablest generals in the revolutionary army, Antonio Luna, was also executed by fellow military officers.

Ferdinand Marcos — or at least someone close to him — was widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his principal rival, opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr.

It’s not just political rivals who are eliminated. Lawmen during the Estrada administration were implicated in the murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito as well as the disappearance of PAGCOR employee Edgar Bentain. Both Dacer and Bentain were linked to efforts to discredit Estrada.

Even after democracy was restored in 1986, many political feuds across the country were settled through assassinations. Violence is most rampant in local politics.

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The attacks continue because everyone can see that people get away with murder in this country.

After eliminating Bonifacio, Aguinaldo held on to his post as revolutionary president. The killers of General Luna were never punished.

There is still no conclusive finding on who ordered the hit on Senator Aquino.

And the cases of Dacer and Bentain remain unsolved, with the brains unidentified.

The failure to arrest murderers – both the killers and masterminds – has been one of the biggest factors in the continuing attacks on journalists, leftist militants, lawyers and judges.

Murders of politicians are usually solved only when the victim belongs to the family or party in power in a particular area. Then the heirs of the victims are assured of full cooperation by the police.

Another way of discouraging the use of murder as a political tool is by curbing the proliferation of loose firearms.

But in a land plagued by extortionists masquerading as communist rebels and kidnappers masquerading as Muslim separatists, this is like shooting at the moon.

Because the government cannot disarm these brigands – it cannot even protect all those Globe cell sites from being destroyed by communist extortionists — law-abiding citizens are compelled to arm themselves.

This is true from the lawless enclaves of Mindanao to the urban jungle of Metro Manila, where residents sleep with guns at arms’ reach to protect themselves from "Akyat-Bahay" burglars and other scumbags roaming the unsafe streets.

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Cops who are trying to do their job and enforcing gun laws are often stymied by public officials themselves.

Some of the biggest gunrunners in this country are people in power or close to those in power.

They bring in the latest model firearms for themselves, their children and yes, their bodyguards, without fear of spending several years in prison for violating gun laws like action star Robin Padilla.

This is one of the perks of being part of a politician’s security contingent. Apart from eating better than the peasants at PNP headquarters, cops on bodyguard duty are issued the best guns and enough ammo for regular target practice – the better to do their job of protecting their subjects.

All those perks didn’t work for Bersamin. And they won’t work for many other politicians especially in an election year.

To discourage further violence, murders must be solved and the proliferation of loose firearms must be curbed. Both measures are beyond the competence of Philippine authorities.

You can almost forgive lawmakers for becoming paranoid and asking for more bodyguards.