'44 Minutes' in real life

We have all heard the line, Art imitates life. Recently we just had a terrible “rerun” that cost so many lives and raises many disturbing questions.

Some 11 years ago, the world witnessed a 44-minute shootout between 2 heavily armed bank robbers versus 375 officers and members of the Los Angeles Police and SWAT teams.

Unlike in the movies, the criminals hardly made efforts to hide but actually shot it out with all the cops with very little cover. The two individuals were certainly like no other since they were well prepared for battle. They were armed with AK-47 type assault rifles, modified M-16s, and over a thousand rounds of Armor-piercing bullets. For good measure they acquired materials and produced tailor made bullet-proof clothing with stitched-in place metal plates to raise their level of protection.

After taking a little over $350,000 the pair walked out into waiting police lines just like Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. They wounded 12 police officers and civilians. When wounded, one of the robbers shot himself in the mouth. The other grabbed a vehicle but was eventually shot in the leg by a charging member of the LAPD SWAT. The second man eventually died from heart failure and blood loss.

The scene was so unbelievable and graphic in its criminality and violence that a movie eventually resulted from the story the movie was entitled “44 Minutes”: the North Hollywood shoot-out”.

Eleven years later the Philippines experiences its own version of “44 Minutes” that gets mentioned in international news. But in our version, 16 people are dead, a few more are fighting for dear life, and only God knows exactly how many are wounded.

A father and his 7-year old daughter died in the cross-fire, a couple of security guards were on the receiving end of an M-203 grenade for purposes of shock and awe on the part of the criminals, one police officer PO2 Nixon Vinasoy of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) died at the scene, Superintendent Eleuterio Gutierrez of the PNP Task Force Limbas was hit on the head and is in critical condition. All in all 3 to 5 police officers are in bad shape.

The difference between the two shoot-outs is that in the US version, 2 men decided on their own to get rich through crime. The Philippine version has been a long on-going mini series that has started to gain violent “epic” proportions which involves “criminal investors”, War Lords, or “Handlers”.

Any respectable research firm or investigative group that studies the last 20 or 30 years can easily conclude that “Robbery-in-band” is a constant feature of crime in the Philippines. Every time Christmas or campaign elections approaches, “Robbery in-band” is an absolute certainty in the landscape. Yes the police and other law enforcement agencies have arrested or killed notorious “Criminal Celebrities” along with many of their gang members. But it is a curious if not frightening fact that someone quickly steps in to replace the fallen leader or member of the band.

Equally disturbing is the public statements from the PNP, allegedly based on confessions and investigations, that these increasingly notorious robbers are “Hired guns” of criminal “Investors”.

Some of us might say it’s just an alibi or hogwash, but I remember spending time in the hills of Palawan (some 20 years ago) with a self-confessed member of the “Celeste Gang” who swore to high heavens that they were actually “employees” of a very powerful politician. Funny enough, they also came from the losing team that tried to overthrow the Cory administration. So they were consistently on the payroll of some crook, politician or maverick military group. I was probably his only legitimate employer since then.

Crime has become a business and has become brutally violent. The money they steal is used in drugs, politics, jueteng and human trafficking. Because government corruption and “kick-backs” have been drastically reduced by changes in the system and the culture, we are now confronted by what we can only call as “violent desperation” to steal money.

I once read from Po Bronson that people only do something about their situation when the situation becomes personal. The growing incidence of high profile, “IN YOUR FACE” violent crime has now become “personal” for the Philippine National Police. A member of the SAF is dead, a senior Inspector is in the hospital, and a Superintendent is in critical condition. Five civilians are dead, 10 criminals have been neutralized.

But who are their employers? Who employed the killers that robbed the rcbc bank and killed 10 innocent people in Cabuyao, Laguna?

We must make this matter personal!

We must all join in the pain and the suffering experienced by families of the Civilians as well as OUR Police.

We must all draw the line and say NO MORE !

No more to criminals turning our streets into slaughterhouses of innocent by-standers and law enforcers. No more to ill equipped and unappreciated police officers who risk their very lives. No more to Political War lords and Mobsters who payroll cold blooded murderers to rob and kill at will!

No more to so-called human rights activists who rally behind known criminals and coddlers of assassins yet stand mute or absent at hospitals and funerals of innocent by-standers and police officers!

NO MORE TO INDIFFERENCE!