Landmarks now tombstones
Former Senator Nene Pimentel may be the father and author of the “Local Government Code”, but I doubt if he ever imagined he would be empowering a nation of petty little tyrants who would create their own “pseudo police” and pass laws with complete disregard of national laws, policies or programs.
Former Senator Joey Lina meant to put civility and human kindness when he crafted the law concerning squatters, but if curses all take effect, my friend Joey Lina might not be standing from the anger expressed by landowners who have been “victimized” by chronic squatters or trespassers who now demand compensation by citing “the law”.
Sadly, those who are suppose to implement court orders and the laws, have also taken advantage of the situation by demanding mobilization fees to enforce court orders and evict squatters. So now those who are violated by squatters also end up being violated by some sheriffs or law enforcers.
The same more or less applies to the law establishing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). What was supposed to be a legislated equalizer for governance and development may as well be written off as a failure.
Muslim Mindanao may have found freedom from Imperial Manila, but only to fall back into “tribal conflicts” and political interests cloaked under the definition of “Muslim”.
Education has taken a back seat to “Islamization” and in a sad twist of events, some people even consider it discriminatory to call someone a “Muslim” and want to punish people for calling someone a “muslim”.
Last night someone told me over dinner how frustrated they were that the “Clean Air Act” as well as the law designed to institutionalize emissions testing has ended up as nothing more than a moneymaking platform rather than a tool to fight air pollution.
As I drive around the country, it makes me wonder how ordinary citizens manage to live with the day-to-day assault on personal freedoms as well as finances.
Every town and city features a “checkpoint” manned by self-styled police who are not real policemen. Rather, they are “traffic enforcers” who probably can’t even pass a standard test on traffic signs and language skills. Half of them talk and act like high school graduates.
Yet, the same “mob squads” have the power to put up checkpoints at the entry to Angeles City, right on the intersection of Pioneer street and Shaw boulevard, or anywhere they damn please!
They stop every motorcycle rider on the pretext of checking for robbers and assassins “riding in tandem”. They demand your registration as if they could authenticate or verify a document that has some words they might not even be able to define the meaning of!
In recent weeks, I have observed a gang of “poachers” whom I have tagged as the ASBUsados operating in the fringes of Makati City, thereby giving the Binay kingdom a bad name. I have tried to contact the good mayor Jun-jun Binay about the matter but all efforts have failed.
The Asbusados are none other than Anti Smoke Belching Units that set up shop on EDSA or C-5 within Makati and literally block traffic and create mini traffic jams just to stop every van or commercial vehicle so they can test their smoke emission.
Only in Makati have I seen independent operators stand on NATIONAL HIGHWAYS to conduct spot checks and arrests.
How is it that we require a college degree for policemen, we require them to wear uniforms and visible nameplates, to have official marked vehicles and signs announcing the presence of a “Checkpoint”, and there is an official memo on terms of engagement for checkpoints for real policemen, while “MOB Squads” of local governments roam the streets with no such regulations or requirements?
Why do we allow mayors to decide who becomes chief of police if they cannot even properly select, train and supervise their respective “MOB Squads”?
They stop us on a whim, tow our vehicles, but issue no receipts like the ones operating in the City of Mandaluyong.
So here we all are about to pay our annual income tax. Living in a nation with more laws than there are law enforcers and about to give yet another ship load of money to finance petty little tyrants.
Unfortunately the general impression or belief is that most if not all our legislators don’t have the guts, don’t have the interest, and don’t have the honesty to admit that many of our landmark laws have slowly turned into tombstones marking their failure and wretched curse on our national development.
Without doubt, the authors had meant their legislations for good and based them on successful or tested models. Unfortunately, many of these laws or brilliant ideas come from developed western civilization or highly urbanized and modernized Asian countries whose citizens are generally more educated and cosmopolitan.
In such cultures or countries, there is generally a well-established justice system and comparatively efficient law enforcement. Their citizens not only read the law, know the law but they also obey the law because they know that the laws are observed and enforced.
Sadly we are not such.
In the Philippines what we have are tombstone laws in the same cemetery where our justice system lies not in peace but in pieces.
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Note for DPWH and Mayor Benhur Abalos:
Ortigas Avenue from Meralco Avenue towards Lanuza, the road is so wavy we can use it for surfing training on wheels!
Pedestrians passing in front of Lourdes school Mandaluyong are forced to walk on Shaw blvd itself because metal barriers ate up space for pedestrians. Engineering common sense obviously overlooked.
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