No laughing matter

Men in uniform, including the civilian-oriented police, are called generally as security forces. That is because they are supposed to provide security to the citizens of a country, whether in times of war or in peace. Anywhere that you get to stand beside a man in uniform, the general feeling you get is a sense of security. And that is without doubt a very great feeling.

 I emphasize feeling because security does not always come in the form of security forces making a grand appearance in full battle regalia, armed to the teeth and eager to blast away. As I said, just standing before a uniformed man is already a great feeling. In other words, a great part of securing the nation comes in the form of reassurance.

 For it is reassurance that builds confidence. And when people are confident, they are able to go about their daily lives normally. And when they do, the engine of the nation moves and nation-building takes place. People go to work and earn their keep. Businessmen open shop and continue to build capital. Capital pours into investments and the economy breathes. Children go to school to learn something and mothers are happy.

 But sometimes our security forces forget to be reassuring. Perhaps they have forgotten that reassurance plays as much part in securing a nation than just going on red alert or stand on a war footing. And when they forget the importance of reassurance, they make the citizens insecure, which, needless to say, go against the very core of what security forces are supposed to be.

 One very glaring example of this has happened only very recently. A few days ago, the United States updated a previous travel advisory issued against the Philippines. In effect, the United States is telling its citizens that, consistent with its previous travel advisory, travel to the Philippines continues to be risky and American citizens must take heed accordingly.

 To be sure, any country, especially one like the Philippines which counts on foreign tourism for a large part of its foreign currency earnings, needs an adverse travel advisory, such as the one the US issued, like a hole in the head. It is like a clamp that squeezes to a halt all blood flow to the heart. It is a great bonker so to speak.

  The ill effects of adverse travel advisories can be exacerbated when more security threats come into play, as when rumors go rife that terrorist groups are planning to launch a new wave of atrocities. Now, such rumors can be the work of pranksters with too much time on their hands, and who just want to play into the situation.

 On the other hand, there could be a valid and reasonable basis to entertain the rumors. One such basis is the fact that, in a terrorist-threatened world, no one can dismiss rumors anymore. Rumors, no matter how wild and farfetched, have to be taken with utmost seriousness, by the population in general, but most specially the security forces in particular.

 It comes as a great shock and surprise, therefore, to hear our very own security forces, upon whom we depend so much for our actual security and reassurance, pooh-pooh threats to security. Even if, in their trained assessment, particular threats are not to be believed, still they should keep their conclusions private. The public, nerves frazzled by global terror threats, do not deserve the snickers of security forces as if they have just heard the funniest joke in the world.

 Terror threats are no laughing matter. Period. What the public needs to hear from its security forces is a statement of reassurance, to the effect that everything is being done to check all rumors or information and that people have been deployed to beef up security. It is not very reassuring to meet terror threats with incredulous laughter.

 Maybe the usual goal of security forces in trying to project a face of nonchalance is to prevent the public from going into a panic. That is understandable. But just because it is does not mean it is the right thing to do. I think the only reason people panic is because reassurance escapes them. That should be the very first thing security forces must strive to do — attain a level of confidence in the public.

On the other hand, the surest way to drive people into a panic is for those who are supposed to protect them laugh in their faces to ridicule their fears. For when the first explosion comes, even if from just a firecracker at a birthday celebration, all hell will break loose, thanks in large part from the realization that their security forces are not only not up to their jobs, but could actually be against them by not taking their concerns to heart.