Breakdown of law and order spreads

Sonia Brady is to reassume the Philippine ambassadorship to China this week amid deteriorating trust between the two neighbors. Philippine and Chinese vessels have been in standoff at Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine (South China) Sea. But hopes are high for Brady to mend gashes in diplomatic ties. Since she is an old China hand, former foreign secretary Roberto Romulo says Filipinos can breathe easy. Brady knows China’s system, many of its leaders, and their thinking. She was deputy chief of mission to Beijing in 1976-1978, and ambassador in 2006-2010. There is no better choice than her to calm tensions over sea borders. Her breezing through the Congress confirmation hearings was a strong message of Manila’s friendly intents.

Brady believes that China needs the Philippines more than ever. Despite bellicose jingoists in its ruling Communist Party, bureaucracy and military, China is striving to convince the world of its peaceful rise. Feuding with its closest, most populous neighbor to its southeast would negate this. More so since, four in five Filipinos have a Chinese ancestor. During Brady’s earlier stints in Beijing, in fact, the two nations were busy not disputing but increasing cultural and sports exchanges, trade and travel.

Brady will recount all this to old friends, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Minister Fu Ying, once an envoy to Manila. Perhaps they would agree to reach out in friendship once more across troubled waters. Intervening, though, would be the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress this October-November. A new Politburo and nine-man Standing Committee are to be elected. The top picks, likely Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, will become President and Premier, respectively, for five years starting March 2013. Till then, provincial party bosses will assert themselves, even in maritime, fisheries and territorial tiffs. Same with budget lobbyists from five Chinese civil agencies whose ships roam around Scarborough, the Paracels, and the Spratlys.

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“There is no crime wave in Metro Manila.” So declared the National Police last March, amid reports of brazen robberies, including inside a shopping mall where a security guard was killed. It was very wrong. Two more mall heists were pulled off since then. Not only that. Thieves also tunneled their way into banks, money exchanges and pawnshops from rented houses across the street. Two Chinoy youths, a Burmese child, and a Filipino engineer also were kidnapped. Assassinations by motorcycling gunmen went on unabated, targeting not just prominent citizens, but even a menial butcher, a rival suitor, and two mothers picking up children from school. Rape-murders increased. Dozens of college students reported injuries by snatchers of mobile phones and laptops. Middle-class subdivisions suffered a rash of night burglaries. Why, even a military colonel’s SUV was stolen inside Camp Aguinaldo general headquarters.

Not only the national capital region fell into big crimes. Robberies were frequent too in off-city tourist resorts. So were kidnappings for ransom and carjacking even in small towns. Drug trafficking surged anew in recent months, masterminded by Chinese syndicates, according to the US State department. Given the rise in shootings, gun running apparently thrived. Fortunately the police got wind of and raided a huge arsenal in a house in Maguindanao. In that wretched province, six witnesses to the 2009 massacre of 57 journalists and a politician’s female lawyers and kin have been silenced with bullets or chainsaws. Yet the NBI has not begun to solve any of the murders; prosecutors under their common Department of Justice are crying to the press.

The spate of crime cannot be blamed on the police alone. Other regulatory agencies have let ordinary citizens get away with big offenses, like running over pedestrians, dynamite fishing, and hillside quarrying. Shop owners illegally but routinely forbid return or exchange of faulty dry goods. Canteen operators disobey sanitation laws. Builders ignore fire codes. Manufacturers leave workers unprotected from health and job hazards. Office bosses and homeowners steal electricity and water. Ordinances against littering, drunk driving, public smoking, noise pollution, or road excavating are violated with impunity because no one cares. There seems to be a breakdown of law and order.

Why? Because hardly anyone gets punished. Filipinos do not demand better living conditions by plain law enforcement. And leaders do not bother to offer it, busy as they are with cheap grandstanding for reelection.

There’s no rule of law, only of man — particularly the influential. Invoking presumption of innocence, national politicians press for house arrest for indicted peers. They ignore the real issue: subhuman conditions in ordinary jails. Invoking compassion for the unschooled, local politicos demand custody of illegal woodcutters or petty criminals. All forget that crime left unpunished breeds recidivism.

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Despite the addition of two extra play dates, all tickets to Rock of Ages, stage version, have been sold out. So find a way to sneak into the Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati, weekend matinees or nights till July 8. Or call (02) 8927078 or 8401187 to beg for reruns.

You can’t afford to miss the mixture of performers Nyoy Volante, Vina Morales, Mig Ayesa, Jett Pangan, Jinky Llamanzares, Jamie Wilson, Calvin Millado, Bibo Reyes, and Aiza Seguerra (in roles and getups you may never see her in again). Or else, settle for the Hollywood movie version. Featuring ’80s rock anthems “Don’t Stop Believin’”, “We Built This City”, “The Final Countdown”, “Wanted Dead or Alive”, “Here I Go Again”, “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

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