EDITORIAL - Look who’s howling?

Everybody, with media in the forefront, is in an uproar over the lax security measures implemented at the Marcelo Fernan Palace of Justice in Cebu City, a factor that allowed Canadian national John Pope to smuggle in the gun he used in his shooting rampage last Tuesday.

Of all protesters, however, it is media that should stay out of the uproar, unless of course its memory is so short that it has completely forgotten the position it took regarding a time when strict security measures were in fact very much in place then.

Back in 2007, when then RTC Judge Fortunato de Gracia was the executive judge, he slapped security measures at the Palace of Justice that were so strict, thorough, and efficient that media eventually howled, complaining that the measures impaired and restricted their performance.

And what were these measures? Why they were measures that should have been in place until now, measures that, had they been continued after de Gracia retired, could have stopped Pope from entering the building in the manner that he did.

The de Gracia measures, aside from the usual body searches and personal ID requirements, also put in place a color-coded, floor-dedicated visitor ID system. This meant that a visitor intending to go to the 3rd floor is issued an ID whose color corresponds to that floor only.

If, say, a visitor with a 3rd floor color ID is found on any floor other than the 3rd floor, then he is considered to be illegally loitering and is accosted, and if warranted, is escorted out of the building. In a worst case scenario, he might even be arrested and charged.

Not only that, a dress code was also put in place not just for aesthetics but to maintain the dignity of the building and the official functions being performed by the people therein. Had this measure been in place up to today, Pope in his jogging pants could not have gained entry.

But let us jog the memories of those who are now complaining — wasn’t there such a howl over these security policies that when Judge de Gracia retired, the security measures were, so to speak, allowed to retire with him?