It is quite disturbing – and certainly not amusing – to hear ranking officials of government, especially among those in the police and military establishments, to wash their dirty linen in public. While we cannot fault them for exercising their right and freedom to speak, they are, however, bound by the nature of public office.
As public officials, they are supposed to observe proper decorum on where and how to ventilate their sentiments, grievances, or complaints. No matter how legitimate or valid these sentiments are, it behooves those working in government to follow and go through proper channels.
Many of these policy issues and even operational squabbles come out unwittingly in media. This mostly happens when the conflict that arises is imbued with public interest and the welfare of the people comes into play.
But the worse kind of intramurals in the government is when these squabbling public officials wittingly use the media to hit at each other. Some even employ black propaganda operators to do the dirty job for them.
So it came to pass these feuding officials throwing serious allegations against each other reached the desk, if not the attention of President Benigno “Noy†Aquino III. Apparently hitting the raw nerve of President Aquino, he finally declared enough is enough of these squabbles.
For two consecutive days, President Aquino made it clear he will no longer allow such public display of infighting, backstabbing among these feuding government officials. The message was clear to all his presidential appointees.
The President first read the riot act to feuding top officials of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC). At the 35th PNPA commencement exercises last Monday in Silang, Cavite, President Aquino took the occasion to sternly remind the bickering officials of the two institutions that are supposed to train cadets as future police officers of the country.
P-Noy told reporters later he is getting pissed at the lingering feud between the leadership of Chief Superintendent Noel Constantino as director of the PNPA and Ruben Platon as president of the PPSC. At the informal news briefing after the PNPA graduation rites, the President said: “This squabble has been here for a long time and I’m not happy about it.â€
Speaking as Commander-in-chief, President Aquino announced to the press “an action†on reports of the feud of the two is forthcoming. The President did not elaborate but it would be worth waiting what the forthcoming action could be.
The reported simmering rift between the two started when Constantino ordered the dismantling of vending stalls inside the school grounds in November 2013 supposedly as part of reforms at the mis-supervised PNPA, to the chagrin of Platon.
The Constantino-Platon feud came to head days before the graduation of this year’s batch of PNPA class when the name of Platon was not included as signatory in the diploma of the graduates. The signature of the PPSC president is required in the diploma of PNPA graduates per rules of the Civil Service Commission as this is the agency that supervises the curriculum of the police academy. Platon sought the intervention of the Office of the Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to compel Constantino to correct the situation.
So apparently everything was settled and the PNPA graduation took place without any more hitches. However, this latest hullaballoo did not sit well with President Aquino.
It turned out, per P-Noy’s own public admission the next day, he was keenly observing how the bickering between these two officials had visibly affected the PNPA cadets.
At the recognition awards of outstanding policemen held at PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City yesterday, President Aquino confessed he was disturbed until he slept that night after attending the PNPA graduation rites.
Doing an extemporaneous speech yesterday, President Aquino admitted he was tempted to ask the two warring officials: “Ano ba kayo, mga bata?†Ascribing to the resulting effects of the feud between his two presidential appointees, P-Noy went to great lengths to explain his frustration.
President Aquino related how disappointed he was to see some PNPA cadets wearing very tight pants in their government-issued gala uniforms. “Bakit kaya
ganito ‘to? Medyo sobrang pagtitipid yata ng sastre. At kung nagtipid ‘yong sastre, bakit kaya siya na-obligang magtipid? Siyempre, mayroon rin tayong ‘lowest bidder,’ sigurong pinag-uusapan diyan. Dami hong pumapasok sa kaisipan nating ‘bakit?â€
While doing the traditional trooping of the line, P-Noy who has a good ear for music, noted the bass drum that dictates the cadence of the march sounded “basag†(broken). Despite this obvious poor maintenance of the musical instrument, President Aquino cited the PNPA cadets did much honor to their march with much pomp and gallantry.
That was the last straw that finally made him confront the PSPC president. “Pati ba naman drum hindi n’ya maasikaso!†the President asked in obvious disgust.
At the same occasion yesterday, President Aquino let out a mouthful on a police officer who publicly complained about being reassigned after his unit’s successful operation that captured businessman Delfin Lee, one of the five most wanted fugitives in the country. Lee is the president of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. who allegedly defrauded Pag-Ibig Fund of almost P6.6 billion by using fake borrowers and fake documents.
Although he did not name names, the President lambasted Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa, former head of Task Force Tugis. Capa went to town to gripe against PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima who relieved him after Lee’s arrest. By taking to task Capa, P-Noy obviously upheld Purisima’s decision.
Call it minor things. But it’s about time P-Noy showed his fangs and told them in their face who’s the Commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, two feuding Customs deputies have reportedly patched up their differences before it reaches P-Noy. Obviously, they got warned.
With 820 days still left of his term, P-Noy must show to everyone, especially his underlings, that he is not yet a lame duck President.