EDITORIAL — Slots for sale

Some personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) are now being watched.

This following the arrest of a Senior Fire Officer 1 assigned to the BFP in the National Capital Region for allegedly asking for ?500,000 from a BFP applicant in exchange for a guaranteed posting in the bureau.

Now Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said over 200 BFP personnel are being investigated for alleged involvement in the same scheme.

Such a system shouldn’t exist. We don’t have to say how unfair this is for those who are more than deserving or qualified to join the BFP but cannot afford to pay such an exorbitant price. But that’s not the only issue here, is it?

This reeks of corruption; someone guaranteeing a favor that might not otherwise happen in exchange for monetary consideration.

We all know how competitive it is to get into the BFP; there are always too many applications for the few available positions that in the end slots have to be raffled off to make it “fair”.

Then here come some BFP personnel who say they can make the impossible happen for the right price.

Is corruption something so deep-seated in our culture that even those who want to serve as firefighters, risking very life and limb whenever they get called out to respond to an alarm, are expected to grease the palms of those who can promise them a job?

Corruption is something that people expect to happen in the bureaucracy, but not something they would expect in a totally different field like firefighting.

One question we have to ask is how long has this been going on? We would like to believe that majority of the men and women of the BFP are honest individuals who aren’t involved in such activities.

Another question to ask is what’s giving these few rotten apples the courage to sell slots? Are they being protected by someone from higher up? Or is someone higher up actually involved and encouraging them to make a side business out of the BFP for a share of the profits?