PNP: Right minus wrong

The Philippine National Police has fielded an additional 600 police officers after a series of shooting incidents in Metro Manila. This came after a “businessman” shot a defenseless driver at the Ayala/EDSA tunnel and after a senior official of the Land Transportation Office was ambushed and killed by a lone gunman.

Congratulations to the PNP for immediately finding and arresting the EDSA shooter, congratulations to the MMDA for having a functional and useful CCTV camera. And thank you to the PNP for trying to do something about the shooting incidents.

But here’s the rub or why I entitled today’s column Right Minus Wrong.

For starters, the two shooting incidents are not isolated incidents of road rage or ambush assassination. Anyone who follows the news or social media particularly on YouTube quickly realizes that there is an almost daily occurrence of either shootings, stabbings or murder as reported on radio and TV.

I won’t suggest that we have high criminality on the road but there is a high level of rage and anxiety among drivers relative to the very low presence of law enforcers and actual law enforcement. That is why in spite of stiff fines or penalties, people still dare to disobey the law because they are convinced there is a greater chance, they can get away with it.

This is also why I oppose the No-Contact Apprehension because punishment must be immediate and not just financially severe. I remember a Congressman who was part of a ceremonial fun run of sports cars. He was reminded to stay within the agreed speed limit as a courtesy to the expressway and the organizers.

After some needling and comic jabs, the Congressman complained that his car was worth over P25 million. If necessary, he would just pay everybody’s fine for overspeeding just so they could enjoy their cars!!! It was meant as a joke, but it shows what other people could be thinking. Being arrested in person has always been embarrassing even for the rich and powerful.

The reason the PNP was forced to take the extraordinary measure of fielding 600 officers was because the two incidents were very public, brutal, and alarming unlike other cases that were only covered in the news but was not so