There is no justice in the Philippines. If it weren’t enough that the massacre of 44 police officers of the police’s elite Special Action Force was such an unnecessary tragedy, the reappointment of disgraced police chief Alan Purisima to his position as Philippine National Police (PNP) Director adds insult to national injury.
Purisima figured significantly in the bungling of the January 2015 PNP Special Action Force (SAF) anti-terrorist operation in Mamasapano that led to the bloodbath. At the time he was effectively on suspension on charges of corruption, yet had somehow inserted himself into the operational command chain. Worse, Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III actively covered up Purisima’s culpability in the tragedy and, even as evidence mounted highlighting Purisima’s accountability, baldly refused to apologise to the Filipino public.
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Even before the Mamasapano Massacre, Purisima had already been under the spotlight for grossly mismanaging the PNP. Under Purisima’s watch, the Philippines’ police had degenerated into a bandit force largely seen as profoundly complicit in the very crimes its members pretend to prevent and solve.
In late 2014, a road hijacking incident perpetrated in broad daylight on Metro Manila’s busiest highway was caught on camera. The ensuing investigation into the incident revealed the appalling extent to which members of the Philippine police were involved in the crime. The speed with which the case was subsequently “solved” is one of the remarkable features of this incident. It raises the question of how this story would have ended if no such photo had gone viral and attracted the attention of no less than Senator JV Ejercito among others.
Such clear evidence of mismanagement of an agency critical to the overall wellbeing of ordinary Filipinos should have, by itself, prompted its leadership to at the very least reflect and commit to atonement or, at best, resign as an act of personal honour. But in the case of Purisima, even a gross exhibit of incompetence and dereliction of duty does not seem to be taken as a cue to make a graceful bowing out.
The more disturbing aspect of Purisima’s continued role as leader of the PNP is how it reflects on Philippine society as a whole. One wonders why an entire citizenry long subject to police incompetence can continue to tolerate insults to their intelligence such as this.
Ultimately, it comes down to how Filipinos have been so effectively reduced to no more than a flock of dumb sheep utterly beaten and resigned to being merely herded from one pasteur to another to lazily graze. People like Alan Purisima exist because the people who are subject to them allow them to exist. A “democracy”, after all, is a rule by the “majority”, see — which means the character of the rulers merely reflect the characters of the people they rule over.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
What’s the reaction of the living PNP-SAF or the whole PNP from lower ranks to its officers? Nasisikmura nilang pamunuan sila ni Purisima? Eh isa lang po ang ibig sabihin no’n. Sabi nga, “Birds of the same feather flock together”.
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
Hindi pa rin po ba nadidinig ang kaso niyang estafa at graft and corruption? Paano malilinis ang kapulisan kung ganyang may espesyal treatment ang mga akusado? Ayaw nila ng trial by publicity e hindi naman inaasikasong mabuti ng kinauukulan ýang mga magnanakaw sa pwesto. O ‘di sige, para hindi mahusgahan o ma-trial by publicity aba e ‘di tutukan nila. Ipakita nila sa tao kung totoong may kasalanan nga o wala. E kaso umaandar ba ang kaso, hindi naman. May special treatment pa sa pangulo.
Why didi we allow Aquino to do his own thing, anyway?
Is Aquino a King? A Dictator?
“There are no Tyrants; where there are no Slaves”…a qoute from Dr. Jose Rizal…
Aquino is a tyrant, because we are his willing slaves.
Crooked Cops;crooked President; crooked Politicians; crooked Police chief…we have an over population of Crooks…
Dont forget that perhaps you’re one of those who voted them into their positions. Nothing personal buddy but we the voters are the ones who gave them the opportunity to do this to us.Next election respect our votes!
Not only what the title said. Purisima exists because there are a lot of Filipinos like him. They all want to get rich at others’ expense, even at the expense of others’ lives.
Yes. You deserve the government you elect. You deserve the government you tolerate.
Please,Filipino’s aren’t electing anyone that is not supposed to win,get it?
@ Benigno, Please….the Philippines is NOT a democracy.At best it is a ‘Feudal Oligarchy’. I agree that ‘majority rule’ in a real democracy would mean that Pieces of SHIT, like this guy Puirsimia could not get appointed town stray dog-catcher….BUT BUT BUT, the elections are rigged, one way or another (Smart-o-matic machines rigged to produce the desired victor,flash drives with votes on them disappearing when the ‘right’ person doesn’t win,vote buying…I could go on,but why?) and until,as you stated in the essay: Filipino’s DO NOT ‘allow them to exist’, Filipino’s will get exactly what they get now. A big stiff D!@K in the ass.
How do you NOT allow something or someone to NOT exist? IF you need to actually be told the answer:ASK THE Virtual Vigilante.
the guy in the picture has the kind of face that just looks like it needs to be punched,many times,HARD.Like it needs to have teeth knocked out, eyes blackened, nose? BROKEN,skull fractured, u kno,complete overhaul by an angry mob….things like that,it MIGHT give the POS some ‘character’.
Purisima, that corrupt PNP Police Chief, looks like, he is a suspected criminal in the “Rogue Gallery”, in Police Uniform…
Just put: “Wanted: Dead or Alive” on top of his picture…and he fits the personality of a “bandido/desperado”, in the Wild Wild West…
Yes, Mr.president……..After the allegations, misconduct, and badly tarnished image of the leadership of PNP, there was still no move on your part to at least appeased the citizenry regarding the issue.