At the scene of the crime

It is said that in the United States, it takes only three minutes for the police to arrive at the scene of a crime. Here in the Philippines, the police are already at the scene as a crime is being committed for they are the criminals themselves. This lamentable happening was exemplified yet again during that robbery-kidnapping that transpired last Sept. 1 in broad daylight on Edsa, where the suspected perpetrators are policemen in the active service.

Dismayed by the media reports on the incident, my grandson Quito, a graduating student at Ateneo Law School, exclaimed in disgust: “These criminal-minded rogue cops are a menace to society and should be banished from the face of the earth.”

My teenage granddaughter Trisha, a college student, bewailed the incident, saying “How sad. Why are they so bad, so evil?”

Indeed, these hoodlums in uniform are the bad guys, the villains who should be brought before the bar of justice and neutralized. It’s a pity that while they have sworn to “serve” and “protect” the people, they appear to be serving and protecting themselves by fearlessly breaking the law which they are supposed to enforce.

Yes, Trisha, that’s why they are perceived to be so bad. How sad.

My God, what’s happening to our country?

—BARTOLOME C. FERNANDEZ JR., retired senior commissioner, Commission on Audit