Old PC glory recalled

Inquirer’s Feb. 3 editorial on the suggestion to revive the Philippine Constabulary in view of the abuses of the Philippine National Police did not do justice to the old Constabulary when it said: “History  has not  looked  kindly on the PC… primarily because of its human  rights record during the  martial law years.”

The editorial tilted the balance too far in a negative direction. Those of us who lived in the prewar years

remember it as a respected and effective force which maintained order (e.g., pursuing bandits like Asedillo  and Encallado),    put down uprisings like that of the Sakdalistas (1935), and fought as fearless soldiers in Bataan. Its motto was “Always Outnumbered, Never Outfought,” and it was featured in a Gary Cooper film, “The  Real Glory.”

Its bachelor officers were the preferred escorts for Manila society girls to dances at Burnham Park Auditorium on summer Sunday afternoons, when the  Manila boys were already travelling  back to work in Manila. The Japanese revived the PC, but could never completely trust it.

It was favorably compared to the famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police (the Mounties) which was not entirely above criticism but whose overall record was  respected.  Right after liberation, police functions were assigned to the Military Police Command which committed so many abuses that the Constabulary had to take its place. In short, the PC deserves not a qualified condemnation but critical  respect.

Full disclosure: My uncle Maj. Gen. Basilio Valdes was pressured by Gov. Gen  Frank Murphy to head the PC  against his personal  inclinations as he was a medical doctor with a  lucrative practice. (Murphy talked to him: “Basilio, do you know what you owe your country?”) Later my uncle became chief of staff of the Philippine Army, defense secretary in the Philippine government in exile in Washington, D.C. during the war, and one of the judges in the war crimes trial of Gen. Masaharu Homma (of Bataan “Death March” fame).

BENITO LEGARDA JR., otineb6291@gmail.com