The killing of South Korean, Jee Ick Joo by police officers was the worst blow the war on drugs has ever suffered thus far. What made it ironic to the core and utterly disturbing were three things. One, the victim had nothing to do with drugs but the perpetrators took him from his residence in October last year on the pretext that he was to be investigated for his alleged involvement in drugs. Two, the perpetrators are police officers who are sworn to protect the people. Three, the victim was killed right in the premises of the Philippine National Police, supposedly the bastion of law enforcement and the rule of law.
And to further demonstrate how far the abuses of the police could go, while riding on the legitimate war on drugs, Teresita Ang See, a crusader against kidnapping and corruption in the PNP exposed another criminal activity committed by policemen—the tokhang for ransom racket. Tokhang originated from the Visayan words toktok hangyo which means “to knock and plea.” The PNP coined tokhang and used it for Oplan Tokhang where police officers are supposed to visit the residences of drug suspects and plead with them to reform. Hiding behind what was meant to be a legitimate police operation, scalawags in the police reportedly knock on the doors of people with money and have no connections and then arrest a house member. They then allegedly demand ransom or clean out a person’s bank account using his ATM card. SPO3 Sta. Isabel and his cohorts reportedly received ransom in the amount of five million pesos from Jee Ick Joo’s wife but they wanted more.
Why do some police officers commit crimes even if it means bringing down the entire police force with them and even eroding the political capital of the President? The reason is they feel they can get away with anything they do with impunity. It is unfortunate because surveys have shown that, generally, the Filipino people approve of the war on drugs. The President’s trust rating has remained high because he has shown political will to carry out his campaign promises and to bring change. The greater majority of the Filipino people see in him a man who is simple in his ways and sincere, and a leader they can count on to better their lives. The PNP Chief himself, Gen. Ronald ‘‘Bato’’ dela Rosa, is perceived as sincere, straight, and likeable as well.
The problem is that even before Dela Rosa stepped in as PNP chief, there have been quite a number of scalawags and bad eggs entrenched in the police force. An untold number of kidnappings in the past decades has been traced to men in uniform. Their right to carry guns has been the source of this abuse of power against an unarmed citizenry. And, since the unforgiving war on drugs has given them the notion that they can do anything unpunished for as long as it is carried out in the name of the war on drugs, those without moral fiber and a sense of what is right and wrong easily fall into the path of evil for material gain. Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief himself, has said that it is as much the duty of Gen. Dela Rosa to rid the ranks of the police of rogues and scalawags as it is his duty to protect the public.
A profound feeling of anger against these miscreant policemen engulfs me. More than 16 million Filipino people have voted into the presidency a man who had the promise of bringing about a revolution of change by his strong leadership and by being himself a good example of incorruptibility and simplicity. Yet, his political capital consisting of the vast support of the Filipino people can slowly be eroded by the shameless, ruthless and evil ways of rogues in the ranks of the police. There is no other way but to deal with them with the full force of the law and to start rethinking how to disabuse the men in uniform of the notion that they can commit crimes with impunity.
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