Last Monday morning, Aug. 12, 2024, during the flag-raising ceremony at Camp Crame, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Marbil announced that police officers are now prohibited from holding umbrellas for very important persons (VIPs) in events.
“Hindi po tama yan. Hindi po ganyan ang trabaho ng police. Let us respect our uniform. Pakita po natin na tayo ay may taong may dignidad. Hindi po tayo tao na basta-basta, pulis po tayo. Hindi po tayo bodyguard. Hindi po tayo driver. Hindi po tayo alalay. Hindi po tayo bayaran. Police po tayo. Police tayo ng bayan,” he added, stating that he wants to bring back the dignity of the police uniform.
The country’s top cop is absolutely correct in this regard but he needs to clarify some things in the actual directive, which has yet to appear on the agency’s website.
Is the prohibition applicable only to events such as anniversaries or visits of the top brass to police offices? Or does it extend to ordinary days?
Are police security escorts assigned to the same VIPs also banned from holding umbrellas even if they are not in uniform?
A few months ago, the PNP Aviation Security Group reportedly ordered all its officers at airports to escort arriving VIPs from right inside the plane and until they board their vehicles.
The same privilege is presumably given to the VIPs during their flights back.
Whether this is purely a matter of courtesy or to address a security threat, we do not know.
But among ordinary passengers, who is are only given umbrellas when it is rainy, the VIP treatment is bound to elicit resentment.
At the Catanduanes State University, where the administration is delaying the assumption of the duly elected president of the University Student Council (USC) on a complaint questioning his qualification as a candidate in the student polls held five months ago, the issue has yet to generate a visible reaction among the students just back from their summer break.
As one student noted in a social media post, the delay affects not only Virgilio Cortado Jr. and the USC officers but the entire student population they represent.
Why the Board of Regents acted on the belated complaint may be defensible as its powers of general administration under the law allows it to investigate and decide matters involving disciplinary action against officers and employees, and presumably students.
What is questionable is its decision to investigate Cortado himself, and not the COMELEC which allowed him to run in the first place and then proclaimed him as winner.
Already, the issue has taken political significance as the assumed prime mover is widely believed to be running for a local position in 2025 and allegedly wants to ensure that ‘friendly’ forces are in positions of power in the university once he resigns.
This week, pursuant to the BOR decision, the oathtaking of College Student Councils are being conducted during the student orientation for various colleges, with that of the USC officers missing from the schedule.
Is the university administration dividing the students with this tactic, to isolate them from the influence of the ‘unfriendly’ USC slate?
Would the rest of the USC express solidarity with their elected president and refuse to take their oaths as ordered by the BOR and the president?
Is the university leadership confident enough that it can weather any trouble arising from this controversy and thus prevent history from repeating itself?
Quo vadis, CatSU students?