Gobbledygook BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 06/03/2010

Gobbledygook

BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 06/03/2010 Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Jesus Verzosa appears to have hit a brick wall with regard to his hugely unpopular plan for the nationwide imposition of a “total gun ban” after being told that two of the nation’s highest officials, namely President-apparent Noynoy Aquino and newly-minted Supreme Court Chief Justice Rene Corona, may actually be averse to the idea, as they are closet gun lovers. But just to be fair to Verzosa, he probably realized that he would be kicking up a firestorm that would be difficult to contain — coming from hundreds of thousands of responsible gun owners all over the country who would most assuredly be fighting him tooth and nail in court to prevent him from preventing them from bearing arms and providing themselves with the protection that the police couldn’t possibly provide — which is why he prudently backed off from pursuing the idea. And besides, he would be retiring in six months, exactly on Christmas Day when he would be turning 56 years old, the mandatory retirement age for members of the PNP; so he probably thought he didn’t need the aggravation. Seriously though, the proposal to impose a total gun ban appears impractical at this point due to the PNP’s critical lack of personnel. During last week’s edition of the “No Holds Barred” media forum of the National Press Club, Senior Insp. Kimberly Gonzales of Camp Crame’s public information office was cornered into making that admission that the PNP currently has a personnel complement of only around 130,000, which roughly translates into a ratio of 1:550 or one policeman for every 550 civilians, based on a population figure of 80 million. During the same forum, Federation of Philippine Industries president George Chua lambasted the strictures presently being imposed by the PNP on the carrying of guns because it leaves Chinese traders, who are favorite their prey, quite vulnerable to kidnappers.  In the 1990s, during the Ramos administration, the PNP proved so inutile against curbing the rising tide of criminality in the Philippines prompting Congress to pass the heinous crimes law which imposed the death penalty (but this was later suspended by President Arroyo due to pressure from the Catholic Church as well as several sectors of society). “If guns are outlawed (by the police), then only the outlaws will have guns,” he pointed out during the forum, as a way to underscore the predicament of his members..... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100603com4.html

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