For the last five years, misplaced priorities have been the hallmark of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Unfortunately, even a pandemic has failed to change that.
Recently, Congress has ratified the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) modernization bill that will arm thousands of firefighters across the country. Although the president’s allies have hailed the bill’s passage as a victory, it remains a completely unnecessary and unjustified course of action that would only satisfy the crooked president’s need to bolster his dictatorship.
According to presidential lapdog and senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, bearing arms would “allow for security and protection for the firefighters against unruly people, especially those in the squatters’ area.” The group of armed firefighters would then be called the Security and Protection Unit (SPU).
While the Senate first rejected the BFP modernization bill, senator Francis Tolentino forged a compromise by limiting the number of firefighters who would be armed. As a result, only 2,282 out of 30,290 BFP personnel would carry arms. According to Dela Rosa, each firearm unit will cost P35,000, amounting up to P79 million in funding for the SPU.
Opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan pointed out that “it is unfortunate that precious funding will arm our firemen, instead of upgrading hospitals in the middle of the pandemic”. Additionally, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who abstained, still has her objections despite an amendment that SPU firemen must “undergo neuropsychological examinations and periodic training as a standard to help prevent abuse of the firearms to be issued to them”.
Arming our firefighters is indeed ludicrous, as Duterte’s dictatorial and militaristic approach has had state forces deliberately and unjustifiably killing Filipinos – whether on-duty or off-duty.
For instance, there is the infamous case of Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who shot mother and son Sonya and Frank Gregorio last December 20, 2020 in Tarlac Province. Nuezca’s background involves numerous administrative cases of suspension, neglect of duty, illegal drug use, and grave misconduct, among others. Unfortunately, all of them have been dismissed and closed.
On the other hand, there is the earlier case of 17-year old Kian Delos Santos, one of the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s failed “war on drugs.” Far from cleaning up the illegal drug trade, the drug war ushered the worst human rights calamity in the Philippines since the Marcos regime. The disastrous consequences of the war on human rights outweighs any “good” it has done for our country.
The past five years have proven that the Duterte administration is incapable of ensuring that the armed forces will not abuse their power. Even worse, it has precipitated a favorable environment for more violence and brutality.The ratification of the BFP modernization bill does more harm than good as it paves a path to violence, holding all of us at gunpoint.
Aside from worsening the human rights calamity in the country, there is also much cause for concern regarding corruption and the proper utilization of funds in the modernization bill.
The 2020 BFP audit report showed undelivered and unused equipment and unfinished infrastructure projects (such as fire stations and fire trucks) amounting to P4.1 billion, despite their purpose of improving the working capacity of the bureau. These were then transferred to the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS) and the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) who were in charge of procurement, instead of to reliable and efficient suppliers.
Back in 2018, P852.68 million worth of protective gear ordered by the bureau as far back as 2012 from the DBM-PS have yet to be delivered. The DBM also only approved allocations for 2,000 personnel when the BFP requested for a larger budget to hire 10,000 more. Moreover, only 2,350 fire trucks were serviceable, according to the State auditors.
A Commision on Audit (COA) report also found that 1,094 of fire trucks owned by the government were acquired from 1950 to 1999, with at least eight bought between 1950 and 1959. Because old fire trucks may be unreliable even after costly repairs and maintenance, the commission ordered the BFP to purchase new fire trucks.
On the other hand, senators were calling for a review of the PITC after finding out from a 2019 COA report that around P33 billion in government funds were “sleeping” in the firm. Additionally, P9.6 billion in funds of the Armed Forces of the Philippines remain idle in PITC.
In 2016, only P311 million worth of firearms were delivered after the Philippine National Police (PNP) deposited P1.347 billion. Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon said that “government agencies engage in the services of this trading agency and pass on the budget, so that they will say that these are already obligated, when in fact, they are just deposited”. As the PITC has been tasked to procure COVID-19 vaccines, it becomes a worrying matter for Filipino taxpayers who are eager to see the pandemic finally end.
Now, where do the Duterte administration’s priorities lie? Apparently, they are still geared towards ineffective and useless methods to “improve” the Philippines, despite the more pressing issues the country must confront amidst the pandemic.
Instead of allocating time and effort to contain the spread of more infectious and vaccine-evasive variants, our corrupt president chooses to prioritize the ratification of the bills whose implementations will not do the Filipinos any good. Case in point: the certification of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 while over 18,600 of the Filipinos have been infected by COVID-19.
Instead of pursuing scientific solutions and decisive government action, the only response that power-hungry Duterte could muster was to heighten lockdown restrictions again and again. However, past implementations of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and other quarantine classifications have proven this strategy ineffective. Today, COVID-19, cases are rising more rapidly than ever before, even for minors.
Instead of focusing on more important matters such as mass testing, an efficient and equitable vaccination push, a functioning healthcare system, safe return to schools, substantial cash-aid, the economy, and so much more, the Duterte administration seems perpetually stuck on the wrong things.
Even though the president and his allies may try to conjure an illusion of competence, an image that they are doing something for the country, Filipinos can see through the smoke. The Duterte administration’s criminal negligence, ill preparation, and refusal to help its people have plunged the country into a health crisis that is spiraling out of control and the worst economic downturn since the dark days of Marcos.
We are suffering at the hands of our government — those in poverty remain stuck, if not pushed deeper in it — yet our own government continues to turn a blind eye towards our hardships.
Suffice to say, the Duterte administration has been, and always will be, pahirap at palpak.
Featured image courtesy of Manila STV.
