WE WERE amused by the post of lawyer and restaurateur Antonio Bartolazo Partoza describing the aborted turnover of command of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) late last week.
The botched ceremony was held at the DCPO grounds where director Col. Mannan Muarip was supposed to hand over the command to his designated replacement, Col. Peter B. Madria, from the Police Regional Office XI Operations Division.
In Attorney Oni’s social media post, he said the turnover instead became an “overturn.” Can’t blame him. Imagine right in the middle of the handover ceremony and right after Colonel Madria was reported to finish delivering his acceptance speech, the program was suddenly stopped to give way to the reading of a communication from Camp Crame!
The message? Well, it was ordering the halt of the program in order to announce that incumbent director Col. Muarip will stay and Colonel Madria, well, has to be back to his old post.
Indeed, what really happened up there in Camp Crame? Why the decision to have the DCPO leadership remain with Colonel Muarip? And who was the official whose decision to have the DCPO director position remain a status quo?
With this unwanted development in police administration, all eyes were on the acting regional police director.
If he is to acquit himself of any blame, we see the need for him to issue a statement regarding his role on the abortion of the change of directorship at the Davao City Police Office.
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The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has suspended the operation of Aleson Shipping Line as an offshoot of the sinking of a passenger vessel somewhere in the waters off Basilan. The shipping company is the operator of m/v Trisha Kerstin, the ship that sank resulting in the death of a huge number of its passengers.
In the same vein, the local Coast Guard headquartered in Davao City also suddenly became very strict in giving clearance to sea vessels plying the Sta. Ana-Talicud Island route. This started after motor banca Amehara sank off Davao Gulf waters late last week. The accident also resulted in numerous deaths and injuries to passengers who were able to survive the sinking.
The actions of both government agencies duly fall within the ambit of the often-said words and automatic action of making the sign of the cross every time one hears a lightning blast accompanied by thunderbolt. In the vernacular, people automatically say “Jesus, Maria y Josep” along with making the sign of the cross.
When this adopted habit of our people we mentioned early in this piece is related to the recent actions of the two regulatory agencies, it is clear that both the suspension of operation of the shipping company and the sudden strictness of the Coast Guard are all reactive.
And such apathy resulted in the loss of several lives and injuries to many more.
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So, the ordinance allowing traffic enforcers to clamp the wheels of vehicles caught illegally parked in Davao City streets is now in effect?
Well, this ordinance is one case of “better late than never.” We mean, even if the effectivity of the ordinance is many, many years late compared to that of other major cities like Cebu, we believe that it could still help discipline habitual traffic law violators.
It may also help reduce traffic congestion of which Davao City is identified in a survey. Yes, with roadsides where parking is strictly prohibited the total absence of illegally parked vehicles will definitely ease our problems.
Of course, we have to admit that the success in the implementation of the vehicle clamping ordinance will all depend on the seriousness of traffic enforcers in doing their job.
If the enforcers are easy prey to influential friends of violators, or easily blindfolded with paper bills, then the clamps will suddenly become non-functional or just automatically detach itself from the vehicle wheel.
