A few weeks ago, a march comprised of groups against PGMA which included former VP Guingona, Sen. Madrigal, Father Robert Reyes, former Congressman and TV personality Oscar Orbos, and others were hosed down as they approached near Malacanang as a part of the governments' Calibrated Preemptive Response.

The Commision on Human Rights is presently looking on the matter of the CRP. In a televised forum, the head of the CHR has stated that whatever policies the government wishes to enforce regarding the matter, a primary consideration is that the points of the policies or guidelines must be announced to the public and not be held secret.

A few months ago, a robbery was perpetrated along a town near the metropolis. The make of the getaway vehicle and its direction of escape was taken and sent to outlying law enforcement departments. A detachment got wind that the getaway vehicle was near their area and they promptly responded. While the vehicle was parked in a gas station, the law enforcers enveloped it and immediately fired peppering it to swiss cheese. Sensing no return fire after a while, the cops decided to open the doors. To everyone's horror, espescially those inside, the vehicle was not filled with robbers armed with high powered firearms but with families on their way to a picnic. The info was wrong! Fortunately no one miraculously got hurt. The cops immediately made themselves scarce.

Some years ago in Cebu, the NBI was following a van they believed carrying their wanted suspects. They nonchalantly cornered it and without a word turned it not into swiss cheese but more like a cheese grater. There were injuries on those inside. It turned out to be a mistake as the victims just happened to have the same kind and color of van.

Read:
Wenceslao: Ghost shooters on the loose
By Bong Wenceslao

Indepth Views
with Juan L. Mercado
Bloody 'Turkey shoots' here, too?

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Nalzaro: What justifying circumstance?
By Bobby G. Nalzaro

Several years ago, a police action force blockaded several streets toward the home of their intended target, a drug kingpin with alleged association to a senator of the land. The cops were dressed in black with bonnets to boot. A vehicle came their way. The driver obviously got scared and tried to turn back. The cops did not hesitate to fire their way. Actually, the car belonged to the kingpin (but the cops did not know that). Unfortunately, the driver asked to be lent the car from the kingpin as his family had an affair. His child did not survive.

A demented man took a child hostage in a Pasay bus terminal holding a knife against the boy. THe demented man poked him several times so that he was visibly bleeding. The cops were pressed into action and act they did. They fired a volley. The man was hit and tried to stagger away at which the cops closed in on him while firing away while he was still clutching the child. Then the man fell. The child was pulled away from him at which point the cops tried to double the hostage takers weight in lead. With 4 bullets of his own, the child did not survive the attempted rescue on his behalf. The hostage drama and rescue attempt was filmed by the media in its entirety. The cops involved were sent on a vacation for re-training.

When the PACC under Vice President Estrada was still active, it attempted to foil the kidnapping of the daughter of a wealthy Fil-Chinese. Her name was Charlene Sy. Intel was relayed to other members of the PACC that the attempt was prevented and that the would be kidnappers were fleeing empty handed in a certain direction in a certain car. A group of the PACC cornered the said car and turned it into a sieve. They didn't stop firing till tomato juice leaked everywhere. It was the getaway vehicle all right. But when they opened the doors; Lo and Behold, the victim was slumped inside, DEAD! They took all the occupants out and let them baked under the sun while waiting for VP and PACC chief Estrada to arrive for that all valuable phot op. She was left side by side with the persons who caused her death. Or could it be that the people who caused her demise were the ones still alive and standing around her? Her funeral march would stretch 4 miles.




Common to all of the cases above is the question of whether the rules of engagement were followed.

But what are the rules of engagement?

When is it allowed to shoot into a vehicle? When is it appropriate to shoot at the tires? Should law enforcers try to give chase or should they just fire away at their heart's content?

Must law enforcement announce themselves first or must it be left to the judgement of civilians that those infront of them are the law enforcers instead of the law breakers? Should the civilians make a mistake of thinking that infront of them are law breakers and try to escape, are cops now allowed to use deadly or even fatal force?

When a demonstration member is on the retreat, are riot police allowed to hit them still with their battons or shields? How about when the demo member is already prostrate on the ground and bleeding from the head down? And when the riot police do strike, is there are a protocol of where their battons should be aimed at? Should it be at the torso, the arms, the legs, or the head?

When can tear gas be used? When is it allowed to hose down demonstrators already? At what distance from the protected target?

There is all these talks presently of reviewing and revising the rules of engagement. But who knows what they presently contain? These should be the basis of determining whether law enforcers overstep their bounds. Yet the rules are nowhere to be found. The website of the PNP is a bust. Its presently just a facade with practically no info to give. Even the website of the CHR doesn't contain them. The website of the NBI says it's still under construction. Talkshow hosts also have not been sharp enough to ask law enforcers what the rules of engagement are.

An admirable thing when you watch all those foreign cop chases is that even though the law enforcers are given a hard time in catching up with the suspects or even if the suspects resists or even when the suspects shoots it out; in many of the cases the suspects are taken in alive!

Can anyone give us the rules of engagement so we can determine for ourselves if what law enforcers are doing are still correct?

Do the cops even know what they are?