First order: Stop

There is a new sheriff in town. And his first order of the day is one word. Stop.

This was the very first edict issued by freshly installed President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (or PRRD as his official acronym) a day after he assumed office at Malacanang Palace. President Rody – as he prefers to be addressed – issued specifically his order to the uniformed members of the military and police organizations to stop whatever shenanigans and illegal activities they have been engaged in through these years.

On Day 2 of his administration, President Rody met separately with the men and women of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). In his capacity as the new Commander-in-chief, President Rody impressed upon to all AFP and the PNP personnel he would be “harsh” to whoever violates his “stop” order. “Trabaho lang,” he told government troopers.

As he had promised during the May 9 election campaign period, President Rody announced on his first day in office his “stop” order to all uniformed personnel as well as the civilian components of the country’s law enforcement agencies. During his speech at the PNP, he called the attention of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), as well as the Bureau of Immigration and the National Bilibid Penitentiary (NBP) that they, too, are covered by his “stop” order, citing the many reported irregularities and illegal activities of personnel in these civilian law enforcement agencies.

As their Commander-in-chief, President Rody vowed though “to protect” any policemen and soldiers who get into trouble in the performance of their job protecting the people.

President Rody expressed his readiness to die for them also, or risk impeachment in his case, if only to protect those who risk their lives in the line of duty.

It was no empty boast from the President for he had in the past shown such readiness when he was still then a government prosecutor and later as Mayor of Davao City.

And many of these police and military men now retired from the service, several of whom he appointed to key government positions are witnesses and beneficiaries to Duterte’s living up to his words and commitments.

A day after being sworn into the presidency, the former Davao City Mayor went back to his tough-talking persona. President Rody minced no words when he read the riot act in his first-ever command conference one after the other with the AFP and the PNP.

To ensure immediate and strict compliance of his “stop” order, the President officially installed and promoted to their respective top posts Gen. Ricardo Visaya, new AFP chief of staff and Director-General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa as PNP chief.

The Commander-in-chief gave the respective heads of the AFP and the PNP the free hand to promote or transfer men and troops without his interference. But Visaya and Dela Rosa must answer to him to any thing that happens in the chain of command.

In his maiden interaction with the AFP and the PNP, the President first trooped the lines as part of the traditional police and military honors given to the new sheriff in town.

And in both speeches and occasions, President Rody recognized the presence of his mentor former President Fidel V.Ramos who he credited as the one who first pushed him into running for the presidential race.

“I have my orders from President Ramos: ‘Do what is good for the country.’ And he is the number one policemen thereabout now,” President Rody said as he looked at the direction of Ramos seated at the front row of the PNP stage.

Ramos once served as chief of the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP) which is the forerunner of the PNP. He subsequently became the AFP Chief of Staff after the February, 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.

For the next six years of his term, President Rody disclosed his every intention to closely monitor himself the performance in both the PNP and the AFP.

In fact, President Rody disclosed he would put up an electronic machine to help him keep close track of the records of all “scalawags” in uniform. “Because I will tabulate every record of yours,” he warned, adding they resign or be assigned to Sulu, known lairs of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who cut off heads of their victims.

The President, however, assuaged the uniformed services he would work hard to deliver his campaign promise to double their salaries. He hopes this will help these men in uniform be insulated from the temptations of corruption and crime.

But if these erring men in uniform still refuse or ignore his “stop” order, President Rody warned they would have one-on-one meeting with him at the Palace and tell him in his face: “(Beep, beep) sabihin mo sakin kung ano ang gusto mo?”

“Do not bullshit with me but do your duty. I will die for you. Do your duty and if in the process, you will kill 1,000 persons because you were doing duty and I will protect you. And if they will try to impeach me, I will hurry up the process and we will go out of the service together,” President Rody vowed and was wildly applauded for it by his men in uniform.

During the same impassioned talks before the PNP, President Rody reiterated he does not intend to rule like a “dictator” as what his critics and rivals accused him off during the campaign. It is noteworthy President Rody also vowed he would not stay a minute longer in Malacañang beyond noon of June 30, 2022.

The message was obviously directed not to police or military but more to President Rody’s lieutenants in the fields of politics.

Without elaborating, it was directed at any moves to lift term limits of elective officials through Charter change in pursuit of federalism.

He has given himself three to six months to address the most perennial problems of the country on illegal drugs, crime corruption which he promised during the campaign. That’s why, he cited, he won the presidential race for carrying the right message to the Filipino voters wanting change of their dire social situation.

“I might not be able to stop it on time, on the sixth month. But certainly, after six months and one day, matapos na sana lahat (hopefully all of them end),” President Rody said. “Let me tell you now, I will not run this country with a corrupt police,” he stressed.

So for starters, President Rody’s first order is for all those engaged in such nefarious trade: “Stop.”