Who’s in control?

Face shield, no face shield, face shield, no face shield.

Ano ba talaga, mga kuya?

Even William Shakespeare in his Hamlet’s famous line, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” would have been in a quandary.

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President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte doesn’t sound presidential when he makes an announcement and his underlings countermand it.

They ask, who’s in control: The President or his subordinates?

Isn’t there an old Filipino saying, Ang utos ng Hari ay di nababali (The king’s command cannot be broken)?

Just asking.

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Again, the Duterte administration does not speak with one voice on the issue of quarantine classifications.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque says quarantine classifications won’t be lifted, but the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) says it is studying the possibility of giving local government units (LGUs) the power to set community quarantine status.

“I do not have that information as the official spokesman of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) and spokesman of the President on all matters related to COVID-19,” Roque says.

But Interior Secretary Eduardo Año contradicts Roque, saying the national government may scrap quarantine classifications only after the country achieves herd immunity.

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GCQ, MGCQ, MECQ, MLQU, EQ, BOQ, MOQ, Bar-B-Q and LGBTQ.

Many of us don’t know what most of those abbreviations above stand for.

Our government is fond of using hifalutin’ words.

Why doesn’t the government just simply describe the situation as lockdown or semi-lockdown?

It’s easier to understand.

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Why Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) instead of Center for Disease Control (CDC)?

Why Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) instead of Department of Social Services (DSS)?

Why National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and not National Disaster Council?

Why Department of Budget and Management and not Department of the National Budget?

Why National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) instead of Metropolitan Command or Capital Command or Capcom?

Why Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and not Weather Bureau?

Why Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services-National Community-Driven Development Program (Kalahi CIDSS-NCDDP) when it can be shortened to Community Development Program?

The Filipino’s proclivity for using hifalutin’ and long-winded words is probably due to his feelings of inadequacy.

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A newly-bought Toyota Vios was confiscated by Caloocan City policemen when they raided a house in Antipolo City for drugs recently.

Why they were operating out of their jurisdiction was not known.

But the car that the Caloocan City police confiscated from the house of alleged drug suspects was ordered returned by the Antipolo City Prosecutor’s Office.

The family of the suspects came to the Isumbong mo kay Tulfo office after the police refused to turn over the car to its owners despite the order from the government prosecutor.

Through our mediation, the police finally acceded.

When the owners claimed the car – bought brand-new a week earlier – they found that it was stripped of its tires and battery and replaced with old ones.

Apparently, the police used the car when it should have been parked in the impounding area.

Receipts for gasoline, food from a fast-food chain, a crystal substance (shabu?) wrapped in a sachet and a night stick were found by the owners inside the car, proof that it had been used.

Using confiscated cars or those recovered from thieves is an old habit among policemen.

That habit should be stopped.

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When I was a police reporter between 1978 and 1987, recovered stolen cars were used by policemen as if they owned them.

The defunct Constabulary Highway Patrol Group (CHPG) and the Task Force Ancar (anti-carnapping) were notorious in using cars that they recovered.

When the cars were not claimed by the owners, members of the above-named units registered the vehicles in their names by tampering with the chassis numbers.

I’m sure the practice is still true today as it was during the time when I was a police reporter.

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Another police malpractice is using confiscated evidence, such as drugs, guns and knives, for “planting” on suspects they have mistakenly apprehended or killed.

It’s a long-standing malfeasance dating back to way back when.

The malpractice was bared when Police M/Sgt. Jose Senario told a Senate investigating panel that he and his cohorts invented an official report linking Mayor Ronaldo Aquino of Calbayog City to the illegal drug trade.

Aquino and his bodyguards were killed March 8, 2021, in a supposed gunfight with policemen who were trailing them.

As I’ve written before in this space, bad cops have the proclivity to plant deadly weapons and drugs on dead suspects who were later found to be “clean.”

“Clean” means the suspects were neither armed nor in possession of drugs.

Common evidence planted on suspects are confiscated shabu (crystal meth) or marijuana and the ubiquitous .38 caliber “paltik,” or home-made revolver.

When a dead suspect has a .38 caliber paltik a few meters beside him, chances are the gun was planted.

Stealing shabu or marijuana and selling or using them is also common practice among bad cops. These policemen are referred to as “ninja cops.”

A Philippine National Police (PNP) chief retired in disgrace after his colleagues testified during a Senate hearing that he protected his former subordinates who sold confiscated shabu.

Selling or using confiscated evidence is part of the sordid underbelly of the PNP and even of its predecessor, the Philippine Constabulary/Integrated National Police (PC-INP).