In implementing the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or lockdown, there have been some disturbing incidents that caught the main and social media’s attention, and probably many more such incidents were unreported. The shooting of an ex-marine by the police which was clearly uncalled for tops the list. Then there was the incident of the fish vendor who was maltreated by a tanod, the 13-year old boy who was detained for two days, and the arrest of 10 government workers distributing food by the police. The intrusion of the police into the common area of a residential condominium and the private driveway of a Makati subdivision was also in the news and went viral in social media. In all of these incidents, a large majority of the public condemned the excessive police actions.
The reasons for these excesses are; the lack of specific guidelines of the ECQ, the overzealousness of the police, and the government leader’s rhetoric, including the president’s, encouraged that violators should be harshly treated. It also did not help that some of the police and tanods, are relishing and flaunting their newfound powers. There is also criticism on the fatigue uniforms that are used by the military and the police in enforcing the ECQ, and the use of Armored personnel Carriers (APCs) in policing social distancing. There are no potential riots and the people are not demonstrating, but lining up to get the government financial aid or food packs or buying food. These are overkill actions which should be avoided especially in a democratic country.
In this digital age with many technologies available for the main and social media, abuses are immediately and extensively exposed and act as a deterrent to and evidence of abuses. The protection of human rights in democratic, even in non-democratic countries are enhanced and will continue to be supported by instant pictures and live videos of unlawful and oppressive police/military actions. The brutal police actions in Venezuela, Lebanon, Hong Kong, and even in China are seen all over the world. While totalitarian regimes are still able to censor many abusive and brutal police activities, satellite photos, drone cameras, and CCTVs will eventually find multimedia images.
Tyrannical police powers have always been a tool of despotic/authoritarian regimes and most populist governments, and this is the paradox. That the offending policemen were legally charged and/or suspended and the mayor had to overrule the arrests illustrate the paradox. Despotic governments are insecure of the approval or affection of their people that they force compliance on the people. But the harsher they are on the people, the more they alienate them from their government, further eroding the faith and trust of the people on the government. They become more brutal on their subjects which will eventually lead to a revolution and their downfall. Classic examples are Jeroboam of the 12 Tribes of Israel, Emperor Nero, Duvalier of Haiti, Batista of Cuba, many Chinese emperors, and many African presidents for life.
All power is transitory and even illusory. Marcos power under martial law was almost absolute, but in the People Power Revolution, all the police and military personnel who were guarding Malacañang palace and the presidential family disappeared when the people rushed the Malacañang gates. No shots were fired and no police or military were left behind after the helicopters took off. In the palatial house of a Marcos crony in the province, which even had armed sentry towers, all the guards left their posts at the height of the revolution. True power does not need an army. Real power is being trusted, believed, and loved by the people. Think Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Jesus Christ.