When I was inside the Ilocos Norte Capitol in Laoag some months back for an event that had President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. as special guest of honor, I noticed an advance party of several PSG personnel deployed around the capitol and two snipers positioned right next to where I was seated on the second floor.
They had a full view of the capitol grounds in front, and the road where the President’s convoy would be passing through. I asked these two men if there were more of them. But that was it, just two of them and positioned right next to each other.
Shouldn’t the other one be somewhere else with another view of the premises? Or shouldn’t there be more of them? I ask this question in reaction to the recent assassination attempt on the life of Republican bet Donald Trump.
This has changed the landscape of VIP security altogether and for good reason. Here in the metropolis, the number of people that go about their daily grind is so staggering that life has become so fragile and so fleeting.
Top level officials are not spared. The snowballing criticisms on Bongbong Marcos’ presidency will never stop and may even grow stronger as elections are coming again next year.
The so-called ‘Dutertards’ are horrified that the popularity of Bongbong is at a constant high level, and that their ‘designated survivor’ is falling faster than a loose set of dentures.
They have gone to the silly deep end by warning that Bongbong is embarking on a political career that would bring the country back to the dark days of the Marcos years.
Dark days?
I was wearing a pair of Oleg Cassini sunglasses all the time in those years. Bongbong’s victory was better than the victory of Alessandra Mussolini, Benito “Il Duce” Mussolini’s grand-daughter who won a seat in the Italian Parliament some years ago. Her victory was analyzed as connoting that Italians have forgiven their “dictator” and may in fact be amenable to having him declared as an authentic Italian hero.
Remember how the yellows have utterly disrespected the Marcoses when they were in power after the EDSA Revolt? By not allowing the burial of a former President and soldier in the person of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.? As accorded to all heads of state?
But then Corazon Aquino, as rumors would have it, approved the burial at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (LNMB) of a dog from the K-9 division of the PSG.
Nobody would confirm this, but nobody would deny it as well, but that story is now dead and buried (pun unintended).
The beefing up of Bongbong’s security must be at the top of the priority list of its current PSG head, BGen. Jesus Nelson Morales of the Philippine Air Force (PAF).
And while the PSG is stationed inside the premises of Malacañang Palace, the PSG accompanies the President wherever he goes whether it’s a local trip or an overseas visit. Needless to say, while terrorism still lurks around, with modern weaponry and sophisticated systems in warfare, a simple upgrade on the security of the President could never be a wrong thing to do.
But why snipers? Because a sniper’s primary function in modern warfare technology and science is to remain hidden at all times, thus avoiding detection. But from a long range vantage point, a sniper is used to provide detailed surveillance from a concealed position and, if necessary, to lessen the enemy’s combat ability by neutralizing high-value targets (especially officers), and in the process, cause disruption by demoralizing the enemy.
We have a number of qualified marksmen who have undergone rigid training in this field and can perform the job well. The Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) under the presidency of Chavit Singson can very well train future snipers in the military.
Manong Chavit can very well afford the training and sponsorship of future snipers for the protection of the President and the First Family.
The Senate as a mental institution
Voters need to grow up from the criteria of their choices for Senators. I cringe at the reality that the likes of the Tulfos and the dela Rosas would be crafting the nation’s laws.
We need to veer away from just popularity and feigned charity and generosity at the expense of the public themselves.
Bear with me please because my standards have been at a constant high level to that of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and several other Senators like Jose Altavas, Dominador Aytona, Isauro Gabaldon, Pedro Guevara, Roseller Lim, and Jose P. Laurel, to name just a few.
You see, the Philippine Senate has its noble beginnings in the Philippine Commission of the Insular Government. And under the Philippine Organic act of 1907, The Philippine Commission under the Governor-General of the Philippines served as the upper chamber of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Assembly as the elected Lower House. This set-up remained until 1935 when the Philippine Independence Act or the “Tydings-McDuffie Act” was passed by the US Congress which granted Filipinos the right to frame our own Constitution in preparation for Philippine Independence.
In 1945, the senate convened as the upper chambers until the declaration of Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It was resurrected in 1987 upon the ratification of the 1987 Constitution whose framers were personally handpicked by Corazon Aquino. It was a knee-jerk reaction toward the Marcoses.
Today, our Senators lack the mental maturity and respectability, especially during committee hearings when they cannot help but show their true character, like baboons displaying their behinds and magnifying their self-made stupidity.
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Random Memorandum: The State Of The Nation Address or SONA lasts between one hour to several hours and is broadcast on television, radio, and online streaming by state agencies such as the Palace’s Radio-Television Malacañang or RTVM as well as private media organizations.
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Factoid: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was consistently on the Dean’s list at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where she started a friendship with Bill Clinton. Arroyo was also a former Economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University where her eventual successor, Noynoy Aquino, was one of her students.
(Leslie Bocobo is a former Special Assistant to the Secretary at the Office of the Press Secretary, Malacanang, and a former Public Affairs Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources)
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