President Duterte, who fancies himself more as a law-enforcing “mayor” of the Philippines and less of a statesman also in charge of economic governance and other affairs, focuses more on crime-busting, starting with his anti-drug war to be followed with his anticorruption drive starting this year.
Don’t run after criminals first? One can’t question Duterte’s sincerity and empathy for the downtrodden, which the masses or hoi polloi have felt and reciprocated by catapulting him to the presidency through a landslide victory. However, he must take caution or maybe cushion, as they say, the bumpy “road to perdition or hell is paved with good intentions.”
It is worth learning from advanced countries, particularly Japan, on how they handle criminality. Their ironic advice is do not run after the criminals yet, but clean up the police force first.
As experience shows, you cannot clean it up simply by replacing erring rogue cops with fresh young ideal graduates from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) or the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA). In fact, this is already being done every year, but, in no time, the system eats them up and corrupts almost everybody.
Of course, leadership is critical, starting with the President followed by PNP Chief Ronald de la Rosa, who must immediately institute radical reforms with the support of Congress, lest the system corrupts and eats them up, as well. Duterte promises a “clean government”, while PNP chief de la Rosa declares he would “rather be accused of murder than of corruption.”
Numerous reforms can be done, but they can start with the adoption of many high-end forensic technologies that we see on many TV series. We need to upgrade our Firearms Identification System (FIS), as the technology available is already capable of identifying any registered gun used in crimes from a mere bullet shrapnel or from spent bullet shells found in crime scenes. In short, every gun or rifle and the bullets fired from them have particular distinct markings similar to one’s fingerprints. So cases of casualties from stray bullets during New Year revelries can easily be solved as it is now possible to identify with precision the gun source.
Anomaly tracks over “Trax”? We have always been the dumping ground of old technologies from the West, which are not only expensive, but extremely inefficient against more innovative technologies.
Let’s take the case of the three Canadian “IBIS TRAX” Firearms Identification System (FIS) worth P300 million that were purchased over two years ago, and found to be allegedly over 50 percent more expensive and performs only 11 percent to 20 percent of more advanced technologies.
Combining both nominal costs on capital outlays alone and actual performance efficiency, this makes the IBIS TRAX system effectively more expensive by 19 times, or by 1,900 percent. Conversely, the competing technologies are therefore only 5 percent of this favored FIS “TRAX” brand.
Worse, this computation is based only on the initial capital outlay, and excludes the high yearly maintenance costs, in contrast to competing technologies that offer no perpetual management costs. Worst, this technology dumped into the Philippines has already been junked in many countries for being obsolete. Whether we were deceived into accepting these technologies or whether there are tracks of some anomaly somewhere is up to the Duterte administration to investigate.
Lease fees or leash fees? Specifically, one IBIS TRAX system costs over P90 million, but can process only two to four bullet slugs an hour, compared to 18 to 20 slugs produced by modern technologies in the market.
Worse, IBIS TRAX requires a yearly management fee of P18 million, unlike the more modern and yet still cheaper systems, which have no perpetual management fees paid to foreigners as access to PNP’s own databank is handed over along with the operational know-how, on a turn key basis.
The TRAX system ties down the PNP to perpetual total dependence, as it could not even access its own data unless it pays the yearly management fees. So even if the PNP has fully purchased a system, it becomes useless as IBIS TRAX keeps sole rights to all database information generated from the inclusively PNP-procured cartridges and bullet scanners.
When the PNP tried a year ago to stop paying the management fees, the entire PNP Crime Lab had to halt operations. IBIS TRAX cut off the access codes to PNP’s own databank stored in servers located abroad.
This has likened the PNP to a docile dog collared into total dependence on a leash. So the LEASE fees PNP pays for the use of its own databank, must be called appropriately LEASH fees.
Trapped into obsolescence. Worst, is that old technologies have an inherent way of trapping you into obsolescence as you cannot interface with other technologies. The trend now among competing modern technologies is the harmonization of standards, thus, electric batteries, plugs, USB flash disks, electronic spare parts, etc., are designed to interface with each other, regardless of their brand names.
In IBIS TRAX’s case, which is trapped in its proprietary design, is not capable of interfacing with other forensic laboratories and technologies. Thus, on the fear all its investments of just over two years may go to waste, the PNP was forced stupidly to rig the new bidding criteria and terms of reference (TOR), stating that the new purchases estimated at P460 million must be compatible with the old IBIS TRAX, which is tantamount to saying buy the same technology, stock, lock and barrel, meaning the same compatible model design, warts and all.
Perhaps, what the PNP must do is to conduct an open vendors technology challenge, this time inviting not only the Americans and Europeans, but also Duterte’s newfound friends—China, Russia, Japan and any other technology provider.
Technological eyes and ears. Instead of hiring more law enforcers, similar to hiring more elevator boys and girls and various other nonproductive service workers, who do not contribute to physical wealth creation, government must make use of technologies. Closed-circuit television, for instance, which is increasingly getting cheaper, can be installed all over, so you won’t need too many cops, security guards, barangay tanod, etc., to achieve security. They can serve as the PNP’s technological eyes and ears.
And for those displaced, mobilize and train them into new jobs designed to build the numerous infrastructure and livelihood projects being planned for agriculture and manufacturing all over the country. In the drive to bust criminality, the Philippines must keep up with its neighbors and keep in step with the advances in technology as the smartest and most effective way to reduce crime and corruption.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com.