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 n the night of November 7, 2005, members
of the Police Traffic Management Group (TMG) aboard a Toyota Revo SUV
ambushed a sedan driven by three alleged carnapers.
Unbeknownst to the Authorities, the encounter occurred next to a building
that housed the offices of UNTV, a Cable television station. UNTV
personnel quickly fired-up their video camera started recording the events as they
unfolded.
The encounter might have received scant coverage in the press and would
have been quickly forgotten had UNTV not recorded what
unfolded next.
With the tape rolling, two policemen approach the parked vehicle. The
flashlights attached to their weapons show that the occupants in the
vehicle were already dead or incapacitated by the hail of gunfire that
struck the vehicle prior to the start of video taping, nonetheless one
policeman still fires off several rounds at the bodies inside.
Even more curious, two policemen are
seen messing around areas of the vehicle where a gun and license plates
were found. This has lead some to question whether both those items
might have been planted there by the cops themselves. Click on the link
below to view the actual UNTV video footage (discretion is advised and
is not suitable for young children).
Yes, we all agree that carnaping is a serious problem, but Rambo-style
shootouts, or Kuratong Baleleng-type massacres by police are not the way a
civilized country deals with the problem. If the three individuals
killed were indeed carnapers--and there now is some doubt as to whether
they really were--they could have been apprehended without the use of such brutal
and deadly force. In addition, the policemen in this operation were not in
uniform and their vehicle was unmarked. This has lead some to wonder
what person in their right mind would not feel threatened and try to flee from such a group.
Being in law-enforcement in the
Philippines is indeed a thankless job. The citizens for the most part, do not
trust or respect you, while the outlaws and communists will eliminate
you if you get in their way. But the Philippines needs to develop
an new breed of policemen; men who are well-trained, tough, honest, and
just. Mimicking American-style "Rambo" cops who shoot first and ask
questions later, is not the way Philippine police should behave.
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