Must cops be forced to bring own guns?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, July 23, 2008

It is one of the ironies of lawmen’s life. The Philippine National Police makes hundreds of millions of pesos a year from licensing private firearms. Yet 20,000 cops do not have guns.

That 16 percent of the 125,000-strong PNP is gun-less shows how society has neglected the police that it also depends on so much. People expect cops to straighten out everything from traffic to domestic violence, thefts to coups d’état. And yet they’re given only about P2 billion a year, or P16,000 per head, to guard 18 million homes spread over 298,170 sq. km of land. That budget has to be stretched 90 percent for regional operations and ten for headquarters administrative, crime lab, and investigation work.

Dir. Gen. Avelino Razon can only make do. Before dreaming to buy new firearms, he first had to inventory what’s left every precinct armory. Handguns issued to scene-of-crime investigators, chaplains and medics were recalled and given to patrolmen who needed them round-the-clock. And then he discovered they were still 20,000 short. A good portion who had were bringing personal firearms to work.

Licensing guns is the PNP’s top revenue task, more than certifying vehicles or security guards. It has been raking in a record P335 million a year under Firearms and Explosives Chief Supt. Florencio Caccam Jr. A year’s collection is enough to cover the firearms shortage, But the money goes straight to the national coffers. Nothing is left for the force to buy its own guns, unless awarded funds for it. Caccam strives to raise his take by flushing out unregistered weapons, in the hope that Congress will plow back enough for them to fully arm. If not, then our cops might have to start carrying guns seized from criminals.

* * *

The environment department says the deaths and destruction from floods and landslides of recent storms were acts of God. For one, two months of rain from Typhoon Frank fell on Iloilo province in just 12 hours. Compounded by high tide, rivers overflowed into homes.

But the department shouldn’t blame nature alone. Its own Bureau of Mines and Geodetic Sciences has studied that most poblacions are built in fens prone to slides and flooding. This is because of traditional Filipino reverence for their dead, whom they bury in the town’s choicest, safest high ground. Environment officials must show the maps to local officials who can then relocate endangered folk. Speaking of which, the local officials too shouldn’t allow homebuilding just anywhere, unless verified secure from yearly, thus predictable, calamities.

The department must also take note of what Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico saw, because it’s happening everywhere else. Sawed logs and rocks slid down mountainsides with mud since illegal tree cutting and quarrying go on. In most provinces, small charcoals makers are picking off what’s left of denuded forests. Gravel makers, usually related to town mayors, also quarry public or private lands with impunity, in disregard of environment laws.

* * *

Reader Jose E.J. Flores shares a sad experience with “that CTPL racket” (Gotcha, 21 July 2008):

“You hit another mega issue. In Oct. 1992 my father was struck dead by a ten-wheeler truck. We received neither condolence note nor flowers from the trucker. Following up the compulsory P50,000 indemnity, I learned that he owns a sister-insurance company that issued the CTPL coverage. To this day we have yet to receive that P50,000. There is urgent need to review if not totally abolish that useless law on CTPL. I also believe GSIS will make good in this ‘racket’ — for its members’ benefit.”

Gibet Buenaventura narrates a similar case:

“My soldier-brother broke his left leg last year when hit by a jeepney (plate number TVD 102), which was then out of route. The Manila fiscal dismissed our case, and owner Juanita Germar sold the vehicle. We spent P300,000 for surgery, but got nothing from that CTPL.”

Lastly, this comment from Manuel Espaldon of Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City:

“I was never for GSIS taking over the CTPL business because I do not relish the idea of doing business with it. It will be inefficient. But it was silly of the insurance industry to say that 60,000 people will lose their jobs. That many, just for CTPLs? So that’s why the coverage is so expensive. It is not the responsibility of motorists to support the livelihood of those 60,000. They are appealing to our sense of charity and yet the 60,000 fleece us. If the GSIS can handle the CTPL sans the 60,000, maybe I will change my mind. That is the consensus among us neighbors.”

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Dungo sa pulitiko

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Tuesday, July 22, 2008

NANG dakipin ng pulis ang mag-amang Mayor Alvarez Isnaji at Haider Isnaji ng Indanan, Sulu, sa umano’y pagkidnap kay Ces Drilon, tila nag-iba ang pagkatao ng dati’y matapang na Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez. Aniya, maaring magkaroon ng malagim na kahinatnan ang pagkaso sa mag-ama. “Nakokomplika ang sitwasyon sa Mindanao,” dagdag niya, kasi kung sa pakiramdam nila ay inaapi sila, hindi natin alam kung ano ang maaring gawin ng mga tauhan nila.” At tila nais pa niyang iabsuwelto agad ang mag-ama: “Mga VIP sila (sa Sulu). Respetado. Kaya maaring ‘yon ang rason kaya ginamit silang negotiators ng mga tunay na kumidnap.”

Napaulat nang husto ang animo’y pagkadungo ni Gonzalez. Sa ABS-CBN News Online nu’ng Hunyo 21, ang headline ay “Isnaji, son, charged; Gonzalez warns they may be repercussions”. Malayo ito sa dating ugali ni Gonzalez na pagsalitaan nang mapait at matapang ang mga kaaway ng Arroyo admin.

Ilang araw lang bago ang balita tungkol kay Gonzalez, merong isang kasinglungkot na ulat ukol sa PNP. Umano, 542 na officers na nais ma-promote sa full colonel o one, two at three-star general ay kumuha ng Police Executive Service Exam nu’ng Mayo. Aba’y 149 lang, o 27 percent, ang pumasa; 393 ang lumagpak sa buong bansa.

Karamihan ng bumagsak ay mali-mali ang sagot sa mga tanong tungkol sa dapat na desisyon sa harap ng nakikitang kilos ng civilian authorities. Naunahan sila ng emosyon at pamumulitika kaysa tungkulin.

Ehemplo ng tanong: “Kapag hinirang kang provincial director, wawasakin mo ba ang ilegal ng pasugalang jueteng? E paano kung pigilan ka ng regional director? At paano kung nakapatong sa sindikato ang gobernador o mas matataas pang opisyales?”

Bumagsak ang 73 percent na nagsabing aatras sila sa labanan sa jueteng kapag ‘yon ang nais ng regional commander o ng gobernador o ng Malacañang. Kumbaga, kakalimutan nila ang tungkulin at uunahin ang politika. Hindi ba’t ganoon din ang tono ng pananalita ni Gonzalez? Kung ganyan ang Secretary of Justice at pinaka-matataas ng opisyales mismo sa PNP, e paano na lalabanan ang krimen at itataguyod ang katarungan?

Finally, a solution to CTPL racket

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, July 21, 2008

One group of insurers opposes unifying the Compulsory Third Party Liability insurance under the GSIS. They claim that if GSIS monopolizes the coverage of motor vehicles against bodily harm, at least 60,000 workers will lose jobs.

Upon reading that, I asked myself, is that how many — 60,000 people — in the CTPL racket? I call it a racket because many CTPL sellers are fly-by-night. With no permanent offices, they just hang out at Land Transport Office (LTO) branches, then disappear at sundown. You can’t find them when you need to indemnify a person hurt or killed by your vehicle.

But before all that, why is there CTPL? The government in the ’70s required that all cars, jeepneys, buses, trucks and tricycles be covered by such insurance upon registration. It assured that if a vehicle accidentally hurts or kills a person (other than its own driver or passengers), cover of up to P50,000 can be paid. Good objective: the vehicle owner will have a ready source to recompense the victims.

I bet you, though, that in all these years you’ve been driving, with several bumps and scrapes to your name, you’ve never run over a person. You haven’t used your annually renewed CTPL policy. You can only praise God for it. CTPL racketeers thank luck that nobody has noticed them — till now.

For, the question arises: where does the more than P1,000-CTPL paid each year for each of the 5.5 million registered vehicles go?

Before answering that, let’s make this clear: a CTPL costs only P950. You must be wondering why you’ve been paying P1,100-P1,300 each year. That’s because the CTPL sellers, mostly unregulated, tack on all sorts of unauthorized fees to the basic charge. More on that later.

The total take of the insurance trade was P26.05 billion in 2006, based on Insurance Commission (IC) records. Of that, 6.3 percent, or P1.64 billion, came from CTPL. By law, insurance firms must deposit part of the funds in escrow for indemnities. But the CTPL racketeers don’t do that. They simply pocket the payments from unsuspecting vehicle registrants, then disappear.

Most of the CTPL certificates of coverage (COCs) are in fact fake. Comparing LTO and IC records, it appears that CTPL racketeers do not even report the COCs. From GSIS studies, there are more missing COCs than reported ones:

	2004	2005	2006
Registered vehicles (LTO)	4,760,593	5,059,753	5,530,055
Reported COCs (IC)	1,616,689	2,265,040	2,561,806
Unreported/missing COCs	3,143,904	2,794,713	2,769,768

But back to the claim that 60,000 CTPL-dependent employees will go hungry when GSIS takes over the system, figures are available too. The IC 2006 annual report states that there were 10,837 licensed insurance agents and 275 general insurers, all registered as intermediaries. That year about P6.27 billion in commissions were paid out to intermediaries. Of the total, 2.6 percent, or P164.3 million, were commissions from CTPL sales. Distributing the P164.3 million among the roughly 11,000 intermediaries means that they each earned P14,433 that year, or P1,244 a month. That amount was barely enough for transportation costs of a CTPL agent to service the needs of his clients. More telling, that amount could never be called a job. The 60,000 workers, if there really are that many of them, never had decent jobs to lose, to begin with.

In fact, the commission from individual CTPL sales is so small. From private cars and public utility vehicles, which represent 47 percent of total registered units, the commission is only P49 per policy. For tricycles and motorcycles, 48 percent of vehicles, it’s a lower P19 per COC.

Legit insurers consider selling CTPLs an “indispensable nuisance.” They profit so little from it, compared to clerical and administrative costs of CTPL policies. But they must service the clients just the same because the CTPL is required when the latter take out comprehensive insurance policies for motor vehicles, property and marine equipment.

GSIS president Winston Garcia says they will not really monopolize the CTPL business. The agency will still reinsure the policies with private firms, which is why another group of insurers avidly supports putting it under one roof.

The only remaining issue is how GSIS will service CTPL indemnity claims. That’s easy, Garcia says. GSIS has a nationwide network of 48 branches and 78 field offices, a 24/7 call center to all major cities, and accredited hospitals and clinics.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Ayusin na ang sistemang CTPL

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipinos Star Ngayon, Monday, July 21, 2008

TUTOL ang isang grupo ng insurance companies sa pag-iisa ng pagkuha ng Compulsory Third Party Liability insurance sa ilalim ng GSIS. Anila sa print ad, kapag minonopolyo ng GSIS ang pag-insure ng sasakyang lupa sa pagpinsala sa tao, 60,000 na empleyado ang mawawalan ng trabaho.

Naisip ko agad, gan’un ba karami — 60,000 katao — ang rumaraket sa CTPL? Sinasabi kong raket itong CTPL kasi marami sa mga nagbebenta nito ay fly-by-night. Wala silang permanenteng opisina; naka-istambay lang sa gilid ng mga LTO branches, pero nawawala sa gabi. At lalong hindi mo mahanap kapag kailangan mo sila magbayad sa nasaktan o napatay ng sasakyan mo sa sagasa o banggaan.

Bago ang lahat. bakit ba may CTPL? Inutos ng gobyerno nu’ng dekada-70 na lahat ng kotse, tricycle, jeepney, bus at trak ay may insurance bago sirehistro. Ito’y para kung, bukod sa sariling driver at pasahero, may masaktan o masawing ibang tao, halimbawa naglalakad o lulan ng ibang sasakyan, babayaran ito nang hanggang P50,000. Maganda ang pakay: Insured agad ang may-ari ng sasakyan kung maka-aksidente sa tao.

Pupusta ako, sa ilang taon na kayo nagmamaneho, at ilang sagi at gasgas na ang naranasan niyo, ni minsan ay hindi pa kayo nakasakit ng iba. Hindi pa ninyo nagamit ang CTPL niyo. Lilitaw ang tanong: saan napupunta ang mahigit P1,000 CTPL na ibinabayad natin taon-taon para sa 5.5 milyong sasakyan?

Dapat, ayon sa Insurance Law, nakatabi sa bangko ang bahagi ng P1.64 bilyon taunang CTPL, para pambayad sa bene­ficiaries. Pero batay sa records ng Land Transportation Commission (IC) at LTO, karamihan ng CTPL certificates of cover (C.O.C.) ay peke, kaya ibinubulsa lang ng fly-by-night insurer ang pondo. Suriin ang table:

	2004	2005	2006
Registered vehicles (LTO)	4,760,593	5,059,753	5,530,055
Reported COCs (IC)	1,616,689	2,265,040	2,561,806
Unreported/missing COCs	3,143,904	2,794,713	2,769,768