AFP GET OUT OF BARANGAYS;
LET CIVIL AUTHORITIES DO THE JOB

Barangay Captains and their barangay councils all over the land should now assert their right as civilian functionaries to maintain law and order in their barangays.

They should do so before the nation becomes fully militarized under a president who is a captive of certain generals in the armed forces.

It looks terribly bad to see the sight of soldiers in full battle gear roaming around the barangays of the nation as if they are an occupation army putting order in enemy territory.

The barangay officials are the civilian arms of law and order in their barangays. They can assert that authority first by calling on their tanods to do so. If the tanods cannot do the job for one reason or another, the next civilian officials they can ask for help are the mayors of their cities and municipalities. The mayors can, then, order the police, another civilian agency, to go out to the barangays concerned and maintain law and order there. If the mayors prove unavailable, the barangay officials can always call on the governor and the sangguniang panlalawigan concerned to help them out with their problem.

It is only in the event that the civil agencies that maintain law and order are unable to do so that conceivably the military as military can now make their presence felt in the barangays.

Without availing first of what local government officials can do to maintain law and order in their provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays, soldiers should not inflict their presence in the localities. Unless the local government officials are unable to maintain law and order, soldiers should stay in their barracks and wait until they are called upon to help. Or perhaps, they can do construction work.

Their unwarranted intrusion into local government domain raises alarum bells that (a) during this election period, they are sent to the barangays to intimidate people into voting for the administration candidates, or, worse, (b) to condition the minds of the people that the law of the gun or martial law is inevitable and that there is nothing we can do about it.

There is still something we can do about it: denounce and condemn the militarization of the country as totally unnecessary, uncalled for and unconstitutional.