THE PROBLEM: To be honest, I’m a little bit reluctant to write about this, as I may affect at least three families’ income here. Either this MMDA officers are ambiguous about the laws that they should be upholding or they categorically choose to ignore them to fulfill their cravings. Common sense dictates that there are at least three obvious violations here: illegal sidewalk vending, illegal parking, and the officer’s failure to uphold the law.
THE INCIDENT: This food vendor’s soup must be the stuff of legends, because very recently I saw a Quezon City police mobile stopped on the road while officers were also eating. This food stall is located in the southbound lane of C5 road, right under the overpass near the Greenmeadows Subdivision’s exit gate for pedestrians and just across the Wilcon Center. Now I don’t have a degree in law, but it seems obvious to me that officers of the law patronizing illegal products whether its illegal drugs or just a soup from an illegal food vendor is a big violation of the oath they took. Now, this officers may have just have suffered from lack of good judgment because of hunger, but the fact remains, that our country will never learn discipline when they continue to see our law enforcers ignore the law for their own convenience.
THE SOLUTION: It would seem harsh to remove these officers for just buying soup, but that is not for me to decide. All I want from the supervisor of these officers is that they don’t tolerate this behavior and give them a sanction that will really knock them back to their senses. If a policeman was sacked for not wearing a helmet while riding his motorcycle, these MMDA officers should not get away with it. Oh please, don’t even try to cover it up MMDA. Although the picture doesn’t show it, the first officer is already holding a soup when he turned his back on me as I was taking the picture.
More ‘Shoulda coulda woulda’:
– ‘No right turn on red signal’ causes traffic jam
– Better traffic light management needed on Makati Ave cor JP Rizal
– Streetlamps needed in Coronado Street
– Road barrier on Shaw Boulevard confuses motorists
– Deformed floor panels at 6750 Steel Carpark
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