Government has police power over “tambays”

Human rights advocates, perennial critics against government, and incurable radicals and ideologues who have not done anything constructive in their lifetimes, are berating the president and his administration for the latest campaign against tambays. Here is a president who wants to clean up our cities and urban centers from people who have nothing to do. Why are these critics complaining? The government is not ‘’inutil’’ to vagrants, idle people who are half-naked, standing by along alleys, either doing nothing or gambling with playing cards, having drinking sprees, throwing away garbage hereabout, spitting anywhere, and relieving themselves at the back of parked vehicles or against the walls. The past presidents have left these people alone, and allowed our country being dirtied by drunkards, gamblers, vagrants and plain delinquents.

Look around our cities, they are dirty, smelling foul and polluted by all sorts of nuisance and eyesore. In the name of human rights, city mayors and city administrators — who have the principal responsibility to safeguard the health, safety and security of peace-loving citizens — allowed reckless and uncaring men and women to stand by in all corners, doing nothing constructive and useful. All sorts of crimes against persons and property are committed in broad daylight, and don’t tell me that these ‘’ istambays’’ have nothing to do with all such shenanigans, either as principals, accomplices, or accessories. If they are innocent witnesses, they do not even care to help in the identification, arrests, and prosecution of criminals. Why then should critics put the president to task for doing his jobs to safeguard our peoples’ rights to a peaceful, clean and orderly society?

Any freshman law student would tell you that the government has the inherent police power for protecting the interests and rights of the greater majority of our citizens. The president, as head of State and government has the sworn responsibility to make sure that our cities are safe, clean and orderly. The president, the governor, and city and municipal mayors have the primordial duty to clean up our streets, to rid our cities from eyesores and nuisances. The people should either engage in productive work and gainful enterprises, or stay at their homes and clean up their houses and surroundings. They should not be obstructing traffic or occupying public places without any acceptable reason to hang around.

If these idle people have nothing else to do in the cities, they should migrate to the countryside and learn to work in the farms. If they have no land, they can work as hired laborers in the plantations, or lease lands and cultivate these for vegetables or fruits. They should not insist to live in the cities and dwell along esteros and river banks, then pollute the waters with their wastes. I was a squatter once myself but I did help clean up the communities, organized the youth and lead in the beautification of our surroundings. The urban poor cannot blame the government forever. They have accountabilities and responsibilities for their own lives and families. They cannot forever remain as ‘’ istambays’’ then curse the government for driving them away.

This administration has the will and the passion to discipline our people and teach them to become decently responsible. Only the irresponsible, inept, lazy and perennial parasites would resist an initiative to move our country forward.