Police integrity, anyone?

IF YOU HAVE lost all hope that integrity could ever become a strong point of the Philippine National Police (PNP) again, think again because there is now a reason to believe why it would happen again, if it has not happened already.

PNP Director General Benjamin C. Acorda has created the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG), headed by Director Warren F. De Leon. Its mission is “to undertake the monitoring, investigation and cause the arrest and prosecution of rouge PNP personnel and prevent other personnel from committing other illegal activities.”

I do not know exactly how the IMEG is different from the National Internal Affairs Service (NIAS), also of the PNP. There appears to be an overlap between the two, but as the saying goes, “two heads are better than one”.

In theory, it is the NIAS that watches over the police, but could it be that the IMEG is the one that we could now expect to watch over the NIAS?

Whatever is the coordination between the IMEG and the NIAS, we are now reading a lot of good news about corrupt and criminal cops being apprehended and charged within the ranks of the PNP, including those who are already separated from the service.

In the past, we have heard so much about a seemingly endless procession of the rouge policemen, more commonly known as “scalawags”. I hope that this procession will already end. Kudos to the new PNP leadership for making this happen, and may good finally triumph over evil.

REVIVING AN ENDANGERED

LANGUAGE

Butuanon or “Binutuanon” is the native language spoken in Butuan City and in some neighboring towns.

Legend has it that once upon a time, three distinct tribes lived in the general area of what is now known as Butuan City. All three tribes spoke one form of Binutuanon or another, and were therefore linguistically related, if not also related culturally.

The three tribes were the “Lapaknon” (the people of the marshlands), the “Tausug” (the people of the river currents) and the “Kamayo”.

It is said that the “Tausug” people migrated to what is now Sulu, and the “Kamayo” people migrated to what is now Surigao.

It is also said that the “Lapaknon” people stayed behind, eventually becoming the modern day “Binutuanon” speaking people today. That would explain why up to now, there are very close similarities between “Tausug”, “Kamayo” and “Binutuanon”.

Today, Cebuano has become the lingua franca of Butuan City, and very few “Binutuanon” speakers remain.

Now comes Mr. Aljon Cocon, a young man who is a native speaker of “Binutuanon”. He has started a crusade to revive the language.

Having viewed his posted video, I contacted KomisyonsaWikang Filipino (KWF) Chairman Arthur Casanova through my Butuanon friend Blas Tabaranza, Jr. to help Mr. Cocon. Chairman Casanova reported that the orthography for “Binutuanon” was already finalized.

Meanwhile, I have also reached out to other Butuanons to help.