MANILA EDITORIAL & CARTOONS: Presidential reminder: ‘tambay’ is not a crime
President Duterte said in Davao City Friday night, June 22, that he never ordered the police to arrest “tambay” – street term for those loitering in public, from the words “stand by.” “I never said ‘arrested’. But if you are drinking in the alley in the squatters area and making a living room out of the road there, you’ll really get nabbed,” the President said.
Since the President spoke in Malacañang on June 13, at the oath taking of newly promoted police, jail, and coast guard officers, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has arrested some 7,300 people around the country. The chief of the PNP, Director General Oscar Albayalde, said those arrested were detained for various violations of local ordinances, including standing shirtless on the streets, smoking in public, and karaoke singing past 10 p.m.
Public complaints, however, began to mount when some policemen arrested even properly dressed people waiting for companions in city streets at night, on the ground that they were “tambay,” just standing by.
One man who was arrested while standing in front of a store in Barangay Sauyo, Novaliches, Quezon City, was 22-year-old Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo who was detained in the city jail. Shortly thereafter, Argoncillo was found dead and the police claimed he had been killed by two fellow detainees.
Whoever did the killing, Argoncillo died while under police custody. And the fact that he is one of the thousands of “tambays” arrested under questionable circumstances has added fuel to the mounting criticism. The PNP Tokhang anti-drugs campaign had the Caloocan youth Kian de los Santos; the police anti-tambay drive now has Argoncillo.
Members of both the House and the Senate are now calling for an investigation on Argoncillo’s death in the QC prison. The Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas has asked regional police officials to suspend the anti-tambay campaign in the absence of clear guidelines. “The CHR wants to know what constitutes tambay, because giving law enforcement the discretion to interpret it without defining it in guidelines is very dangerous and prone to abuse,” a Central Visayas CHR director said.
And now President Duterte has come out to declare that he never ordered the arrest of “tambay” –those who are simply standing by doing nothing, just loitering in city streets. Of course, loitering is not a crime, the President said, as he directed his anger at critics like some opposition members of the Senate and “deranged constitutionalists.”
The problem may lie in the implementation by some police forces of what they thought the President wanted. The President wanted the police to help local governments enforce their ordinances against such practices as drinking and gambling in public, against young men standing half-naked in the streets perhaps because of the heat, and against karaoke singing past 10 p.m. Not loitering, not standing idly by, not “tambay.”
Before continuing with the campaign, the PNP should clarify it with the proper guidelines, with clear instructions for policemen sent to carry it out. / Published
ASEAN EDITORIAL & CARTOONS:.
7.1. The Daily Tribune – Review selective indictments
7.2 The Manila Bulletin –Presidential reminder: ‘tambay’ is not a crime
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7.3. The Manila Standard –Time to pay the piper
7.5. The Philippine Daily Inquirer –‘Galling decision
7. Dami pa ring kurakot – Pilipino Star Ngayon -ABA-YARI silang LAHAT!
8.1. For The Straits Times
The Straits Times says
Cover gives freelancers peace of mind
Freelancers such as private-hire car drivers, sports coaches and tutors will welcome news that they can now purchase insurance to mitigate the loss of income during long periods of illness or hospitalisation. The first of such products, underwritten by Etiqa and created by local start-up GigaCover, entered the market earlier this month. NTUC Income is reportedly keen on offering a similar scheme. The development should be applauded – even by those who work full-time and whose medical leave is covered by employers – as it represents a contribution to the security of those in the workforce at a time of acute economic disruption. Freelancers who operate in various segments of the economy are particularly vulnerable because of the impact that illness or hospitalisation can have on their earnings. There are more than 223,000 residents who are self-employed. That number has grown, fuelled by new jobs generated by disruptive technology in sectors such as transport and food delivery.
While the creation of these jobs represents the good tidings of the new economy, it means that a larger number of workers may have to step out of the traditional comfort zone of the old economy in the years to come. So it is essential for the workforce as a whole to have recourse to a safety net consisting of programmes such as portable medical insurance for those changing jobs and, now, insurance for freelancers. This way, those making the transition to self-employment will have some peace of mind that they and their families will not suffer badly should they fall ill. Freelancers already face problems such as late payment and overdue wages from firms. They can do without the additional stress of a loss of earnings because of prolonged sickness. Enlightened employers, drawn by the flexibility that freelancers provide to their operations, can make themselves more attractive by buying insurance coverage for freelancers. Should this approach become the industry norm one day, then employers who are slow to react will be less appealing to the growing pool of freelancers. Still, freelancers would do well to step up and insure themselves because such schemes, like insurance schemes generally, need a sufficiently broad base of users to be viable financially. The premiums are not prohibitive and have been calibrated to cater to the varying financial capabilities of freelancers. The structures of assurance that existed in the old economy, and which were based on lifelong employment in a single firm, have been giving way. Credit for now mooting a scheme that meets the need of the times must go to the tripartite work group on protecting the needs of self-employed persons. So too to the companies willing to enter what is still a fringe insurance market. They have shown good initiative as well, very much in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of the gig economy.
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VEERA PRATEEPCHAIKUL FORMER EDITOR
– The Bangkok Post
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