Your Jurisdiction is to Serve

This is the second incident I am referring to on my previous post Your Jurisdiction is to Protect.

It’s Saturday night, I was with my Mom and enjoying a little chitchat in Jollibee main gate. Commotion, a robber snatched two bags from two different women. To make the story short, this robber was seized not by the policemen but by the crowds. A Barangay tanod, so pissed off that his wife’s bag was one of those two snatched bags started yelling at the robber. Unsatisfied with his own yanking, this Barangay Tanod started kicking off this robber infront of the crowd.

Already immobilized, handcuffed even, this robber started crying for help. I could still see his bleeding face and hears his pleading voice but he’s beaten all over. My mom, a Human Rights advocate and an officer, reprimanded the Barangay Tanod, reminding him of a public servant’s “jurisdiction to serve” impartially and with maximum tolerance. This Tanod’s reason, though understandable, is outright inappropriate for his public position.

“Ma’m (he’s referring to my mother) if this has happened to you, would you not do the same? Wouldn’t you kick this man like I did?”

“Sir,” my mom said in high pitched tone, “what the robber did is unacceptable, it’s wrong to steal regardless of his reasons. But we are public servants and our mandate is to serve the public, to apprise those who are maligned, to defend those who were mistreated. But it’s also our duty to protect everybody’s rights. This robber is already handcuffed. He can’t fight back while you’re kicking his butt to death. Why would you fight with someone you know you can’t fight back? Lest, you are on duty as a Barangay Tanod, your duty reminds you to be impartial, to serve and not to focus on your subjectivity. Would you held yourself accountable for this man who’s now bleeding because you punched him really hard? I tell you, right now, that’s a violation of this man’s rights.”

It was a long night, thick crowds murmured everywhere. Everybody may or may not agree with what has transpired between my mom and that officer. But one thing I know of about holding a public office: you are to exercise your judgments in the most objective and impartial ways, you are to demonstrate maximum tolerance and you are to exhibit such qualities 24 hour a day. This way, you are not only serving the common good but you are at the same time protecting your rights and so other people’s regardless of their acts prior to the situation itself.

---
“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.And medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.”-DPS from Robin Williams.