Tacloban Cops on Duty?!

This is a first for me in our store! We've had local police officers visit our store many times in the past. But these two (and their lady companion) are a breed apart.


From what their nameplates say, these two policemen are Esperas and Monteza. I don't know how to read the different insignia on their uniforms so i couldn't determine their rank. These photos were taken off our store security camera on 29 July 2008, a day after their first visit to the store. It was their visit the day before that's the real story.

On 28 July 2008, these two policemen together with a lady companion came to our store in the morning. They wanted to buy several pairs of denim jeans that we sell at Php380 each. They wanted to buy the jeans at Php300; we couldn't go that low since that would mean a loss for us. So instead we offered them a final price of Php350 per pair - a price that is still lower than our final price of Php360.

I guess they really wanted the jeans so they agreed to our offer of Php350. Interestingly, as they were leaving the store their lady companion left behind a few threatening remarks. She told Esperas and Monteza to tell the other policemen on duty around the block to come to our store and conduct sidewalk clearing operations. This means that our store would have to remove our sidewalk display or else the policemen would confiscate them.

True to her word, the policemen on duty visited us late in the afternoon and asked us to remove our sidewalk display. I have no problem with policemen asking us to remove our sidewalk display - i have always assumed that these are part of legitimate sidewalk clearing operations. This was the first time I experienced such an unbelievable coincidence: policemen visit our store in the morning, couldn't buy items at the price they wanted, threatened to ask other policemen on duty to conduct sidewalk clearing operations, and then in the afternoon, a sidewalk clearing operation happens. What a coincidence!

This incident has made me think twice about my respect for our police officers in Tacloban. My dealings with several policemen in the past have always been reasonable and respectful. I find that a lot of policemen in Tacloban are reasonable and respectful of citizens and in turn really deserve our respect for their authority. This incident, however, shook my respect for them. That they can threaten any establishment on a whim and by coincidence the threat is carried out later in the day is scary.

It makes me apprehensive about policemen visiting our store. Who knows what they will ask for next time. Who knows what they will threaten us with next time. It's too hard to imagine.

But this is not the first time that we have been visited by policemen who were not too subtle about their being policemen when it came to their purchases. The case of Sudario and Ibañez is a different story. More on that in another post. More photos on Esperas and Monteza from our security cameras in a future post too.