FIRING LINE: Is public order now optional?

By Robert B. Roque, Jr.

There is nothing novel about enforcing order in the streets. What is new these days is the renewed posturing by this government that it holds the moral ascendancy and political will to get the job of peace and order done right.

This month, under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)’s Safer Cities Initiative, Secretary Jonvic Remulla moved to tighten long-standing local ordinances: no drinking in public streets, no loitering minors past 10 p.m. without a valid reason, no shirtless wandering in shared spaces, and no late-night videoke excess. It is, as he framed it, a simple appeal to civility backed by enforcement.

The logic behind this is hardly controversial — street drinking breeds altercations, noise disturbs communities, and unsupervised minors invite risk.

On its opening salvo, the Philippine National Police (PNP) delivered numbers that suggest seriousness: 11,676 individuals flagged on day one, including 1,004 minors, across key Metro Manila corridors from Timog and Katipunan to Poblacion and Roxas Boulevard. This is what political will looks like when translated into visible patrols.

And yet, almost immediately, the backlash came loud, viral, and often disassociated from the policy itself. Construction workers were rounded up for being shirtless. Students were questioned in spite of legitimate school duties. Even reports — isolated but troubling — of officers overstepping, entering private property to accost residents. These are not trivial concerns; they are precisely the excesses that erode legitimacy.

But much of the outrage is also framed on faulty premises. The rules are not new laws; they are the enforcement of existing ordinances. Minors, under R.A. 9344, cannot be jailed for curfew violations. Responsibility lies with guardians, and enforcement must remain community-based. These guardrails exist and must be followed.

Still, the deeper complication is political memory. Critics are quick to liken this to the hardline playbook of Rodrigo Duterte, whose Davao model of order came with a national legacy of fear, excess, and bloodshed. That history lingers, and it shapes how every police action today is viewed, often with suspicion.

Which is why discipline within the ranks matters more than ever. The recent PNPA hazing scandal — 22 plebes injured, three cadets arrested under the watch of an institution meant to mold law enforcers — exposes a rot that no street campaign can mask. PNP Chief Jose Melencio Nartatez, Jr. has ordered reforms, but the outrage is justified. If future officers are brutalized into leadership, then brutality becomes culture.

Just weeks ago, President Bongbong Marcos called for zero tolerance on abuse and corruption. That call now meets its test.

At the end of the day, I’m with the DILG on this: public order is not optional because communities function best when rules are followed. The Marcos Junior administration — for all its faults and blunders — should not backtrack from instilling discipline in citizens.

Yes, the most undisciplined and corrupt may be found in government. But giving law violators a pass does not cure that perception, anyway. It at all, it allows both government and the public to drift further back into weak moral fiber in society.

So carry on with the clampdown on noisy, disobedient, and chaotic residents. However, make sure enforcement does not rely on brute force or a passionate act of muscle and numbers. Rather, cops must suit up with compassion, where their actions show restraint, clarity, and humanity.

Hold the line. Clean your ranks. Enforce the law.

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