THE good thing in this country is when professional soldiers and policemen talk and don’t allow others to drive a wedge between them. I’m talking in particular to PNP chief, General Jun Azurin and former PNP chief-turned Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa.

This week, I learned that that the two Peemayers met at Malacañan Palace to greet President Bongbong Marcos on his birthday. They later were photographed at the Malacañang grounds while in a serious huddle, obviously triggered by articles comparing dela Rosa and Azurin’s difference when it comes to fighting criminals, the latter known for his ‘shock and awe style’ and bloody drug war and the latter for his stand on the ‘preservation of life’ and jailing, not killing armed criminals if possible.

“Our methods and approaches may differ but we share the same objective that is to make the Philippines a safe place to live for everyone. God bless you Chief!,” the tough-talking former PNP chief said of Gen. Azurin who happens to be his colleague at the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force headed by another ex-PNP chief and senator, now simply Citizen Ping Lacson.

Speaking of the common enemy, Sen. dela Rosa was obviously referring to drug traffickers, kidnappers, terrorists and of course, rogue Chinese nationals kidnapping their compatriots for ransom and giving the country a bad image abroad.

This is why I laud the move of Gen. Azurin to order a probe and accounting of so-called ‘Protective Agents’ in the country. Last Monday alone, my friends and I were waiting for our ride home after having dinner in a hotel-cum-restaurant located in the southern part of Metro Manila when we saw four Chinese-looking men with six to eight burly bodyguards walking past us.

The group immediately boarded three SUVs with the Chinese VIPs comfortably sitting in the middle seat of two of the vehicles. The four and their heavily-muscled drivers and escorts who were sporting crewcuts immediately left the area apparently on a rush.

Incidents like this, I learned is very common in many posh hotels and casinos in the southern part of the metropolis giving rise to suspicions that the Chinese with Pinoy bodyguards are moneyed POGO operators.

The question here is this: Are these bodyguards soldiers or policemen ‘moonlighting’ as security escorts? Are they Protective Agents who are either retired cops or soldiers or private security guards offering their services to rich clients? Or are they ‘freelance’ Protective Agents or PAs who are just working for money.

Thus, I fully agree with Gen. Azurin when he ordered a crackdown on private bodyguards protecting POGO operators and other wealthy foreign nationals in the country. He ordered the crackdown amid a series of untoward incidents regarding the involvement of Chinese nationals in criminal and other abusive acts in the land, majority of them related to POGO or online casino debts.

The PNP chief has ordered all concerned police units to regularly check unauthorized security personnel in POGO establishments and other industries that have become notorious for illegal activities and violence.

Apart from that, I suggest that the PNP Highway Patrol Group headed by Brigadier Gen. Clifford Gairanod field more men in different POGO areas in the country and check vehicles sporting sirens and blinkers amid the possibility they are carrying POGO operators and their bodyguards.

Gen. Azurin was right when he ordered an inventory and accounting of all private Pas providing services as ‘bodyguards’ to VIPs including foreigners engaged in business activities in the country in the wake of reports of alleged participation of some licensed Protective Agents in violent incidents involving their protectees.

The PNP Civil Security Group headed by Major Gen. Mike Dubria and the 17 Police Regional Offices will play a major role in checking these unauthorized security escorts, some of them only carrying Permits-to-Carry-Firearms-Outside-of-Residence or PTCFORs and not the Special Duty Detail Order from Camp Crame.

Lately, police have investigated a number of incidents involving rogue Chinese nationals and their Protective Agents. They include the case of two Chinese nationals and their Filipino Protective Agent who were arrested by PNP-CIDG agents for firing a gun indiscriminately inside the Fontana Resort in Clark Freeport Zone on Tuesday last week .

My friend, CIDG director, Brigadier Gen. Ronald Lee said that confiscated from the possession of the suspects were a loaded 9mm pistol and one cal. .45 Colt pistol. It turned out that one of the Chinese took the gun of the PA and fired it indiscriminately. Wow!

The following day, PNP-CIDG officers arrested a suspected Chinese gangster and his Filipina companion inside the same freeport zone while reportedly conducting a surveillance on some targets. Recovered inside the suspects’ vehicle were one unlicensed caliber 9mm pistol with a loaded magazine an airsoft pistol and a pair of handcuffs. Why are they carrying weapons and a handcuff?

The other day, CIDG agents arrested another four Chinese nationals believed to be abducting POGO workers in Makati and Parañaque cities. A .45 pistol was also confiscated from the four.

Then there is also that July 22 incident inside the Apartment Building in Marina Bay in Barangay Don Galo, Parañaque City where two Chinese nationals were shot to death. National Capital Region Police Office director, Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo has ordered a massive hunt for at least four Chinese nationals and their 17 Filipino companions, some of them said to be Protective Agents and suspected police officers tagged as suspects in the murder case.

These are only the few reported incidents of arrest of POGO kidnappers and their Protective Agents at present. However, expect more arrests to be made as police start the crackdown on unauthorized bodyguards who obviously have knowledge on the illegal activities of their Chinese POGO employers or are even directly involved in the actual commission of the crime.