Warrior Pilgrimage

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on August 21, 2008.

I SAW TODAY, June 25, 2008, four agents of the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice (WPP-DOJ) escorting a government witness in their midst. They were armed each with 7.62 mm Galil assault rifles slung across their necks and 9 mm Jericho pistols inside their holsters complemented with enough ammo to hold to a standstill George Bush's boys in Iraq. Both fine firearms are made by the Israel Arms Industries (IAI).

They were, in the meanest terms, formidably armed and they put on a show as they escorted their principal down the stairs into a waiting double cab. They were clad in blue uniforms and khaki cargo pants, badge shining on their left breasts with dark glasses to hide their stiletto eyes. You wouldn't see the likes of those except, perhaps, inside a cinema. But, they were real.

They were very alert, disciplined and they were well attuned to the slightest movement as their heads followed jerkily every motion found in their peripheral vision. They were young and clean shaven and they adhered strictly to proper gun safety as I found their index finger extended safely away from the trigger. I will give that last point of observation to them my earnest admiration. And they were tense --- very tense! You could see clearly how they gripped the handgrips hard, some fingerprints adhering to cold steel by their sweaty hands.

It just so happened that I was in Toledo City, on the west coast of Cebu Island attending a criminal court hearing when one of them caught my critical eye, one hand gripping the handgrip of a Galil while the other hand flailing loose and free...READ MORE (Press CTRL + mouse click)