The Philippine National Police should immediately stop all attempts to paint an alternative picture of itself. Holding fun runs and awarding “honest” police officers are nothing more than poor attempts to soften the impact of the EDSA shootout on its image.

The recently held fun run participated in by the PNP top brass and the proud men and women of the Quezon City Police district was supposedly held to boost the morale of the police force. The PNP leadership should realize that the only morale that needs boosting right now is that of the public. What happened in the EDSA shootout was a big disgrace and disappointment whether or not it was a legitimate police operation.

The PNP leadership should also stop making a big deal out of acts of honesty committed by their personnel just like what they did last week when they awarded a PNP merit medal to a policeman. The officer reportedly found and turned over to its rightful owner an envelope containing thousands of pesos. While truly commendable, such acts shouldn’t be highlighted so much because doing so creates the impression that these rarely happen in this part of the world. Besides, shouldn’t honesty be a standard character  trait especially among policemen?

The PNP should stop all these nonsense and accept the fact that the only way it can salvage its image is by initiating real lasting improvements from within.

This advice also goes to other government agencies that mistakenly think they can control public perception.

At the height of the recent LPG shortage, the Department of Energy tried to convince the public that there was no shortage. How it went about doing this can only be described as comical. Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes stood his ground in maintaining there was just a tightness in supply or a problem with dstribution and that there was no supply shortage. It didn’t matter that many LPG users had been complaining about not getting any supply. There was just no way the secretary was going to call it a supply shortage.

Our government officials ought to know that one of the best ways to counter negative publicity is to simply address what’s causing the bad press. They should stop dealing with issues and controversies from a publicity standpoint and instead address these problems in earnest. They should also disabuse themselves of the thought that the public they are mandated to serve is made up of idiots.