By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- If ever the four Iloilo "narco-mayors" will be cleared, it should be President Rodrigo Duterte who will announce it because he was the one who made the accusation in August 2016.
People, particularly the Ilonggos, will only believe and listen to what the president will say next.
Not to any of his subalterns. Not to any agency under the Office of the President.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will have no credibility "clearing" the embattled mayors unless explicitly ordered by the president.
The DILG was supposed to protect the four mayors and other local chief executives implicated in illegal drug trade before their names landed on the "Dutertelist" in presumption that they could only be victims of political harassment and vendetta.
The DILG also can't declare with absolute certainty that the names of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones, Calinog Mayor Alex Centena, and Carles Mayor Sigfriedo Betita have been removed from the "Dutertelist" if the president hasn't made a latest pronouncement regarding the hullabaloo.
Even if the DILG will "clear" the four mayors but President Duterte didn't confirm it, people will remain suspicious and pessimistic.
-o0o-
THIS retired police superintendent, formerly assigned in the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) or Camp Delgado in Port San Pedro, Iloilo City, is lucky he is no longer in service when President Duterte assumed power.
The retired police official would have joined the more than 200 rogue Metro Manila cops recently insulted and ordered by President Duterte to be assigned in Basilan.
President Duterte would have been embarrassed by the offense made by the now retired police official albeit he can't dismiss him from police service.
Not all of the 200 rogue cops were implicated in crimes that would warrant their outright dismissal.
CASES
Either they were facing administrative cases for being AWOL (absent without official leave), or were caught moonlighting or doing "extra jobs" not related to their mandate as law enforcers.
This retired police official, who is now a top adviser of a prominent Iloilo City executive, was once spotted in a downtown gay bar when a city hall task force on anti-drugs, pornography and prostitution conducted a surprise raid.
He was not there to moonlight as bouncer. The retired police official, who was then active in police service, was literally snoring near the dance floor when members of the task force barged in.
No comments:
Post a Comment