Capitol reporters’ risky visit at Iloilo massacre site

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”

— Henry Grunwald

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WHEN members of the media accompany the police and politicians in dangerous out-of-town trips, they are also like soldiers going to the battle: their other foot is in the grave.

But, of course, in any complicated mission and situation it always pays to be alert and maintain a calm mind amid difficulties.

This was proven 27 years ago when former Iloilo fifth district congressman Rolex Suplico and a team of Capitol reporters visited the site of a massacre in Brgy. Mandu-awak, San Dionisio, Iloilo morning on July 16, 1996.

Sensing “imminent” danger, they elected to detour from “hell” — and, thus, lived another day, so to speak.

Suplico, then a member of the Iloilo provincial board, invited us for an ocular inspection of the area where a carnage that killed six members of Ayusip and Arabe families happened several days earlier (weren't those 60 journalists also "invited" to cover an event when they were massacred in Ampatuan in Maguindanao in 2009?).

The visit came three days after Suplico filed a provincial board resolution condemning the massacre and seeking the appointment of a new police chief in this town in the fifth district of Iloilo located 106 kilometers north of Iloilo City.

Suplico said an ocular visit was necessary as he wanted to "look deeper" into the grisly crime.

After spending about an hour talking to some residents in the area and inspecting the houses where the crime was committed, we decided to call it a day. 

 

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On our way going to neighboring Sara town for lunch, we met then San Dionisio mayor Peter Paul Lopez and his armed bodyguards.

Impassive Lopez had begrudged the Suplico’s board resolution and accused the board member of trying to implicate him in the massacre. 

He also believed the Capitol reporters were there to "add insult to his injury" as a suspected mastermind. 

Suplico had quipped earlier that "I have no concrete evidence to link Mayor Lopez" but that the whole Mandu-awak area "is being controlled by the Lopezes." 

In other words, a bad blood had been brewing between Suplico and Lopez even before the visit.

We were on board two vehicles when Lopez's team arrived also on two vehicles. 

Both Lopez and Suplico, who had not been talking to each other for a long time--and if they ever did the discussion was not cordial-- greeted each other and shook hands. They talked.

A few moments later, Lopez was heard admonishing Suplico like a master giving a mouthful to an erring servant about Suplico’s board resolution.

Suplico, a lawyer who spoke professionally, maintained his cool as he was aware who was king in the area. 

Lopez lashed at him some more blaming the board resolution to be the source of a "bombastic" article that appeared earlier in the Manila Standard which allegedly referred to Lopez as "murderer."

 

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Unlike the bodyguards from both sides observing their respective bosses like daycare pupils from the start, some reporters, who were not paying attention either because they were hungry or they thought everything was very well, were now glancing at Suplico and Lopez while the two were swapping heavy words.

"Daw indi na ini maayo haw (It seems everything is not normal anymore)," the late senior photographer Cicero Omero whispered to me. 

"Pamati kamo daw ga binaisay na sila (Please try to listen, they seem to be having argument)," Sun Star Balita Iloilo reporter Nelson Robles interrupted us. 

"Relax lang ta. Alert lang" (Just relax and be alert)," contributed the late Panay News photographer Felix Agustin. 

If any untoward incident occurred and one of the bodyguards pulled the trigger of his firearm, there was no way for all of us to dodge the bullets as we were in open space and could hardly duck. 

After a tense moment, Suplico stopped talking, turned his back from Lopez, and boarded his vehicle. 

His decision proved to be the turning point of what would have been a terrible "after shock" of the massacre if both camps engaged in a gunfight. 

While Team Suplico was speeding away, Lopez's mouth continued to blabber with words inaudible to the “fleeing” entourage.

 

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Over DYFM Bombo Radyo that night, Suplico said he did not have any intention to meet Lopez that day. 

Suplico decided to leave to avoid trouble, he said, because "I sensed that he (Lopez) was not normal and his eyes were red." 

Lopez, a political ally of then Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor, Sr., father of the incumbent Gov. Arthur Jr., denied Suplico's statement. 

They have not crossed paths again until Suplico became a colleague and eventually ally of the father Defensor in the House of Representatives.

Then Iloilo provincial police commander, Supt. Wilfredo Dulay, was furious when he heard about the incident. 

"Mabuti nalang walang nangyari. Naku, dagdag nanaman sana sa sakit ng ulo ko" (Good that no untoward incident happened. It would have added to my headache)," Dulay said.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)

 

 

Defensor, Treñas in rare show of teamwork

“Unity is strength when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”

—Mattie Stepanek

By Alex P.  Vidal 

WESTERN Visayas lost another eminent pillar of journalism in the person of the maverick Sanny Rico, who succumbed to multiple stroke on March 13 in Iloilo City, according to his nephew, former PHHC 22 Mandurriao village chief Ray Rico.

Uncle Sanny was a famous anchor of the defunct DYPL of ABS-CBN in the 70s, and was already a household name way back in the 60s, according to his protégé, former Bombo Radyo Iloilo anchorman Jerome Varon.

“When the station was sequestered by the government during the Martial Law regime, he worked in the government and took the role as mentor of budding broadcasters, myself included,” recalled Varon, himself an icon in the broadcast industry in late 80’s and in the early 90’s and who has largely acknowledged Uncle Sanny’s contribution to his own success as a media personality. 

Uncle Sanny, who came from a family of leaders and public servants, was an active columnist of the Western Visayas Daily Times in the 80’s and in the 90’s. 

Incisive and witty, he loved to write about the Philippine National Police (PNP) and was the darling of the Regional Command 6 (now Police Regional Office 6).

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Because of his closeness with several past Western Visayas police directors, younger reporters would jokingly tease him as “SPO10 Sanny Rico” and he would react to the “compliment” with a smile.

When the PNP hierarchy in Western Visayas would come under severe  reproach from the media establishment, the cops would find a shimmering solace from Uncle Sanny.

Uncle Sanny wrote about politics with panache and some of his admirers were the late Iloilo City Mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon and the late Bacolod Assemblyman Wilson Gamboa, all towering political figures in the Martial Law era.

If you were an avid newspaper reader before the 1986 EDSA Revolution and the years that Tita Cory’s “Kamaganak, Inc.” burglarized the nation’s wealth with impunity, you would be familiar with Uncle Sanny and his razor-laced admonishment of the numbskulls.

His “retirement” from column-writing in the late 90’s and his death will leave a void in the cloister of local journalism where decency, professionalism, and integrity are prominently etched.

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WHEN two highest officials of the city and province of Iloilo decide to sit together in one table and talk to the people through the media, there must be something urgent and an eerily important message must  be imparted to the general public.

This became apparent when Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas issued executive orders (EO) on March 15, regulating the entry of people to the Iloilo borders.

It’s a rare show of unity and it has big impact in as far as the fight against coronavirus is concerned.

The EOs stated: “Returning residents of the province and city of Iloilo, provided that they shall have only until March 17, 2020 to enter the province.”

“Persons traveling into the province on common carriers and/or transport for the conduct of trade, delivery of social/humanitarian services, fishing/ marine activities, scientific and academic pursuit and such other essential purposes, other than the carriage of passengers, shall be dealt with pursuant to Republic Act. No. 1132 and Republic Act No. 9271, and such other applicable laws and regulations.”

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The EO added: "Persons who enter the province in violation of the above restriction shall be placed under quarantine for 14 days pursuant to the COVID-19 decision tool as of March 13, 2020."

“The essential entry of persons into the city shall be defined exclusively and shall include only health care workers, authorized government officials, those traveling for medical and humanitarian reasons, persons providing basic services and public utilities, and essential skeletal workforce.

“Appropriate administrative and/or criminal charges or both shall be filed against those person/s who shall break the protocol and violate the EO, thereby endangering the lives of inhabitants of Iloilo City,"

Under the EO, persons coming from the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Aklan, and Guimaras and returning residents of Iloilo City "who have been tested, cleared, and declared by accredited health authorities as COVID-19 negative" will also be allowed to enter the city.

"Considering the seriousness of the developing COVID-19 public health event, there is a need to raise the level of quarantine procedures and disease prevention and control measures," said Defensor.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Promotion of Ilonggo values

"With the right people, culture, and values, you can accomplish great things."
--Tricia Griffith

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE are many ways to advertise to the world the tradition and greatness of Ilonggos.
One of them is to showcase in whatever means our culture and festivals that reveal who we are and what we are as a people.
For instance, there is a festival in Iloilo that promotes the values of Ilonggos.
Celebrated by the Municipality of San Rafael every October of the year, it is called Tawili Festival.
According to Capitol executive assistant Ruel Von D. Superio, “Tawili” is the local counterpart of Bayanihan or volunteerism, involvement, concern and sharing.
"Tawili was prominent in the way of life of the Ilonggos. In many instances, people in the neighborhood would gather to work for their neighbor," Superio explained in his recent Facebook post.
"It could be a work in the farm or in his household. As a result, no one would be lacking of helping hands in times of need and in times of sorrow."
Superio, who accompanied Iloilo Gov. Arthur "Toto" Defensor Jr. during the festival's opening ceremony in San Rafael October 21, said "the festival reminds everyone of the importance of unity and cooperation as an essential ingredient for peace, development and progress."

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Iloilo Airport terminal supervisor Art Parreño should initiate a move to donate to Guimaras Province some of the more than 100 umbrellas the Iloilo Airport management seized from departing passengers in August this year.
The airport umbrellas can help the Department of Tourism in Western Visayas which will be staging for the first time the Guimaras Umbrella Festival on November 9, 2019.
It was reported that during the festival, the Department of Tourism (DOT-6) will provide 1,000 umbrellas to pumpboats ferrying passengers to and from the island province of Guimaras.

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There is good reasons for Ilonggos to continue to be supportive to our Chinese community.
The tsinoys are known to enormously help pump up the local economies of areas where they are located.
Business is always good in local communities with strong presence of Chinese economic activities.
In fact, a new report from Credit Suisse (CS) shows that wealth in China is ticking up, and the country now accounts for 100 million of the richest 10% of people in the world.
There are 99 million Americans in the same category, it was reported.
The United States still has many more millionaires--18.6 million, or 40% of the world's total, versus 4.4 million in China, it was further learned.
It's also adding to the millionaire count at a faster clip.
The report credits low interest rates and Republican tax cuts for the country's 11th consecutive year of rising wealth.
The average American is also still much richer than their Chinese counterparts, with US wealth per adult at $432,365 compared with $58,544 in China.
A most recent report said China holds claim to a growing piece of the pie, replacing Europe as the principal engine of global wealth growth. That's in spite of the trade war that's weighing on the nation's economy.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

‘Tell it to the marines, Tatay Oca!’

"My comeback was not about winning or losing; it was about the feeling of being able to compete at top level again."
-- Thomas Muster
By Alex P. Vidal


NEW YORK CITY -- Ilonggos in the Philippines have known Guimbal, Iloilo Mayor Oscar “Oca” Garin Sr. to be a master of political surprises.

We are actually familiar with his style or what they incandescently call in the first district of Iloilo as “Oca’s strategy.”
We know that if he says he wants to tandem with Pinocchio today, he will tap Bugs Bunny for his partner tomorrow. Or vice versa.
That’s why many of us laughed when he claimed “I didn’t know” that his daughter-in-law, former health secretary, Dr. Janette Loreto-Garin, was also filing her certificate of candidacy (COC) for congressman.
Mayor Garin told reporters he was “surprised” to see Dr. Loreto-Garin outside the Commission on Elections (Comelec), when he filed his COC for congressman in the first district of Iloilo.
He reportedly asked her, “ma file ka man? Nag file man ako (You want to file your COC for the same position? I already filed mine)?”
Whoa.
Tell it to the marines, Tatay Oca!
And if Dr. Loreto-Garin will also declare “I didn’t know Tatay Oca would file his COC for congressman”, we will tell her, “indeed, it takes two to tango.”

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Mayor Garin, Dr. Loreto-Garin, and Rep. Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. actually filed their COCs for the same position during the deadline on October 17, 2018.
Rep. Garin filed his COC ahead of the two on Oct 11, along with gubernatorial candidate and Iloilo fourth district Rep. Ferjenel Biron.
The congressman Garin joined his sister, Vice Governor Christine “Ting-Ting” Garin, who also filed her re-election bid in tandem with Biron.
Rep. Garin clarified later that his father and wife might withdraw so he can run for reelection against the clan’s perennial whipping boy, Gerardo “Gerry” Flores, a retired police general and former mayor of Miag-ao, Iloilo.
Rep. Garin vowed the family would come up with a final decision “on or before Nov. 29”, the Comelec deadline on the changing and dropping of candidates.

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We believe that the Garin clan will pave the way for Rep. Garin to face Flores.
It’s almost a crystal-clear scenario given Rep. Garin’s body language, pronouncements, and activities in the past weeks.
Another possible scenario is for the Garin patriarch--Tatay Oca--substituting for Vice Governor Garin, who might run for the House party-list.
It’s still unclear how will the clan complete the partition and what position are they preparing for the former health secretary who is being distracted by the energy-sapping Dengvaxia imbroglio.
Will Dr. Loreto-Garin end up as Guimbal mayoral candidate?

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Going back to Tatay Oca.
All eyes and ears are on this season political swashbuckler.
In all his more than 30 years in public service, Tatay Oca had already served as congressman, mayor, and appointed official (with a cabinet portfolio) under five presidents--Cory, FVR, Erap, Gloria, Duterte.
Except as vice governor and governor.
He had announced on several occasions he was retiring in politics “for good” or doing a busman’s holiday; and that he wanted to be known thereafter as “Oca Manguguma” or Oscar the Farmer.
Only fools don’t change their minds, as the saying goes.
Tatay Oca sprang back to power as mayor of Guimbal after years of political hiatus and became adviser only to all of the Garins active in public service.
Now, Tatay Oca is back. He is once again involved as a candidate himself at the end of his tether.
Let’s watch him; like Lazarus, he might knock the spots off and worm his way to the Capitol first as vice governor, and as governor next when many of us thought he has already fallen back to retirement.

‘Investigate’ is a wrong choice of word

“The largest challenge that we face, from my perspective, is the ability to continue moving forward so the agency will have a single mission: that is, to provide decent, safe, and affordable housing.”
--Alphonso Jackson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We doubt absolutely if the National Housing Authority (NHA) will ever succumb to any resolution the Iloilo Provincial Board might pass asking the NHA to award to government employees some of the NHA’s unoccupied housing units in Barangay Cruz, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo in the Philippines.
The Iloilo Provincial Board, in the first place, has no jurisdiction over the NHA, thus it’s a wrong choice of word to “investigate” NHA’s P4.2 billion housing project in that municipality--unless the project was tainted with anomaly.
If the project reeks with anomaly, let the Congress do the yeoman’s task of grilling the concerned agency officials in the national level “in aid of legislation.”
If the intention of the Iloilo legislature is only to ask a favor, the proper word should be “request” and not “investigate.”
Local legislative bodies don’t investigate government-owned and controlled corporations under the Office of the President mainly because they have not completed the turning over of certain projects to their intended beneficiaries.

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NHA is classified under the Infrastructure Utilities Group and operates under the administrative supervision of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
Board Member Domingo Oso Jr., vice chair of the committee on infrastructure, was reported to be contemplating on passing a resolution asking the NHA to give to government employees some of the 1,050 NHA housing units intended for members of the police and the military if no takers were interested to occupy them.
Oso, who is from Barotac Nuevo, was quoted in media as saying: “Until now, the area is not occupied and in my personal observation, the facilities, as required in accordance with the requirements, are not properly installed and put up by the developer.”
He added: “We are planning to pass a resolution that if there are no takers, we will give (the unit) to government employees so that it would be used rather than wasted.”

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Rhodora Lim, NHA-6 estate supervisor, has disclosed that 743 of the housing units have been occupied and the remaining units have been reserved for soldiers now assigned in Marawi City.
Lim explained that the housing project has been purposely earmarked for members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for a unit cost of P260,000 acquired through amortization and salary deduction for 30 years.
We admire Oso’s intention, but the Iloilo Provincial Board can only request for the list of the project beneficiaries; it can’t compel the NHA to award the remaining reserved lots to any Tom, Dick, and Harry in government service except for the members of the PNP and the AFP.

What is so special with those arrested lawyers?

“Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.”
--Lao Tzu

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- From the Iloilo Provincial Capitol where the trial courts were located before the construction of the Iloilo Hall of Justice on Bonifacio Drive, City Proper sometime in August 1990, a human rights lawyer from San Joaquin, Iloilo requested me to escort him to his office located in the YMCA building on Iznart St. which is five minutes away by walk.
The human rights lawyer, tagged as a sympathizer of the New People’s Army (NPA), was aware they were being targeted for kidnapping and summary execution during the Aquino administration or several months after the the late dictator Marcos was deposed in a bloodless EDSA People Power revolution.
Some of his colleagues have been kidnapped and murdered even after democracy was installed in the Philippines following Marcos’ ouster.
The Ilonggo human rights lawyer held my hand tightly as we crossed the street.
His eyes were alert as night owls.
I did not leave him until we reached the YMCA.
God bless the soul of that human rights lawyer who once surprised his colleagues in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Iloilo Chapter when he delivered a prayer in their oath-taking ceremony at Hotel Del Rio despite being tagged by the military as “communist”.

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The Ilonggo human rights lawyer, who died of natural death in the early 90s, would have been a great lawmaker had he won against Rep. Oscar “Oca” Garin Sr. in the congressional contest.
And if he were still alive today and became congressman, he would have opposed the House Resolution 2086 filed on August 23, 2018 by Assistant Majority Leader and 1-Ang Edukasyon Rep. Salvador Belaro, Jr. and Oriental Mindoro 1st District Rep. Doy Leachon directing the House committees on justice and good government and public accountability to probe the arrest of three lawyers amid an anti-drug operation at a bar in Makati City last week.
The Ilonggo human rights lawyer used to tell us lawyers like him “are not above the law.”
“If there are good lawyers, there are also bad lawyers,” the Ilonggo human rights lawyer intoned. “We are not above the law. If we violate the law we must also be punished like ordinary citizens.”
The Ilonggo human rights lawyer was against any special treatment to be accorded the officers of the court who commit a malfeasance or a crime punishable under the penal code.

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The House Resolution came in the heels of the detention of three lawyers on August 9, 2018 by the police for allegedly interfering in the implementation of a search warrant at the Time in Manila bar, where the police earlier reportedly found illegal drugs.
The lawyers, who were released after 24 hours, allegedly tried to interfere in the serving of a search warrant.
We are not saying that the lawyers have been treated as “sacred cows” by the the two lawmakers when they filed the House Resolution.
Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde, meanwhile, defended the arrest, saying the police would not spare anyone who violates the law.
The lawmakers claimed the arrest was “highly irregular considering that the ones arrested are lawyers who are officers of the court and who are only at the scene of the raid to perform their duties as counsel of the said establishment.”
Belaro and Leachon also insisted there might be a need for a new legislation, or amend an existing legislation, or come up with new administrative rules to prevent the recurrence of the same.

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Belaro advised the three lawyers to file charges before the National Police Commission (Napolcom), the Makati Regional Trial Court and the Bar Confidant.
He said: “For administrative sanctions against those Makati City police officers, administrative cases can be filed before the National Police Commission or the People’s Law Enforcement Board. I believe the NAPOLCOM is the better option.”
The three lawyers must cite, among others, the violations of specific provisions of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) own operations manual and standard operating procedures on crime scene investigations and criminal procedure, added the lawmaker.
Belaro further said: “Lawyers are also deemed as persons in authority and thus, the possibility of a criminal charge for direct assault and other applicable crimes may also be explored plus suits for damages against the Makati City police. The aggrieved lawyers can file counter-charges before the Makati City regional trial court.”
Belaro demanded a “suspension or disbarment cases could also be filed against them before the Office of the Bar Confidant” if any of the involved Makati City PNP personnel were lawyers.
If those arrested and detained by the cops weren’t their colleagues in the IBP, would Reps. Belaro and Leachon file those House Resolution?
What is so special with those three lawyers, by the way?

No knee-jerk reaction on Defensor’s transfer to PDP-Laban

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- When big names in Philippine local politics jump from one political party to another, it is normally greeted with derision and mockery from the deserters’ hitherto party mates and rivals.

They are tagged as “opportunists” and dismissed as “balimbings” (fruit with scientific name Averrhoa carambola) or turncoats.

Such was the misfortune that befell politicians in Iloilo City led by Rep. Jerry Trenas and Mayor Jose Espinosa III, who abandoned the Liberal Party (LP) for the administration’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) last year.

Political rivals took turns in lambasting “ingrate” Trenas , Espinosa and some of their ilk in the city council.

Their political enemies also utilized the social media to ridicule their move to leave LP and embrace President Rodrigo Duterte’s political party.

It’s always an earthshaking event for their detractors; the kind of opportunity to skin them alive in public their detractors would never allow to slip away. Politics 101.

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Not in Iloilo province.

When Governor Arthur “Art” Defensor Sr. disclosed last year that he, his son, Iloilo third district Rep. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. , and 4,000 other local officials from their district will take their oath as the newest members of the PDP-Laban on January 18, 2018, nobody from the governor’s political rivals--or potential political enemies--raised a whimper.

Team Defensor’s scheduled “mass oath taking” would be administered by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez at the Pototan Astrodome in Pototan town, 30 kilometers north from Iloilo City.

No admonition even from Iloilo fourth district Rep. Ferjenel “Dr. Ferj” G. Biron, Rep. Defensor’s rumored rival for governor in 2019.

Rep. Biron, who admits he has big respect and admiration for Gov. Defensor despite his loss in the 2013 gubernatorial race, probably didn’t want to sully the Defensors’ significant date with political history.

It would be awkward for the lawmaker from Barotac Nuevo to criticize the Defensors’ transfer from LP to PDP-Laban if he was eyeing LP’s official nomination for the top capitol post.

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Some provincial board members and municipal mayors who have remained loyal to LP also didn’t find it necessary to rebuke the Defensors’ decision to transfer even for the sake of “check and balance” and, to some extent, publicity.

They probably got Gov. Defensor’s message loud and clear: he needed the President’s blessings for Toto Defensor’s candidacy in 2019.

From the very beginning, the governor never hid his cards and was even excited to immediately lay them on the table without beating around the bush: he wanted the congressman son to be the administration’s standard-bearer in 2019.

Defensor would have been chided both by allies and detractors as hypocrite if he did not admit his decision to walk away from LP to PDP-Laban had something to do with political survival.

I didn’t execute a CHR affidavit on Capitol raid

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”

--Mahatma Gandhi

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- I did not regret it until now when I “ignored” the request of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines for me to execute an affidavit to narrate what I saw when fully armed assault cops raided the Iloilo Provincial Capitol to forcibly remove then Governor Niel D. Tupas Sr. and two other members of the provincial board on January 17, 2007.  

I knew it would be useless to join the fray because the Philippine National Police (PNP) would anyway exonerate those involved; the PNP bigwigs were not stupid to pin down their underlings.

It was enough and necessary that I decided to instead chronicle the event in my newspaper articles weeks after the violence.

The cases against the cops have been dismissed; my articles will remain intact on-line and in printed newspaper files for future generation.

When historians remember that ugly episode, they will be horrified to know that despite “overwhelming” pieces of evidence, the case has been whitewashed.

Being in the right place at the right time, I knew I hit a jackpot as a community journalist nevertheless.

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Then PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon tasked Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Director Edgardo Doromal to investigate the allegation of “overkill”.

As expected, Doromal cleared the Iloilo Regional Mobile Group (RMG) team despite video footage aired on national television showing the mostly rookie cops pointing guns at civilians and some reporters inside the Iloilo capitol.

Doromal’s report claimed it was Tupas’ supporters led by his son, then Iloilo Provincial Board Member and future Rep. Niel “Jun-Jun” Tupas Jr., who initiated the scuffle.

The Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) group only reacted accordingly to the situation, insisted the PNP report.

What I saw, which was also witnessed by other reporters and capitol workers caught in the melee was the opposite: the 65 assault cops smashed the glass doors in the back, forcibly entered the capitol like they were looking for Osama bin Laden.

Inside the 2,248 square feet, six-storey with 37 offices capitol , they didn’t know where to proceed; they pointed their guns at terrified civilians and reporters on their way up to the next floors where they engaged Junjun Tupas and his sister, Tweety Balleza, in a loud scuffle.

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Then Provincial Administrator Manuel Mejorada was in the front line outside the capitol negotiating with the leaders of other PNP teams to calm down and not to enter the capitol.

Visayan Tribune publisher Johnny Dignadice, then 72 years old, and I were among those nearly mistaken as Bin Laden’s cohorts.

We saw long firearms being aimed right before our eyes.  

Family members, some lawyers, and staff members stayed with Gov. Tupas and his wife Myrna in the governor’s office.

The tumult simmered down when Junjun Tupas waved and presented the fax copy of a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals.

The raiders failed to evict Tupas and Board Members Domingo Oso and Cecilia Capadosa.

The raiding cops were cleared even if Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who ordered Tupas’ dismissal, admitted "there were very disturbing footage of the clearing operations."

Among those who constantly communicated with the Tupas family and monitored the ruckus in Manila were future President Noynoy Aquino, and Senators Mar Roxas and Chiz Escudero.

These national political figures condemned the raid.