Clean sweep

“Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.”

— Elon Musk

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FROM top to bottom, it’s a total sweep.

If the basis for the relief of all cops in the Iloilo City Police Station 5 (ICPS5) in Mandurriao and the Iloilo City Police Office-City Drug Enforcement Unit (ICPO-CDEU) was the arrest of 32 drug personalities in Brgy. Bakhaw, Mandurriao on January 25, the decision of Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Brigadier General Leo Francisco, was commendable.

According to a report by Daily Guardian’s Jennifer P. Rendon, “Francisco did not mince words that he was not satisfied with their performance.”

In other words, B/General Francisco wasn’t happy with the news about the raid and arrest of the 32; ergo, he wanted to cut and cut clean. 

The PRO-6 chief was referring to the ICPS5 led by Major Rey Sumagaysay with 91 personnel and CDEU led by Inspector Marlon Perez with around 15 personnel, according to Rendon’s report.

Also, Iloilo City Police Office chief, Colonel Leo Batiles, due to retire on March 2023, according to reports, has been been replaced by Colonel Joeresthy Coronica.

If they think they didn’t live up to the expectations of B/General Franciso, the relieved PNP officers will never complain; they can’t harbor any hard feelings to the region’s top police boss. 

Even if they “loved” their old assignments, they are professionals who would obey orders rather than resent them.

For this, B/General Francisco will definitely go down in history as one of the most decisive, no-nonsense and very professional regional directors in Western Visayas.  

 

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But, wait a minute. Even if all those PNP officers have been relieved, there is still no assurance that cases of illegal drugs will end or at least decline in the metropolis.

The newly installed ICPO-CDEU and ICPS5, as well as the ICPS2,3,4 in Jaro, La Paz, Arevalo, Molo, will have to brace themselves for a possible revamp if more drug personalities will fall in the next few months while B/General Francisco is still the PRO-6 boss.

Let’s face it. Since the brutal deaths of Iloilo’s suspected top drug lord, Melvin “Dragon” Odicta in 2016, and Brgy. Bakhaw’s Robinhood, Richard “Buang” Prevendido in 2017, illegal drugs trade didn’t actually disappear in Iloilo City.

It’s impossible for Dragon’s illegal drugs empire to collapse completely after he and his wife, Merriam, were killed by suspected police mercenaries in Caticlan, Aklan while returning from an abrupt trip in Manila where they supposedly “revealed” their police and political protectors to then DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno.

It’s unbelievable that Buang’s illegal drugs “consortiums” in Brgy. Bakhaw would be rapidly shattered after he was gunned down in a safe house in Iloilo City on September 1, 2017.

The recent arrest of the 32 in Brgy. Bakkaw where closed to P1-million worth of shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) have been seized will illustrate how the tentacles of illegal drugs have escalated with a vengeance. 

As long as the business of illegal drugs has not been totally eradicated, there is a danger that more sweeping police revamps would unfold in the future if more drug personalities fell in future police operations and the “clean sweep” policy was upheld even if B/General Francisco has been transferred to other assignments or has retired.

 

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WE have been waiting for former Senator Franklin Drilon to at least “get mad” now that his pet project (he is a legislator but he was instrumental in its funding), the P680-million Iloilo flyover in Ungka, Iloilo, will soon be subjected to a formal House investigation after an official resolution has been filed in congress by Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel, GABRIELA Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas, and ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro.

Drilon has all the reason to get mad because the project was supposed to be his legacy now that he has “retired” from politics. 

So many ugly speculations, accusations, suspicions, and realities backed by factual evidence have surfaced to support and confirm fears that so many people made money out of that doomed project.

This alone will give Drilon enough reason to blow his top—just in case he is innocent.

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

  

 

 

Relief of PNP officials no big deal

“The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

—Robert Peel

By Alex P. Vidal

THE leadership of the Police Regional Office-6 (PRO-6) led by Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan should stop worrying that two of their top officials–Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido and Lt. Col. Mannan Muarip are now “outside the kulambo.”

Meaning they have been relieved and reassigned, along with 13 other police officials, to the Office of the Chief PNP (OCPNP).

According to reports, the relief is based on Special Order No. 2020-1079 issued by Police Major General Cesar Hawthorne Binag, acting chief of PNP Directorial Staff; and signed by Police Major General Reynaldo Biay, director for Personnel and Records Management of PNP.

If the relief order came from the PNP hierarchy it’s official and legal.

The OCPNP’s prerogative to reassign and reshuffle all PNP personnel should not be a big deal.

It must be obeyed and followed without much ado and blunderbuss unless it will endanger the national security. 

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It has been practiced since the PNP was formed on January 29, 1991 when the Philippine Constabulary and the Integrated National Police were merged pursuant to Republic Act 6975 of 1990.

The PNP is a professional organization and all officials must adhere to its rules and regulations.

Thus Director Pamusmusan should not belabor himself “waiting for the reason of their (Espenido and Muarip) relief.”

What’s the use?

The OCPNP can’t be compelled to explain to all and sundry all its plans and purposes for reassignment of PNP officials.

The PNP, as an organization, can’t be influenced by any Tom, Dick, and Harry on its prerogative to designate its officials.

Nothing is special about Espenido and Muarip, as well as the 13 other PNP officials who have been also reassigned.

Some of the celebrated PNP officials may be media creation and celebrities, but they are still professional soldiers who must follow the chain of command and serve the community without purpose of evasion. They can’t choose their assignment.

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CORONAVIRUS UPDATE. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced it would convene a global research and innovation forum to mobilize international action in response to the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV). 

"Harnessing the power of science is critical for bringing this outbreak under control," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “There are questions we need answers to, and tools we need developed as quickly as possible. WHO is playing an important coordinating role by bringing the scientific community together to identify research priorities and accelerate progress.”

The forum, to be held 11-12 February in Geneva, is organized in collaboration with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness.

The forum will bring together key players including leading scientists as well as public health agencies, ministries of health and research funders pursuing 2019-nCoV critical animal health and public health research and the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, among other innovations. 

Participants will discuss several areas of research, including identifying the source of the virus as well as sharing of biological samples and genetic sequences.

 Experts will build on existing SARS and MERS coronavirus research and identify knowledge gaps and research priorities in order to accelerate scientific information and medical products most needed to minimize the impact of the 2019-nCoV outbreak. 

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The meeting is expected to produce a global research agenda for the new coronavirus, setting priorities and frameworks that can guide which projects are undertaken first. “Understanding the disease, its reservoirs, transmission and clinical severity and then developing effective counter-measures is critical for the control of the outbreak, to reduce deaths and minimize the economic impact,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist.

This will also fast-track the development and evaluation of effective diagnostic tests, vaccines and medicines, while establishing mechanisms for affordable access to vulnerable populations and facilitating community engagement.

“The WHO R&D Blueprint is a global strategy and preparedness platform that drives coordinated development of drugs and vaccines before epidemics, and allows the rapid activation of R&D activities during epidemics. It speeds up the availability of the diagnostics, vaccines and treatments and technologies that ultimately save lives,” added Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme.  

Setting clear global research priorities for the novel coronavirus should lead to more efficient investments, high-quality research and synergies among global researchers.

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

Mayor Joe III changes his mind

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
--James Humes

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Because most of them were preoccupied and concerned more with their reelection and political ambitions in the May 2019 elections, some Iloilo City aldermen opted to play deaf and blind when the raging furor over the unpopular renaming by Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III of the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand to “Iloilo Dinagyang Grandstand” hogged headlines since last week.
When they could not perform their role as members of the local legislature to scrutinize and help correct certain misdemeanors in the executive branch, we, in the mass media, filled the vacuum of check and balance.
We were the ones who consistently and passionately pressed the wake up call that the act of renaming the historic grandstand wasn’t only unpopular but downright unpalatable if not smeared with moral and legal issues.
For being reluctant to chide the mayor--or at least tell him he was wrong--the city aldermen probably did not want to look like villains in the mayor’s eyes especially that there is a strong indication Joe III will remain as city mayor for the next four years.
Their implied recalcitrance on the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand brouhaha gave Ilonggos the uncanny impression that as long as they are in power, Mayor Joe III will get what he wants and they won’t stand his way to disappoint him.

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We are glad though that Mayor Joe III responded to the media criticism positively.
He immediately doused cold water to the conflagration by announcing that the name “Dinagyang Grandstand” wasn’t for keeps, acknowledging that the decision to rename any public structure needs the imprimatur of the local legislative body as a co-equal branch in government.
Contrary to what his political enemies have been trying to portray him, Mayor Joe III wasn’t insensitive afterall.
After all is said and done, we are confident Mayor Joe III will no longer pursue that loathed edict on the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand.
Councilor Joshua Alim has hinted that he would push for the retention of the word “freedom” even as the Iloilo City Council has yet to formally tackle the issue and help assuage the frazzled emotions of members of the so-called Timawa party or the Ganzon loyalists (Ganzonistas), who vowed to campaign against Mayor Joe III if he did not change his mind.
The Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, built in the 1950s to commemorate Republic Act 1209 or the “Iloilo City Freedom Law” authored and sponsored by the late former senator and mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon, was the Ganzon loyalists’ only living legacy and memory of their beloved hero, Roding Ganzon.

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Like in the cases of other policemen linked in illegal drugs, President Duterte offered no solid evidence when he shamed and fired last Saturday Bacolod City police chief, Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo, and four others: Supt. Nasruddin Tayuan, Supt. Richie Makilan Yatar, Senior Insp. Victor Paulino and Senior Supt. Allan Rubi Macapagal.
Even after meeting the embattled police officials in Malacanang last Tuesday, the President reiterated his displeasure and disgust and lambasted them anew for being allegedly protectors of illegal drugs or personalities engaged in illegal drugs directly and indirectly.
Some of them could be innocent -- unless their accusers can produce solid evidence and file formal charges against them in court.
No less than Chief Supt. John Bulalaco, Regional Police Office 6 (RPO-6) director, has confirmed Ebreo was not on the watch list of those linked in illegal drugs.
We can’t question the President’s intelligence network; he must have the valid reason when he went ballistic against the Bacolod cops.
We learned, however, that the other reason why cops earned Mr. Duterte’s ire after some incumbent elected officials in Bacolod City had alleged that the cops escorted Councilor Ricardo “Cano” Tan and his wife who were ambushed by unknown assailants in December 13, 2018 in Talisay City.
The Tan couple just came from their property in Talisay City, the Campuestohan Highland Resort, when they were waylaid on their way to Bacolod City.
They survived.
Tan has been named by Duterte as alleged drug trafficker.
Tan, a sportsman, is also at odds with Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia politically.
Leonardia is an ally of Mr. Duterte.

Playboy Bebot to Ate Glo: From ‘worse to bad’

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”
--Henry Kissinger

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Nobody has bellyached now that Playboy Bebot was booted out in a “mutiny” in the House of Representatives.
No Mark Antony-like soliloquy.
No loyal subaltern threatening to commit a hara kiri.
No post mortem protest from PDP-Laban figureheads except for softy Koko Pimental’s tantrums.
Since the ouster supposedly had the fingerprints of the First Daughter, it had been received with a grain of salt by pro-and anti-Playboy Bebot politicians.
The message was clear: Playboy Bebot deserved to be given the door, his comeuppance for picking an unnecessary fight with the First Daughter; and for poking a nose into the latter’s infant political party.
Meanwhile, she was supposed to be in jail for plunder, but by a stroke luck, Ate Glo was released from being under house arrest when the Angry Man, her political benefactor, was catapulted into power in 2016.
Her pivotal rise from the rumps of political death signaled her stunning resurrection from the nadir.

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Ate Glo had inherited her son’s position in congress, thus her political rehabilitation came to a zenith when she was installed as the new House speaker hours before the Angry Man’s state of the nation address on July 23, 2018.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, there’s no more turning back.
She could become the first prime minister if the sinister plot to hijack our constitution and shift the system of government into federal from unitary will come into fruition.
Between Playboy Bebot and Ate Glo, lawmakers opted for the lesser evil.
Thus the leadership change can be considered to be a transfer of power from “worse to bad.”
For being morally unfit and a bad influence, Playboy Bebot was a worse speaker.
For being mentally dishonest (“Hello Garci” tumult) and having been tainted with a whiff of graft and corruption, Ate Glo is a bad choice for Playboy Bebot’s replacement.

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I was again misinterpreted for exhorting the relatives and friends of Monica-Blumentritt, Iloilo City Proper village chief Keith “Dabing” Espinosa and her jailed husband, Jesus “Jing-Jing” Espinosa Jr. to “pray for them” in my previous article.
It’s a common knowledge in Western Visayas or in Iloilo City, in particular, that the couple has been receiving threats owing to their alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
Although Jing-Jing is now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for frustrated murder, he continued to engage in selling of illegal drugs using Dabing and his family remembers, according to Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao.

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When I used “Pray for Jing-Jing and Dabing” as the title of my article, it did not mean I believed they were immaculate and shouldn’t be indicted in court.
They should be brought before the bar of justice unscathed.
As Christians, we are advocating for any suspected criminal to be given the due process and treated humanely.
This goes not only for Dabing and Jing-Jing but for all “notorious” characters out there who are still enjoying their freedom and are not yet locked behind bars.
We air this utmost concern amid the culture of impunity, the series of summary executions that pervade our society under the present administration, which apparently has showed callous disregard for the human life based on numerous anti-illegal drugs police operations.
We believe that any person, whose guilt has not yet been proven beyond reasonable doubt, should be entitled to his or her right to life.

   

Senior Supt. Tayaba and Iloilo’s war vs illegal drugs

“Being a good police officer is one of the most difficult, dangerous, idealistic jobs in the world.”
--Thomas Hauser

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- When he was the chief of the Iloilo City Mobile Group (ICMG) in the late 1990s, Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, now Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) director, was one of the police officials in Western Visayas close to Iloilo reporters, especially the ladies.
Our Sun Star Iloilo reporters, Ednalyn Belonio-Diamante and Ruby Silbubrico, always had good police stories to write each time they interviewed Tayaba.
Tayaba, a member of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class 1993, endeared himself to the press for being approachable and always available when sought for interview.
The popular police official from Pangasinan had served as the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 6 before being assigned as the commander of the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on January 2017.

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As the IPPO chief who led an operation that killed alleged Western Visayas drug lord Richard Prevendido at Landheights Subdivision in Balabago village in Jaro District on September 1, 2017, Tayaba’s name vaulted up as the “conqueror.”
When Prevendido’s sister, Brgy. Bakhaw, Mandurriao, Iloilo City Brgy. Captain Remia Prevendido-Gregori and her personal assistant, Analee Antapatria, were killed in a family-owned beach resort in San Joaquin, Iloilo on June 24, 2018, Tayaba told reporters the slain village chief was a “high-value target” for her alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
Tayaba claimed at least six unidentified armed men in red car assaulted the victims at around 4:30 o’clock in the afternoon.
As of this writing the culprits remained unidentified.

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Minutes after the foiled assassination of Police Officer 1 (PO1) Dorben Acap of the PNP Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU) in Sitio Pajo in Barangay Dulonan, Arevalo in Iloilo City on June 26, 2018, PO2 Melvin Mocorro, who reportedly worked under Tayaba, was rushed to a hospital with gunshot wounds.
Mocorro was being suspected as one of those who ambushed Acap, who managed to fire back.
Acap has survived and vowed to reveal more details about the botched assassination once doctors clear him.
There was no immediate confirmation from probers about Mocorro’s involvement in the ambush, as of this writing.
We expect Tayaba to be the “man-of-the-hour” in the next several weeks and months when the IPPO and the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) led by Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao step up their campaign against “persons of authority” (including cops, town and barangay officials) involved in illegal drug trafficking.
Tayaba and his team’s remarkable operations against dangerous personalities in illegal drugs trade have gained national attention.
Their blitzkrieg occurred days after President Rodrigo R. Duterte told Philippine councilors in a national convention in Iloilo City he wanted more traffickers of illegal drugs killed, including the “narco cops.”

Let no priest carry a gun

“If you want to lose your faith, make friends with a priest.”
--George Gurdjieff

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- More residents in Iloilo City in the Philippines will now be forced to walk if they are traveling only within the City Proper and will no longer commute in the public utility jeepneys (PUJ) as what they used to do.
Before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) national office approved the P2.50 hike on minimum fares of PUJ in the city and province, many Ilonggos would choose to ride rather than walk when they traveled to the Calle Real from the Hall of Justice on Bonifacio Drive vice versa, or from the Plaza Libertad to the Calle Real (Iloilo Ampitheater) vice versa.
The current minimum fare is P6.50. If the fare hike will take effect, a commuter will have to shell out P9 per ride.
Except if they come from the “faraway” districts of La Paz, Jaro, Bo. Oberero, Lapuz, Arevalo, Molo going to Calle Real in the City Proper, many commuters who travel only within the Calle Real belts from the nearby City Proper villages, offices and stores, commercial establishments vice versa, will now find it more practical to walk rather than spend P9--except, of course, if the weather isn’t good.

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Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, should be more surprised if there are priests who will apply for a permit to carry firearms outside of residence (PTCFOR), not if nobody has applied, as of this writing.
In the first place, no priest should carry a gun or any deadly weapon for that matter.
Even if they are now being targeted for assassination, the priests, as preachers of non-violent Biblical doctrines, are aware they can’t return a violence however strong the provocation; they can’t use a violence or engage an attacker in a gun battle to prevent evil.
As “servants of God”, the priests should be willing to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, like the Christian martyrs fed to the lions and burned at stake during Nero’s atrocious rule in the Roman Empire.

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They are mandated by their calling to preach the gospel of God, inculcate and spread love and peace to mankind, not to kill criminals with a licensed revolver.
Even if they will be allowed by police authorities, priests should decline any license or authority to carry any hardware that terminates a human life.
If they truly adhere to the solid principles of the Roman Catholic Church on forbearance, non-violence and clemency, they wouldn’t even think of owning a toy gun.
Like journalists, priests are non-combatants; they are purveyors of peace and spiritual enlightenment.
Persecution and death are part of the hazards of being on the side of truth, justice and enlightenment.
Alejandro Jodorowsky once exhorted us to “Let the inner god that is in each one of us speak. The temple is your body, and the priest is your heart: it is from here that every awareness must begin.”

Bizarre Dinagyang crime stories

“In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”

--Hunter S. Thompson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- After witnessing the cold-blooded murder of a plainclothes cop from Arevalo district during the  1990 Dinagyang Festival final night in Iloilo City in the Philippines, I became convinced that there should be a gun ban when the Ilonggos celebrate the feast of Señor Santo Niño every year.

The cop (I can remember him only as “Ben”) was gunned down while answering the call of nature on the rear tire of an owner type jeep where I was sitting and parked on corner Valeria and Ledesma Streets in the City Proper, a stone throw away from our News Express editorial office.

“Ben” died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds fired by an unknown assailant at past seven o’clock in the evening.

I was holding my friend Emmanuel “Boyet” Carillo’s state-of-the-art camera (which was burned in a fire that gutted their house in Kalibo, Aklan weeks later), thus I was able to take some photos as “Ben” sprawled on the pavement bathing in his own blood.  

The case has remained unsolved.

We also support the move of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) and the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) to prohibit glass bottles and cans during the revelries.

Glass bottles and beer or soft drink cans can become deadly if used by drunken revelers as weapons.

Senior Inspector Shella Mae Sangrines, ICPO spokesperson, said in a recent press conference they did not want revelers to carry illegal weapons, drugs and other harmful contraband, thus they would inspect all backpacks.

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The police may also check belt bags aside from backpacks.

Drug dealers and gang members carrying deadly weapons and illegal substances will eschew backpacks now that the police have announced what type of bag to be strictly perused during the festivities.

Some thugs who use backpacks are not really members of drug syndicates, terror groups and street-level fraternities engaged in riot.

Some of them are small time robbers or pickpockets.

One afternoon during the 1998 Dinagyang Festival, I “saved” a 17-year-old out-of-school teenager from being lynched by an angry mob near the Ledesma Street gate of Mary Mart Mall in Iloilo City.

“Randy” was being punched and kicked by male and female attackers while tightly embracing his backpack.

I intervened and was able to stop the carnage. When I checked the victim’s backpack, it contained several Nokia and Philips  analog cellular phones.

He was a “snatcher” cornered by some of his victims.

I negotiated with the maulers and helped them recover their cellular phones right away. I escorted the “snatcher” away from harm after he promised to go straight.

Since I was into sports, I encouraged him to train as amateur boxer in the YMCA gym. After a series of bouts in our weekly boxing tournament at the Iloilo City Freedom Grandstand, I introduced him to the late then City Administrator Angelo “Bebot” Geremias and brought him to Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu thereafter where he won a bronze medal in the inter-city youth slugfest.

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Drunkenness should also be regulated if not avoided during the Dinagyang revelry.

In the 1994 Dinagyang, the grandson of a prominent Filipino-Chinese tycoon hogged headlines when he was “drugged and molested” by two gay hairdressers who befriended him at the Freedom Grandstand, the main judging area for ati dance competitions.

“Anthony”, who once worked with former Sen. Joselito “Lito” Lapid as stuntman in an action film shot in Cebu, alleged that he passed out and wasn’t able to go home after a drinking session with the two hairdressers while waiting for announcement of winners Sunday evening.

He woke up the following morning in the sidewalk of J.M. Basa Street without a shirt. His other personal belongings went missing. He confessed to police he suffered a “swollen penis” and was treated in the hospital.

When one of the hairdressers was stabbed dead by an unknown suspect in Brgy. Tanza-Baybay in the City Proper weeks later, “Anthony” disappeared in Iloilo City.

“Anthony’s” cousin, “Jaguar”, who owns a resort in Boracay in Caticlan, Aklan, got mad when police coaxed him to cooperate and pinpoint his cousin’s whereabouts.

I accompanied the cop who went to the cousin’s office, a lending firm, in downtown, City Proper. The cop managed to enter and talk to “Jaguar” briefly before being rebuked.

I was left outside “Jaguar’s” office after being denied entry by “Jaguar’s” secretary.

“Anthony” hasn’t been seen again.