"The more we can organize, find and manage information, the more effectively we can function in our modern world."
--Vint Cerf
By Alex P. Vidal
THE ongoing reshuffling and reorganization of key positions in various government offices should not be treated as a tidal wave and a major event.
Many fresh administrations all over the country are doing the same, not just in Western Visayas; not just in the city and province of Iloilo.
Reassignments and revamps are normal. It's the prerogative of any local chief executive.
What is not normal and should be denounced is when vindictive elected officials start to lower the boom on employees identified with their rivals in the recent elections and kick them out from their lofty jobs.
If they were only reassigned, they can still regain or retain their jobs and they won't lose their livelihood.
Their families won't half-starved and life must go on.
It's another story if they are summarily dismissed even if they are permanent employees and, as a result, are forced to forage for food so that their loved ones won't starve to death.
In government service, sometimes it's best if we refrain from making a mountain out of a molehill.
-o0o-
When the wobbling Panay Electric Company (PECO) recently filed a criminal case against former Iloilo City councilors Joshua Alim and Plaridel Nava, Presidential Consultant for Western Visayas Jane Javellana, and former politician, Dr. Marigold T. Gonzalez, the news came out simultaneously in all the major publications, broadcast and TV networks with a loud thud.
The timing when the news blasted its way to public was something that catches the eye: after the May midterm elections.
PECO administrative manager Marcelo U. Cacho filed the case on June 27, 2019. Media screamed in unison about it on June 28, 2019.
It's very rare for news about a case being filed against a prominent person or group of persons to immediately attract a helluva attention from the media and delivered simultaneously--unless it's a flash report from a press conference.
In the story of the creation of the universe, scientists call it a "Big Bang!"
Even if the accused won't be convicted when the case reached its climax, the purpose of letting all and sundry know that the key players in the anti-PECO movement have been slapped with a criminal complaint, was already served.
-o0o-
Even after Chief Supt. John Bulalacao has left the Regional Police Office 6 (RPO-6) as regional director and turned over the post to Chief Supt. Rene Pamuspusan in a ceremony on June 27, 2019, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has not responded to our report on the alleged massive recruitment of "soldiers" for enlistment in the armed forces of the "Royal Maharlika Tribes 1-Nation" recently in Calinog, Iloilo.
Recruits were made to fill up a form with a sub-title of "Panay Tribal Governance for Self-Determination and Empowerment" and "Rejahnate of Panay."
In the article we wrote most recently, we asked this question: "Are we bring governed by another sovereign state right in our own independent civilian republic?"
"Are the police and military authorities keeping a blind eye on this supposed enlistment in a private army?"
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
Showing posts with label #RegionalPoliceOffice6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #RegionalPoliceOffice6. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Monday, January 7, 2019
Is Western Visayas now RP's biggest cemetery?
“Never use a cannon to kill a fly.”
--Confucius
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The list of people murdered by the notorious riding-in-tandem killers in Western Visayas, particularly in Iloilo and Negros, and those massacred in “encounters” and police raids is getting thicker; and it appears that Western Visayas has now become the biggest cemetery in the Philippines.
The latest victims, Mercedes Nava, 66, and Erwin Fontillas, 45, mowed down in broad daylight by unidentified killers riding in motorcycle in Brgy. Calajunan, Mandurriao in Iloilo City in the Philippines on January 4, 2019, were another unarmed civilians.
The unprovoked double murder perpetrated in the first week of New Year could mean only one thing: a culture of impunity has now beclouded the “City of Love.”
The killing spree that included the massacres last year of seven suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Antique in August and the nine farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental in October; the unsolved murders also last year of Small Town Lottery (STL) operator Samuel Aguilar in March, village chief Remia Gregori in June, and ex-cop Apple Alag in November and Bacolod lawyers and Rafael Atotubo and Ben Ramos, to name only a few, means nobody is safe anymore--not even lawyers, priests, cops, journalists, students, farmers, vendors, and drug addicts.
-o0o-
Every now and then there is violence and bloodshed; and dead bodies are piling up.
If the killings won’t stop, we will soon have to put all the cadavers together in one extended cemetery for all the victims of violence and atrocities.
The reputation of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) headed by Chief Supt. John Bulalacao is at stake here.
The people are pinning their hopes on the police authority for the progress and quick resolution of the aforementioned sensational crimes.
Ilonggos are anxiously waiting for the immediate arrest and the filing of necessary cases in court against the culprits.
As the people’s demand for justice accelerates, the authorities can’t afford to let those cases slumber or be buried in the police files and be subsequently forgotten and become part of statistics.
-o0o-
Some of these murders aren’t really difficult to crack.
The pieces of evidence and major leads in some of these cases are just waiting to be dug up and unsnarled by determined investigators.
There are many available sources and resources to tap and where to start untangling the ropes of puzzlement: social and mainstream media, community assets, history or background of the involved parties--their affiliations and activities.
If we believe some of the tipsters and sources, most of the hired killers haven’t really left the region and are just waiting for their next lucrative “assignment.”
The motives behind some of these murders can be obtained in the script of soap opera films--jealousy, vengeance, double cross, hatred, envy, avarice, rivalry, politics.
With its vast intelligence resources, there is no way the police can’t put all the dots in their proper holes and solve the puzzles one after another.
We have full trust and confidence on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to finish the job.
--Confucius
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The list of people murdered by the notorious riding-in-tandem killers in Western Visayas, particularly in Iloilo and Negros, and those massacred in “encounters” and police raids is getting thicker; and it appears that Western Visayas has now become the biggest cemetery in the Philippines.
The latest victims, Mercedes Nava, 66, and Erwin Fontillas, 45, mowed down in broad daylight by unidentified killers riding in motorcycle in Brgy. Calajunan, Mandurriao in Iloilo City in the Philippines on January 4, 2019, were another unarmed civilians.
The unprovoked double murder perpetrated in the first week of New Year could mean only one thing: a culture of impunity has now beclouded the “City of Love.”
The killing spree that included the massacres last year of seven suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Antique in August and the nine farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental in October; the unsolved murders also last year of Small Town Lottery (STL) operator Samuel Aguilar in March, village chief Remia Gregori in June, and ex-cop Apple Alag in November and Bacolod lawyers and Rafael Atotubo and Ben Ramos, to name only a few, means nobody is safe anymore--not even lawyers, priests, cops, journalists, students, farmers, vendors, and drug addicts.
-o0o-
Every now and then there is violence and bloodshed; and dead bodies are piling up.
If the killings won’t stop, we will soon have to put all the cadavers together in one extended cemetery for all the victims of violence and atrocities.
The reputation of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) headed by Chief Supt. John Bulalacao is at stake here.
The people are pinning their hopes on the police authority for the progress and quick resolution of the aforementioned sensational crimes.
Ilonggos are anxiously waiting for the immediate arrest and the filing of necessary cases in court against the culprits.
As the people’s demand for justice accelerates, the authorities can’t afford to let those cases slumber or be buried in the police files and be subsequently forgotten and become part of statistics.
-o0o-
Some of these murders aren’t really difficult to crack.
The pieces of evidence and major leads in some of these cases are just waiting to be dug up and unsnarled by determined investigators.
There are many available sources and resources to tap and where to start untangling the ropes of puzzlement: social and mainstream media, community assets, history or background of the involved parties--their affiliations and activities.
If we believe some of the tipsters and sources, most of the hired killers haven’t really left the region and are just waiting for their next lucrative “assignment.”
The motives behind some of these murders can be obtained in the script of soap opera films--jealousy, vengeance, double cross, hatred, envy, avarice, rivalry, politics.
With its vast intelligence resources, there is no way the police can’t put all the dots in their proper holes and solve the puzzles one after another.
We have full trust and confidence on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to finish the job.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Turf war? Tell it to the marines
“Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?” -- ANONYMOUS
By Alex P. Vidal
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- I personally don’t buy the theory being put forward by Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) investigators in the Philippines that the murder of retired cop Ronaldo “Apple” Alag, 57, could be the result of a “turf war” among drug syndicates.
At least this is one of the angles the police are reportedly trying to crack.
Only two big groups engaged in illegal drugs were known to have widely operated in Iloilo City since the early 90’s until recently: the Odicta Drug Group and the Prevendido Drug Group.
All other satellite or smaller groups were either linked to the above-mentioned groups or “colorum” teams with no abundant wherewithal.
Both the leaders of the Odicta Drug Group and Prevendido Drug Group have been “neutralized” with the killing of Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. on August 29, 2016 in Caticlan, Aklan and of Richard “Buang” Prevendido on September 1, 2017 in Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City.
-o0o-
Buang’s sister, Remia Prevendido-Gregori, the village chief of Barangay Bakhaw in Mandurriao District, Iloilo City, was also killed on June 24, 2018 at the family-owned resort in Barangay Igcadlum in San Joaquin town.
Because both groups were making a lot of money and some of their couriers and associates were known to each other, the Odicta and Prevendido Drug Groups weren’t at war against each other.
They could not.
They should not.
Engaging in a Mafia-like “elimination process” to corner or polish off the cookies would defeat their purpose; they weren’t that sophisticated and glamorous to act as Godfather bioflick copycats.
The Odicta Drug Group was “too big” to wage a bloody rivalry against the “smaller” Prevendido Drug Group, which was “too inferior” to mount a trouble against the former.
The groups were believed to have operated not only in Iloilo City, but in the entire Western Visayas that included the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras, Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Negros, making the angle of territorial disputes seems implausible.
-o0o-
The Regional Police Office 6 (RPO-6) has admitted there are remnants of these groups or even “new players” trying to revive the syndicates’ old glory, but because of the aggressive campaign being waged by the RPO-6 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), their tentacles couldn’t easily mushroom.
The police’s swashbuckling operations supervised by tough RPO-6 director, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, these past months have trounced them before they could blast off and spread their legs.
It was believed that with the fall of Odicta and Prevendido, even their much-vaunted war chest and armed machinery (killing apparatuses) have been subdued if not crippled.
Thus it’s inconceivable that any “active” drug group can have the guts and capability to violently exterminate the likes of Apple Alag and Odicta’s lawyer Edeljulio “Judel” Romero using professional killers “with military precision” and in broad daylight.
Turf war?
Or another case of extra-judicial killing (EJK)?
At least this is one of the angles the police are reportedly trying to crack.
Only two big groups engaged in illegal drugs were known to have widely operated in Iloilo City since the early 90’s until recently: the Odicta Drug Group and the Prevendido Drug Group.
All other satellite or smaller groups were either linked to the above-mentioned groups or “colorum” teams with no abundant wherewithal.
Both the leaders of the Odicta Drug Group and Prevendido Drug Group have been “neutralized” with the killing of Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. on August 29, 2016 in Caticlan, Aklan and of Richard “Buang” Prevendido on September 1, 2017 in Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City.
-o0o-
Buang’s sister, Remia Prevendido-Gregori, the village chief of Barangay Bakhaw in Mandurriao District, Iloilo City, was also killed on June 24, 2018 at the family-owned resort in Barangay Igcadlum in San Joaquin town.
Because both groups were making a lot of money and some of their couriers and associates were known to each other, the Odicta and Prevendido Drug Groups weren’t at war against each other.
They could not.
They should not.
Engaging in a Mafia-like “elimination process” to corner or polish off the cookies would defeat their purpose; they weren’t that sophisticated and glamorous to act as Godfather bioflick copycats.
The Odicta Drug Group was “too big” to wage a bloody rivalry against the “smaller” Prevendido Drug Group, which was “too inferior” to mount a trouble against the former.
The groups were believed to have operated not only in Iloilo City, but in the entire Western Visayas that included the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras, Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Negros, making the angle of territorial disputes seems implausible.
-o0o-
The Regional Police Office 6 (RPO-6) has admitted there are remnants of these groups or even “new players” trying to revive the syndicates’ old glory, but because of the aggressive campaign being waged by the RPO-6 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), their tentacles couldn’t easily mushroom.
The police’s swashbuckling operations supervised by tough RPO-6 director, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, these past months have trounced them before they could blast off and spread their legs.
It was believed that with the fall of Odicta and Prevendido, even their much-vaunted war chest and armed machinery (killing apparatuses) have been subdued if not crippled.
Thus it’s inconceivable that any “active” drug group can have the guts and capability to violently exterminate the likes of Apple Alag and Odicta’s lawyer Edeljulio “Judel” Romero using professional killers “with military precision” and in broad daylight.
Turf war?
Or another case of extra-judicial killing (EJK)?
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Jeneda Salcedo’s silence
“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
--Desmond Tutu
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Iloilo Board Member Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain did not use her position to get back at the police that raided their house and the houses of her relatives in Sara, Iloilo in the Philippines dawn on October 17, 2018.
In that raid, which targeted the board member’s father, former mayor Neptali “Tally” Salcedo, Jeneda’s half brother, Nerio “Ricky”, and nephew Nixon “TJ”, were killed.
Police said they resisted the raid and tried to engage the cops in a shootout, a claim the Salcedo clan had refuted.
As of this writing, Jeneda neither lambasted the police in a privilege speech in the Provincial Board nor asked higher civilian and Philippine National Police (PNP) authorities to “do something” in order for the tormented family to get even.
The use of arm-twisting tactics, prevarication and “waslik poder” is prevalent in the culture of the Philippines’ political hegemony.
-o0o-
If the bloody incident happened in the residence of other sensitive and outraged political clans, clan members who hold positions in government would’ve took turns in tearing to shreds the raiding team in the rostrums even if they fabricate lies and half-truths.
We know a lot of parents of some politically powerful and influential families to be the ones egging and provoking their children to hit back hard--and even invent stories--using their full might and resources as public officials.
Huffy and ill-tempered political parents who will risk the reputations and credibility of their children by using them to foment their vindictive fulmination and satisfy their egos and penchant for a revenge.
It did not happen in the case of the Salcedo family.
-o0o-
Mayor Ermelita Salcedo and her husband Neptali probably raised their children to be humble and meek.
The family, which filed a complaint against the raiding team for “robbery” and “illegal search”, among other cases, has opted to allow the legal process to reign supreme in the tumult.
The Salcedos, despite their reputation as “anarchists”, have shown that they are capable of facing a major imbroglio with veritable adherence to the rule of law.
In fairness to the cops led by Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, Iloilo provincial police chief, and their big boss, Director John Bulalacao, Western Visayas police chief, they welcome the allegations of robbery, among other charges, saying they are willing to impose a disciplinary action on their men if found guilty.
--Desmond Tutu
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Iloilo Board Member Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain did not use her position to get back at the police that raided their house and the houses of her relatives in Sara, Iloilo in the Philippines dawn on October 17, 2018.
In that raid, which targeted the board member’s father, former mayor Neptali “Tally” Salcedo, Jeneda’s half brother, Nerio “Ricky”, and nephew Nixon “TJ”, were killed.
Police said they resisted the raid and tried to engage the cops in a shootout, a claim the Salcedo clan had refuted.
As of this writing, Jeneda neither lambasted the police in a privilege speech in the Provincial Board nor asked higher civilian and Philippine National Police (PNP) authorities to “do something” in order for the tormented family to get even.
The use of arm-twisting tactics, prevarication and “waslik poder” is prevalent in the culture of the Philippines’ political hegemony.
-o0o-
If the bloody incident happened in the residence of other sensitive and outraged political clans, clan members who hold positions in government would’ve took turns in tearing to shreds the raiding team in the rostrums even if they fabricate lies and half-truths.
We know a lot of parents of some politically powerful and influential families to be the ones egging and provoking their children to hit back hard--and even invent stories--using their full might and resources as public officials.
Huffy and ill-tempered political parents who will risk the reputations and credibility of their children by using them to foment their vindictive fulmination and satisfy their egos and penchant for a revenge.
It did not happen in the case of the Salcedo family.
-o0o-
Mayor Ermelita Salcedo and her husband Neptali probably raised their children to be humble and meek.
The family, which filed a complaint against the raiding team for “robbery” and “illegal search”, among other cases, has opted to allow the legal process to reign supreme in the tumult.
The Salcedos, despite their reputation as “anarchists”, have shown that they are capable of facing a major imbroglio with veritable adherence to the rule of law.
In fairness to the cops led by Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, Iloilo provincial police chief, and their big boss, Director John Bulalacao, Western Visayas police chief, they welcome the allegations of robbery, among other charges, saying they are willing to impose a disciplinary action on their men if found guilty.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Massacre in age of forensic science
“As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.”
--Pythagoras
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Did the perpetrators of the macabre Sagay massacre in the Philippines think we still live in the Neanderthal Age where a crime can be committed against any living creature and the assailant can easily get away unpunished?
In this age of forensic science where the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a double-stranded molecule held together by weak hydrogen bonds between base pairs of nucleotides, plays a major role, among other scientific means of gathering pieces of evidence, even a crime committed years ago or those with no eye-witness account, can be solved.
Thus we are confident those who mercilessly gunned down members of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) who occupied the farm at Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree in Sagay City, Negros Occidental on October 20, 2018, will be identified and arrested soon--depending on the determination of the Regional Police Office-6 (RPO-6) headed by Director John Bulalacao, who has ordered a no non-sense probe on the shocking massacre.
I first heard of the word “massacre” when I was a kid during the Martial Law years in the Philippines.
I heard of the Jabidah massacre or the killing of Moro soldiers by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on March 18, 1968.
It was also known as the Corregidor massacre as the killing reportedly took place on Corregidor Island.
-o0o-
Even in the 70’s people were endlessly talking about it behind the curtain as the press was not free to discuss its details.
I also learned about the Escalante massacre in Escalante, Negros Occidental that claimed the lives of 20 people and wounded 24 others on my birthday, September 18, 1985.
The Escalante massacre jolted me as a young man.
Earlier that year, I was riding on a bicycle around the area where the massacre took place and I could vividly recall seeing nameless faces of farmers, vendors, and other ordinary folks doing their normal chores in that laid back municipality which became a fourth class city in 2001.
Four years earlier prior to the Escalante massacre, I heard about the Pata Island massacre in Pata, Sulu, Mindanao on February 12, 1981, which killed 119 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers perpetrated by their supposed Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) allies.
After a couple of days in Pata Island, the Headquarters Service Company of the Philippine Army’s 31st Infantry Battalion were about to leave the island when a group of MNLF rebels and erstwhile ally Unad Masillam, a commander of the Civilian Home Defense Force (CHDF) surrounded them and opened fire.
-o0o-
To name only a few of the famous massacres in the Philippines, there were the 1985 Inopacan massacre in Leyte (67 killed); 1987 Mendiola massacre in Manila (13 killed); 1989 Digos massacre (39 killed); 1995 Ipil massacre in Zamboanga del Sur (53 killed); 1998 Sara massacre in Iloilo (10 killed); 2009 Maguindanao massacre (58 killed including more than 40 journalists); 2014 Talipao massacre in Sulu (21 killed).
The recent massacre that killed nine people including children and women in the farm at Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree in Sagay City, was still being investigated by a team led by Chief Insp. Roberto Mansueto, head of Sagay City Police Station, and personnel of 62nd Special Action Force.
-o0o-
Unlike in some of the aforementioned massacres, the Sagay massacre occurred in the age of forensic science, or the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly--on the criminal side--during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal procedure.
Which means probers will not find it hard to identify the culprits who, initial police investigation claimed, could be mercenaries or armed bandits hired to kill the corn farmers.
We will continue to monitor the progress of this case and hope that justice will soon be served on the innocent civilians horrifically murdered without a valid cause and justification.
--Pythagoras
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Did the perpetrators of the macabre Sagay massacre in the Philippines think we still live in the Neanderthal Age where a crime can be committed against any living creature and the assailant can easily get away unpunished?
In this age of forensic science where the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a double-stranded molecule held together by weak hydrogen bonds between base pairs of nucleotides, plays a major role, among other scientific means of gathering pieces of evidence, even a crime committed years ago or those with no eye-witness account, can be solved.
Thus we are confident those who mercilessly gunned down members of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) who occupied the farm at Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree in Sagay City, Negros Occidental on October 20, 2018, will be identified and arrested soon--depending on the determination of the Regional Police Office-6 (RPO-6) headed by Director John Bulalacao, who has ordered a no non-sense probe on the shocking massacre.
I first heard of the word “massacre” when I was a kid during the Martial Law years in the Philippines.
I heard of the Jabidah massacre or the killing of Moro soldiers by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on March 18, 1968.
It was also known as the Corregidor massacre as the killing reportedly took place on Corregidor Island.
-o0o-
Even in the 70’s people were endlessly talking about it behind the curtain as the press was not free to discuss its details.
I also learned about the Escalante massacre in Escalante, Negros Occidental that claimed the lives of 20 people and wounded 24 others on my birthday, September 18, 1985.
The Escalante massacre jolted me as a young man.
Earlier that year, I was riding on a bicycle around the area where the massacre took place and I could vividly recall seeing nameless faces of farmers, vendors, and other ordinary folks doing their normal chores in that laid back municipality which became a fourth class city in 2001.
Four years earlier prior to the Escalante massacre, I heard about the Pata Island massacre in Pata, Sulu, Mindanao on February 12, 1981, which killed 119 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers perpetrated by their supposed Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) allies.
After a couple of days in Pata Island, the Headquarters Service Company of the Philippine Army’s 31st Infantry Battalion were about to leave the island when a group of MNLF rebels and erstwhile ally Unad Masillam, a commander of the Civilian Home Defense Force (CHDF) surrounded them and opened fire.
-o0o-
To name only a few of the famous massacres in the Philippines, there were the 1985 Inopacan massacre in Leyte (67 killed); 1987 Mendiola massacre in Manila (13 killed); 1989 Digos massacre (39 killed); 1995 Ipil massacre in Zamboanga del Sur (53 killed); 1998 Sara massacre in Iloilo (10 killed); 2009 Maguindanao massacre (58 killed including more than 40 journalists); 2014 Talipao massacre in Sulu (21 killed).
The recent massacre that killed nine people including children and women in the farm at Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree in Sagay City, was still being investigated by a team led by Chief Insp. Roberto Mansueto, head of Sagay City Police Station, and personnel of 62nd Special Action Force.
-o0o-
Unlike in some of the aforementioned massacres, the Sagay massacre occurred in the age of forensic science, or the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly--on the criminal side--during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal procedure.
Which means probers will not find it hard to identify the culprits who, initial police investigation claimed, could be mercenaries or armed bandits hired to kill the corn farmers.
We will continue to monitor the progress of this case and hope that justice will soon be served on the innocent civilians horrifically murdered without a valid cause and justification.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Trapped!
“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.” -Lucretius
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We wouldn’t venture to speculate what exactly happened pre-dawn on August 15, 2018 at Barangay Atabay, San Jose, Antique in the Philippines when members of the Antique Provincial Mobile Force, 301st Brigade, San Jose PNP, 61st Infantry Battalion swooped down on an abandoned church and killed seven suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed the seven: Jayson Talibu, Jason Sanchez, Karen Ceralvo, Ildefenso Labinghisa, Peter Mecenas, Liezl Bandiola and Felix Salditos engaged the joint PNP-AFP teams in a firefight while they were serving a warrant of arrest.
In this version, the seven were killed in an encounter.
-o0o-
Since no one among the bodies lined up and presented to media hours after the “encounter” had survived and no other “rebels” were captured alive, nobody can dispute the PNP-AFP version of a firefight.
Dead men tell no tales.
On the other hand, nobody can tell or corroborate if the government forces had also suffered casualties.
An encounter or firefight means both sides fired gunshots to and from various directions.
A thirty-minute (that’s the police version in their report) gun battle would have been messy, bloody and confusing.
There would have been stray bullets hitting the houses nearby or civilians caught in the middle of the deadly violence which happened when everyone in that village was already sleeping.
Police and military officials neither confirmed nor denied some of their men were also hit and wounded.
Media were just informed an “encounter” happened and the enemies were unlucky as shown by the body count.
-o0o-
Since human rights groups and families of the dead, now known as “Antique 7”, are claiming otherwise and have moved to file a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), some people are getting curious and confused.
They want a clearer picture of what exactly had happened.
Families and supporters of “Antique 7” insisted their loved ones were victims of a massacre.
They threw away to the dustbin the PNP-AFP version of encounter.
Ruth Salditos, Felix’s wife, claimed the victims suffered almost the same “fatal” gunshot wounds on the head, neck and stomach and appeared to be “sleeping” when attacked.
The National Democratic Front (NDF), which admitted the “Antique 7” were its members, claimed the seven were unarmed and were “cultural and educational warriors and non-combatants.”
-o0o-
The PNP, particularly the Regional Police Office-6 (PRO-6) led by Director John Bulalacao, accused the seven of engaging in extortion activities.
Some of the items seized in the vicinity after the “encounter” were reportedly extortion letters and several high-powered firearms, ammunition, grenades and cash.
Human rights group Karapatan-Panay and families of slain communist rebels and Bulalacao have been swapping heated accusations in media.
The word war is expected to escalate as the families and other cause-oriented groups demand justice for the killing of the “Antique 7” while the PNP and the AFP stand by their claim of a “legitimate encounter” and appeared unperturbed.
Massacre or encounter, we have one description of what happened to the “Antique 7”: trapped.
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We wouldn’t venture to speculate what exactly happened pre-dawn on August 15, 2018 at Barangay Atabay, San Jose, Antique in the Philippines when members of the Antique Provincial Mobile Force, 301st Brigade, San Jose PNP, 61st Infantry Battalion swooped down on an abandoned church and killed seven suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed the seven: Jayson Talibu, Jason Sanchez, Karen Ceralvo, Ildefenso Labinghisa, Peter Mecenas, Liezl Bandiola and Felix Salditos engaged the joint PNP-AFP teams in a firefight while they were serving a warrant of arrest.
In this version, the seven were killed in an encounter.
-o0o-
Since no one among the bodies lined up and presented to media hours after the “encounter” had survived and no other “rebels” were captured alive, nobody can dispute the PNP-AFP version of a firefight.
Dead men tell no tales.
On the other hand, nobody can tell or corroborate if the government forces had also suffered casualties.
An encounter or firefight means both sides fired gunshots to and from various directions.
A thirty-minute (that’s the police version in their report) gun battle would have been messy, bloody and confusing.
There would have been stray bullets hitting the houses nearby or civilians caught in the middle of the deadly violence which happened when everyone in that village was already sleeping.
Police and military officials neither confirmed nor denied some of their men were also hit and wounded.
Media were just informed an “encounter” happened and the enemies were unlucky as shown by the body count.
-o0o-
Since human rights groups and families of the dead, now known as “Antique 7”, are claiming otherwise and have moved to file a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), some people are getting curious and confused.
They want a clearer picture of what exactly had happened.
Families and supporters of “Antique 7” insisted their loved ones were victims of a massacre.
They threw away to the dustbin the PNP-AFP version of encounter.
Ruth Salditos, Felix’s wife, claimed the victims suffered almost the same “fatal” gunshot wounds on the head, neck and stomach and appeared to be “sleeping” when attacked.
The National Democratic Front (NDF), which admitted the “Antique 7” were its members, claimed the seven were unarmed and were “cultural and educational warriors and non-combatants.”
-o0o-
The PNP, particularly the Regional Police Office-6 (PRO-6) led by Director John Bulalacao, accused the seven of engaging in extortion activities.
Some of the items seized in the vicinity after the “encounter” were reportedly extortion letters and several high-powered firearms, ammunition, grenades and cash.
Human rights group Karapatan-Panay and families of slain communist rebels and Bulalacao have been swapping heated accusations in media.
The word war is expected to escalate as the families and other cause-oriented groups demand justice for the killing of the “Antique 7” while the PNP and the AFP stand by their claim of a “legitimate encounter” and appeared unperturbed.
Massacre or encounter, we have one description of what happened to the “Antique 7”: trapped.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Pray for Jing-Jing and Dabing
“Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.”
--Steven Wright
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) in the Philippines can’t blame the family and constituents of Monica-Blumentritt, Iloilo City Proper village chief Keith “Dabing” Espinosa and her husband, Jesus “Jing-Jing” Espinosa Jr., if they blame the police if something bad will happen to the Espinosa couple.
Chief Supt. John Bulalaco, the PRO-6 director, has been telegraphing their punches these past weeks.
First, Director Bulalacao has announced he would never meet with Dabing as long as her name is on the list of suspected drug lords.
Dabing, who is reportedly in hiding, had been wanting to see Director Bulalaco to clear her name but the top cop was quoted in media reports as saying, “I have no time for her.”
It’s understandable.
A Dirty Harry film once explicitly proclaimed that authorities aren’t supposed to compromise with the underworld.
-o0o-
Second, Director Bulalaco has revealed that Jing-Jing, now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for frustrated murder, continued to engage in selling of illegal drugs and is using his family members, including Dabing, as fronts.
Director Bulalacao’s revelation on Jing-Jing’s jail activities was a palpable sign that the police could be wittingly or unwittingly trying to condition the public mind that the Espinosa couple has become incorrigible, ergo…
If we deeply analyze these two damning pronouncements coming from Western Visayas’ highest ranking police official, it seems they are harrowing indications of the portent of things to come.
God forbid.
Friends and family members should start praying for the couple’s safety.
-o0o-
We only wish that if the police have enough evidence against Jing-Jing and Dabing in their alleged continued involvement in illegal drug trade, proper charges should be immediately filed against them in court.
If there are pending cases in court against them, let the litigation continue and grind to its full conclusion.
At least that’s how the justice system in the Philippines works.
Let the judicial truth come out during the trial.
We can’t subject the controversial couple into an endless trial by publicity.
--Steven Wright
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) in the Philippines can’t blame the family and constituents of Monica-Blumentritt, Iloilo City Proper village chief Keith “Dabing” Espinosa and her husband, Jesus “Jing-Jing” Espinosa Jr., if they blame the police if something bad will happen to the Espinosa couple.
Chief Supt. John Bulalaco, the PRO-6 director, has been telegraphing their punches these past weeks.
First, Director Bulalacao has announced he would never meet with Dabing as long as her name is on the list of suspected drug lords.
Dabing, who is reportedly in hiding, had been wanting to see Director Bulalaco to clear her name but the top cop was quoted in media reports as saying, “I have no time for her.”
It’s understandable.
A Dirty Harry film once explicitly proclaimed that authorities aren’t supposed to compromise with the underworld.
-o0o-
Second, Director Bulalaco has revealed that Jing-Jing, now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for frustrated murder, continued to engage in selling of illegal drugs and is using his family members, including Dabing, as fronts.
Director Bulalacao’s revelation on Jing-Jing’s jail activities was a palpable sign that the police could be wittingly or unwittingly trying to condition the public mind that the Espinosa couple has become incorrigible, ergo…
If we deeply analyze these two damning pronouncements coming from Western Visayas’ highest ranking police official, it seems they are harrowing indications of the portent of things to come.
God forbid.
Friends and family members should start praying for the couple’s safety.
-o0o-
We only wish that if the police have enough evidence against Jing-Jing and Dabing in their alleged continued involvement in illegal drug trade, proper charges should be immediately filed against them in court.
If there are pending cases in court against them, let the litigation continue and grind to its full conclusion.
At least that’s how the justice system in the Philippines works.
Let the judicial truth come out during the trial.
We can’t subject the controversial couple into an endless trial by publicity.
We can’t convict them through allegations, tough words and a public rebuke.
Even if they are known to be the “soldiers of the darkness”, suspects in the Philippines still have to avail of their rights under the Constitution to be heard in a competent court.
They are still innocent until proven otherwise.
Efforts must be pursued to secure them first before being brought to a fair trial.
Even if they are known to be the “soldiers of the darkness”, suspects in the Philippines still have to avail of their rights under the Constitution to be heard in a competent court.
They are still innocent until proven otherwise.
Efforts must be pursued to secure them first before being brought to a fair trial.
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