Overacting city police chief

"There is no overacting, only untrue acting."
--STELLAN SKASGARD

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Wonder why until now news in the Philippines is still being dominated by alleged EJKs (extra-judicial killings) amid the brutal campaign initiated by the Duterte administration against the narcotics?
Even if there will be killings everyday, shabu dealers nationwide won't totally close shop.
By hook or by crook they have to "push" their illegal substance even if via guerilla tactic. They can't throw away to the dustbin or flush in the toilets kilos of shabu already in their possessions.
If they can't remit the money, their suppliers will kill them. They are actually caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
They have no choice but to engage law enforcers in a cat-and- mouse-type game and risk their lives, otherwise, they will lose their main livelihood. Otherwise, they will be killed by their own partners in crime gangland style.

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One thing more, many street-level shabu dealers are unemployed and selling illegal drugs is their only way out of poverty.
They are aware that many of them have already been executed like animals ever since Pres. Duterte declared an all-out war against illegal drugs; but they are unfazed.
They fear poverty more and their ruthless suppliers than bullets from the raiding police teams.
In shabu business, everybody is involved down in the barangay level--housewives, husbands, their children (used as whistle-blowers for police raids if not couriers), and some village officials.
The lives of many drug addicts have already been destroyed long before they were mowed down by bullets--via EJK or otherwise.
The problem on illegal drugs can't be halted even if dead bodies will continue to stockpile in the dumpsites and public plazas when we wake up in the next day.


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MANY Ilonggos believed that Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) Director Remus Zacharias Canieso "over reacted" when he "summoned" to the ICPO the manager and service crew of a hardware inside a big mall in Iloilo City on April 7 after he was accidentally hit by a pushcart while inside the hardware earlier.
Inside the ICPO, Canieso, who was supposed to be transferred to Aklan if the Iloilo City Council did not ask PNP Chief Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa to retain him in his present post, reportedly lectured the manager and service crew to be cautious if they are inside the hardware as they might hurt not only adults like him but children, as well.
Canieso, who did not suffer any major injury, could have talked to the manager and the service crew right there inside the hardware after the incident.
Or smile and forget about the minor episode, which occured every now and then in other shopping centers and crowded places. Canieso would have earned praises, especially if the hardware management found out who he is.
If it happened to an ordinary civilian laborer, the incident would have been shrugged off and forgotten.
But because he is a city police chief, Canieso had to use his power and authority to inconvenience the hardware employees into "reporting" to his office like they were his subordinates.
He was sending a curt message.

Councilor Gerochi unfazed by criticism on 'Bato' resolution

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." 
-- Winston Churchill

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- I dropped a "thank you" note for Iloilo City Councilor R Leone "Boots" N. Gerochi through the Facebook messenger because that's the only way I could get in touch with him.
I told him I admire him for being such a broad-minded public official. 
This was after he "shared" my article on his Facebook wall entitled, "Iloilo dads should get their hands off 'Bato' case" on February 2.
In that article, I criticized the Iloilo City Council for its "unanimous" resolution urging embattled Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa "to stay put" (the exact words I used). 
The article stated that the resolution, penned by Councilor Joshua Alim, "may be wise and symptomatic but not necessary, to say the least." (READ: http://alexpvidal.blogspot.com/2017/01/iloilo-dads-should-get-their-hands-off.html)

VOTE

As among those who "voted" for the resolution, Atty. Gerochi would have sneered at the article. The lest he would have done, if he were myopic-minded, was to ignore it. He didn't. 
By being sport and open-minded, he displayed a unique level of wisdom and understanding seldom seen among public officials today who are easily carried away by their emotions in a slightest media criticism.  
Atty. Gerochi knew that the article was merely an opinion of a columnist or member of the Fourth Estate; and airing or expressing it in the free market of ideas like radio, TV, newspaper and blog falls within the ambit of freedom of the press and expression.
The city councilor knew that a public official is not supposed to bellyache and rant like a child if his acts are criticized or if the press chides him in relation to his functions and obligations in a public office.
Atty. Gerochi, son of well-respected criminal lawyer Romeo "Roming" Gerochi, our co-host in the original "Kape kag Isyu" cable TV program also aired "live" over RMN dyRI in 1996 together with Peter Jimenea, immediately caught my attention.
Here's one public servant who understands and respects the job of a journalist; a public official who is perceptive and not onion-skinned; a city official who knows how to handle and value constructive criticism.

BEAT

I started covering the Iloilo City Hall beat in 1989 during the turbulent reign of the late Mayor Rodolfo "Roding" Ganzon until 1999, thus I am not familiar with Atty. Gerochi, who became city councilor in 2010 when I was already in Canada.
In the Philippines in 2014, I recall that the late former Iloilo Press Club president Teddy Sumaray once mentioned to me Atty. Gerochi's name over a cup of coffee in the bakeshop of Iloilo City's Atrium Mall.
"Alex, there is one city councilor, a new breed of politician who I really admire," Mr. Sumaray volunteered. "He is the son of pare Roming and is also a lawyer. When I visited pare Roming in his office recently, this young lawyer was very polite and accommodating. I have not experienced the kind of politeness shown by any son of my friends in a very long time. He is a man to watch. Basi mag meyor ni sa pila ka adlaw (He could be a future mayor)."
We also trust that Atty. Gerochi's colleagues, especially the senior members of the city council, won't take the criticism of their job as public servants personally, and won't consider the press as enemy but partner in nation building.

Iloilo dads should get their hands off 'Bato' case

"There are three major social issues that this country is struggling with: education, poverty, and drugs. Two of them we talk about, and one of them we don't."
-- Steven Soderbergh

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The night before the Iloilo City Council in the Philippines unanimously passed a resolution in its regular session on January 30 "urging" Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to stay put, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in a haste press conference in Manila that he had rejected Dela Rosa's resignation.
Had Duterte let Bato go and announced it in the press conference on January 29, the Iloilo City councilors would have nothing to "urge" from the top cop in as far as his stint in the PNP was concerned.
Either proponents would revise the resolution from "urging Bato not to resign" or to "urging President Duterte to reinstate Bato." 
Or they would forget about the Bato resolution and remove it from the regular session's agenda.

NECESSARY

Was the Bato resolution, penned by Councilor Joshua Alim, necessary?
It may be wise and symptomatic but not necessary, to say the least.
As a national figure, Bato has been the subject of intense discussions in the House of Representatives with some solons calling for his resignation in the light of the kidnapping and murder of a Korean businessman perpetrated by policemen inside the Camp Crame.
Newspapers, news websites, TV networks have been tackling issues about Bato. Even during the Miss Universe Pageant, Bato was among the "top grossers" in the news and social media.
Bato's fate is too broad for a local legislature like the Iloilo City Council.
Too many cooks will spoil the broth.
Instead of joining the fray in complicated national issues, the city council will look good and earn more pogi points if it will instead focus on local issues.

DINAGYANG

Like an "urgent" resolution commending government agencies, city and provincial officials, private individuals, participating schools,  sponsors, choreographers, among other unsung heroes responsible for the successful staging of the just-concluded 2017 Dinagyang Festival. 
There's a myriad of socio-economic, health, business, education, political and environmental issues that affect the life of local populace.
More pressing issues like the success or failure of smoking ban on public places, malnutrition and housing programs in villages, the reported increase in number of AIDS, murder, and rape cases.
The Department of Tourism's (DOT) efforts to push for chartered flights between Taiwan and the Iloilo International Airport in the town of Cabatuan, Paraw Regatta 2017 preparations, Iloilo City's aim to become "City of Excellence", real estate boom, investment and business expansion and opportunities, among other local issues.
Meanwhile, if there was one thing significant about the Gen. Bato Dela Rosa resolution, it was the city council's avowed display of solidarity behind the Duterte administration's "strong campaign against illegal drugs and criminalities."