‘Protect yourselves at all times’

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
--Albert Einstein

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY --Now that the riding-in-tandem’s reign of terror has remained unabated in the Philippines, active cops and former colleagues of slain retired Iloilo City policeman Ronaldo “Apple” Alag in the Philippines included in the narco list of President Rodrigo R. Duterte should not let their guards down.
Even politicians, lawyers, judges, journalists, housewives, teachers, sidewalk vendors, and other civilians are not exempted from a man-made horror and terror.
As we tell the boxers before the start of a boxing bout, “protect yourselves as all times.”
There is no guarantee that the liquidation squad won’t strike anew.
There have been scores of characters linked to illegal drugs waylaid and executed by the notorious motorcycle-riding gunmen, but not a single assailant has been arrested or identified.

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Except in the case of PO2 Dorben “Benjo Acap of the PNP Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU) based in Camp Delgado in Iloilo City, who survived an ambush attempt in Sitio Pajo, Brgy. Dulonan, Arevalo District on June 26, 2018 and managed to fire back and hit his shooter, PO2 Melvin Mocorro, all other crimes committed by the riding-in-tandem murderers have remained unsolved.
Even if Mocorro had been collared and charged in court, no one was expecting him to go to jail for Acap’s foiled murder.
Many people suspect Mocorro’s superiors will make sure he will be “off the hook.”
We remember that among those mentioned by President Duterte in his “narco list” were retired Iloilo cops Elvis Donasco and Remy Donasco.
The Donasco brothers have denied any involvement in any illegal activities, including drug trafficking.
They also denied they were protectors of drug traffickers operating in Western Visayas.
If the charges against all the suspects are based on falsehood and erratic intelligence data, they shouldn’t be harmed even with a ten-foot pole.
If the reports are accurate, file charges against them in court so they can defend themselves.
A big no to summary execution.

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The Donasco brothers and other characters in the president’s “narco list” could be victims of jealousy and envy.
Unless the “intelligence” reports reaching President Duterte have been verified and substantiated, it’s not fair to eternally attach their names to unlawful activities.
Like all victims of extra-judicial killings (EJK), all other suspects should be given their day in court.
Just the same. They should not trust anyone who ride not just in motorcycle but also in cabs and even private cars who approach them or roaming around their neighborhood.
It’s better to be prepared and alert all the time than sorry.
With the climate of fear and impunity hovering around the horizon, it isn’t safe for anyone to trust anybody not part of our household.
Even some of our colleagues will sometimes kiss us like Judas to ensure our downfall and imminent death.

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The boring FIDE world chess championship tussle between champion Magnus Carlsen and American challenger Fabiano Caruana in London will finally be decided in a tie-breaker on November 28, 2018.
Carlsen will play with the white pieces in the first game of rapid play-off after the drawing of lots is conducted.
The format will be: Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.
If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment).
If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death ‘Armageddon’ match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.
I won’t be surprised if on Wednesday, a new world chess champion will be crowned.

Death sentence for Iloilo mayors in 'narco' list?

"Do I favor the death penalty? Theoretically, I do, but when you realize that there's a four percent error rate, you end up putting guilty people to death." -- Gary Johnson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW JERSEY -- I bumped off two stories over the weekend to pave the way for an article I deemed to be more urgent and relevant in the heels of President Duterte's speech during the swearing in of several newly-appointed cabinet officials on January 9 in Malacanang.
President Duterte called "narco-politicians" as "dead men walking."
He vowed to kill big time "shabu" dealers, and the next batch, reports quoted him as saying, would be the city and municipal mayors engaged in illegal drugs and whose names he mentioned weeks after he assumed office in July 2016.
I was so alarmed because some of the mayors President Duterte had linked to illegal drugs based on the list provided by his intelligence men were from my place in Western Visayas.  
They were Jed Patrick Mabilog of Iloilo City, Alex Centena of Calinog, Iloilo; Siegfredo Betita of Carles, Iloilo; and Mariano Malones of Maasin, Iloilo.
Except for Betita, the three are known to me personally. Malones was our former business manager in the News Express; Centena is a friend way back in the 80's when he was not yet a public official; and Mabilog is our mayor in Iloilo City.

DEATH LIST

Are they among those included in President Duterte's so-called death list? 
We want to know. We need to know especially because there has been no solid evidence linking them to illegal drugs.
They could only be victims of political black propaganda or vendetta. They were never convicted by any competent court. 
In fact, no formal charges have been filed against them yet. They were vilified, along probably with several others who could be innocent in the Duterte list, without any formal trial. 
What if the president erred or the list he was reading was a sham and contained falsehood? Since July 2016 when their names were disclosed as alleged drug protectors, the government has failed to substantiate the allegations.
Therefore it's premature to condemn them; it's not fair to punish them with a harsh "death sentence" which could become only another case of extra-judicial killing, God forbid.

LAW

While most Filipinos who elected President Duterte in the May 2016 polls support his campaign to stamp out criminality in the country especially the president's "all-out" war policy against illegal drugs, pressures from human rights advocates, including the United Nations and other international organizations, continued to hound the president as dead bodies piled up in the streets.
Most of those killed in "shootouts" with police were drug addicts and small-time peddlers of illegal substance. Their families claimed the dead were victims of summary execution.
The Philippines doesn't have any law on death penalty. Convicted criminals spend time in jail and are not killed. 
If these mayors are executed when their guilt was not yet proven beyond reasonable doubt--and in the absence of any law that supports the death penalty--the president becomes an executioner and violator of the law, not the dead mayors.