L'affaire Odictas: 'Dragon' outsmarts 'Bato'

"Let me be clear-no one is above the law. Not a politician, not a priest, not a criminal, not a police officer. We are all accountable for our actions." Antonio Villaraigosa

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- They can't put a "bad" man down?
Several days before Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, visited Iloilo City in the Philippines on August 26, suspected drug lord, Melvin "Boyet" Odicta Sr., popularly known as "Dragon" in Western Visayas, grabbed headlines when he and wife Merriam "surrendered" to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael Sueno in Manila.
Lawyers Gualberto Cataluna and Sigred Fortun clarified later that their clients, fearing for their lives, "only sought the help" of the DILG. The lawyers refused to use the word "surrender" since no warrant of arrest has been issued against the couple.
The Odictas denied they were involved in trafficking of illegal drugs. They operate a taxi company and a restaurant, among other businesses in Iloilo City tagged as "the most shabulized" city in the country by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Smart move for the lawyers. 
Not-so-good publicity for Sueno and DILG.

HOSPITALITY

In the first place, why would Sueno accord the Odicta couple the kind of "hospitality" reserved for local government officials and cops?
The Odictas are not elected public officials. They are not even members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and PNP. 
Can any businessman tagged as having connections with the underworld seek asylum in the DILG if heat has become unbearable in the kitchen?
Can any drug lord or suspected drug lord hide behind the curtains of a government agency like DILG if police authorities are hot after their heels?
Where will the Odictas' visit fit in the DILG's objective "to enhance LGU capacities to improve their performance and enable them to effectively and efficiently deliver services to their constituents"?
The timing of Odicta couple's visit to the DILG was suspect. The lawyers--or the Odictas themselves--probably knew Dela Rosa was set to arrive in Iloilo City for a series of speaking engagements and inspections last August 26, thus they beat the PNP chief to the draw when they hobnobbed with the DILG.
Sueno has a lot of explaining to do for "L'affaire Odictas". Did he only accommodate friend Cataluna, a former inmate in South Cotabato where Sueno served as officer-in-charge (OIC) during the term of the late former President Corazon Aquino?

REFUSE

On the other hand, Dela Rosa refused to buy the claims of the Odictas that they are not engaged in selling of shabu in Western Visayas.
"Tell it to the marines," Dela Rosa was quoted by Philippines newspapers as saying in response to the Odictas' denial.
Dela Rosa, who was mobbed by Ilonggo fans, can always get a lot of pogi points each time he issued tirades against the drug lords. But it can't be denied that Dragon was able to outsmart Bato in the most recent episode of the nationwide campaign by the Duterte administration against illegal drugs.
After the smoke has been cleared, Dela Rosa was back in Metro Manila. The Odictas were back in Iloilo.
It was like a mouse and cat game. Now that the cat is away, it's time for the mouse to once again play.

WIPE OUT

In six months, Dela Rosa has vowed to wipe out criminals in the country and resign if he can't deliver.  The clock is ticking on that project. This allusion to a stopwatch is often used as an admonition to speed something up.
"Humanda na kayo. Sasagasaan namin kayo. Mag imbak na kayo ng armas (Be prepared. We will run you over. Start stockpiling your arms now)" was Dela Rosa's famous battlecry several weeks before he assumed office as PNP chief.
But Dragon, with his battery of cracked lawyers and the DILG leading the potpourri of charades, appears to have the last laugh. 
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 lives have lost in "summary executions" related to campaign against illegal drugs nationwide as of press time, and the United Nations isn't pleased with the death statistics. 
Most of them were suspected assets allegedly "silenced" so they couldn't rat against rogue cops. 
Most of them were small fries. Not drug lords.

Probing cops is like probing Dracula for his love of blood

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney

By Alex P. Vidal

WE know that Dracula loves to drink blood, thus we shouldn’t be shocked anymore why he wants to be employed in the blood bank.

We will only investigate, of course, if he was hired as security guard in the blood bank even if he didn’t conceal in his bio-data that he was Dracula, the bloodsucker.

Only hypocrites will claim they don’t know that gambling and other illegal activities exist.

The worst hypocrites are those who argue that no cop, public official and even media practitioner is in the payola of operators of illegal activities.

While we understand the knee-jerk reaction of Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) director, Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, on the sweeping allegations made by former Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) administrator Oscar “Oca” Garin Sr. against some police chiefs and municipal mayors in the first district of Iloilo, we can’t help but quip, “Hello. You don’t know really, sir?”

Salinas wants to investigate Garin’s claims that some of the police chiefs in that district have been getting a regular payola or protection racket from illegal gambling operators.

“Worried” Salinas wants an immediate housecleaning so he can separate the chaffs from the grains under his command.

SUPERIORS

We support him. We believe in his sincerity.

But Salinas should first ask to investigate his superiors in Camp Delgado, Iloilo City and even those in Camp Crame, Quezon City or all the way up to the PNP hierarchy.

The first personnel in these headquarters who will claim they are unaware there are cops who receive payola from illegal gambling operators, should be sent to Mindanao to avenge the massacre recently of 44 PNP-Special Action Force troopers by Muslim separatists.

“Pa-imbestigahan naton ang ginhambal ni congressman (Oscar) Garin. I-find out naton kon paano naton ma-substantiate,” said Salinas.

He said police chiefs should come up with an operational review of what they have done in the illegal gambling campaign of the PNP.

Let’s call spade a spade.

Without police protection, gambling, as well as other illegal activities, won’t prosper.

RACKET

Protection racket means some cops pretend they see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing about gambling activities taking place in their areas in exchange for regular or monthly payola.

Offers from gambling operators are too tempting to be ignored.

Sources say a provincial police director in Luzon gets a monthly payola of P500,000.

To be honest, we have no idea how much these illegal gambling operators dangle for regional police directors and the city and municipal police directors in the Visayas and Mindanao.

But a corrupt police officer assigned in a municipal and district sub-station will consider it peanuts to get only P10,000 a month.

We believe there are still honest police chiefs and rank-and-file cops; and they are still in the majority.

We also believe that Salinas is among those honest PNP officials, based on the words from our beat reporters when we were still with the other community newspapers in the 90’s.

INCREDIBLE

We also find it incredible if all municipal mayors and even members of the municipal council will claim they are clean like Caesar’s wife in as far as illegal gambling is concerned.

We have the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the League of Municipalities to discipline local officials who are “on the take” and to police their ranks.

With or without Garin’s “expose”, it’s the duty and obligation of lawmen, local chief executives and members of media to stop and expose evil in society.

And illegal gambling activity is one of those evils because it further impoverishes the people and teaches them to be lazy.

It’s not anymore a question whether the problem exists.

The question is what have we done to expose it, solve and fight it, and nip it in the bud?