Talkative Bato

"I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers." Khalil Gibran

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- If I were police Chief Supt. Ronaldo "Bato" dela Rosa, I would refrain from issuing threats to members of the underworld, particularly the drug lords, even after I have assumed as PNP director general.
I would not telegraph my punches if my intention is to eradicate the drug lords.
I would neither give a deadline nor predict a timetable for the drug lords' demise.
I will just do my job. I will let my performance do the talking. 
I'm a law enforcer, not a debater.
I will only implement the law and protect the civilian populace.
I will let my boss, President Rody Duterte, do all the noise. 
Duterte's locomotive tongue is enough to send shivers down their spine, but uprooting them in their cocoons will take more than a lip service.

CONNECTION

Drug lords are not patsies. They, too, have connections all over the archipelago.
They have branched out not only in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, but also in other Asian and even American countries where they maintain a symbiotic business relationship.
They have the money to burn, so to speak. 
They have in their payroll not only rogue cops and jail wardens, but also corrupt journalists, powerful politicians, and hoodlums in robes--fiscals and judges.
Drug lords may also have protectors not only in the judiciary but also in the legislative branch.
They reportedly bankrolled the victory of some lawmakers. And this is a common knowledge. 
We won't be surprised if some solons are drug lords, too; or are in cahoots with drug lords.
In fact, we doubt if all drug lords in the Philippines will be wiped out in six months. 
Some of the small fries maybe, but not those in the hierarchy.
Drug lords have links in other parts of the world. Their cohorts are also well-connected and well-entrenched. 
In this age of technology, they swap support in many disguises and networks.

OPERATIONS

Their operations are not peanuts. They operate using hi-tech gadgets and can afford to give away hundreds of millions in bribes and other operational expenses. 
Predicting their downfall in only six months is like predicting Dracula to reject blood for his drink.
Instead of talking a lot, Dela Rosa should begin with a house cleaning in the PNP without any banter and blunderbuss.
According to Rappler, while Dela Rosa’s pending appointment did not surprise Camp Crame officials, it has raised some eyebrows.
Rappler reported: "His taking on the highest post in the police force means his upperclassmen – from the Philippine Military Academy classes of 1983, 1984 and 1985 – will miss their chance at the PNP’s top post. Born on January 21, 1962, Dela Rosa is set to retire in 2018, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.
"Assuming he begins his stint by July 2016, Dela Rosa would serve as PNP chief for at least one and a half years. His term would be a little longer than current PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez's 12-month stint, but shorter than that of President Benigno Aquino III's favorite cop, sacked PNP chief Alan Purisima.
"Purisima was appointed chief of the PNP in late 2013 and was not set to retire until November 2015, which meant an almost 2-year-old term. But Purisima was suspended in December 2014 and later, dismissed by the Ombudsman over a supposedly shady deal in Camp Crame."

Drug lords Co, et al won’t name Iloilo, Bacolod cohorts

“I used to have a drug problem, now I make enough money.” DAVID LEE ROTH

By Alex P. Vidal

EVEN if they will kill him, authorities can’t force big time drug lord Peter Co to name his associates in various regions all over the country, even if he and 19 other fellow drug lords have been transferred from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters.

Veteran drug lords like Co are trained not to rat against their partners even if they have been cornered by authorities.

If they do, the consequences are fatal: they are usually liquidated by their own partners.

Several days after Co, et al have been caught living in extravagant lifestyle in their kubols, authorities still failed to extract damning evidence that would pin down the drug lords’ cohorts operating in various parts of the country.

NBA agents confiscated from Co’s kubol several dollar bills, high-powered firearms, shabu and drugs paraphernalia during a joint raid conducted by the NBI and the Department of Justice on December 15.

BIG TIME

Peter Co, Hans Chua, and Tony Co are reportedly among the most big time drug lords in the country detained at the national penitentiary.

The raid reportedly confirmed reports that they have been continuing with their illegal activities in cahoots with corrupt jail guards and some Bureau of Correction (BuCor) officials.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 Director Paul Ledesma has confirmed that some of the major supplies of shabu being peddled in Western Visayas came from the National Bilibid Prison.

Ledesma knows that drug lords in “Munti” have links with drug pushers in Western Visayas.

Ledesma believes that the raid would affect the supplies of shabu in Western Visayas, which includes Iloilo, Bacolod, Guimaras, Capiz, Aklan, and Antique.

If “Munti” is the source of the big chunk of shabu that supplies drug addicts in the region, does it mean that a shabu laboratory exists inside the country’s premier rehabilitation center?

Or probably the drug lords, using their communication gadgets, operated the shabu business by a long distance—meaning the laboratories could be located in secret places far away from the Bilibid.

PINPOINT

Ledesma has pinpointed Peter Co as the contact persons of drug suppliers in the region.

They are expected to subject him in a thorough interrogation under the NBI custody, but they can never make him confess that he was still doing his illegal business while behind bars.

In a recent interview over DyRI RMN-Iloilo, Ledesma predicted a “domino effect.”

“(but) It will not be immediate. We also have to consider that they still have stocks,” Ledesma said.

“It’s just a matter of time…either mapangdakop namon ang mga pushers or maubos baligya ang supply sa mga retailers. Siguro ang mga replenishment or transactions in the future ang maapektuhan sang scarcity.”

With his vast knowledge of what had been going on in the Bilibid, Ledesma and the entire PDEA should have intercepted some of the major deals undertaken by the drug lords with their Western Visayas contacts even before the NBI and DOJ raid last December 15.

Why did they fail to monitor the deals when it was easier for them then to clamp down on the drug lords’ clandestine operations inside a state-run jail?