Blood and lawlessness where Duterte boys rule
Credit to Author: MAURO GIA SAMONTE| Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2019 16:45:51 +0000
Part 2
(Concluded from last Sunday)
THE first part of this article ended with a question: Was [former Justice secretary Vitaliano] Aguirre’s resignation from the cabinet precipitated by this incident, who can say?
The incident referred to was the alleged delivery to Aguirre three years ago of P50 million in bribe money from City of Dreams casino operator Jack Lam — a fact that is attested to by records of the Senate blue ribbon committee proceedings. And this fact was cited in the earlier part of this article by way of bolstering my source’s claim that Quezon province’s Bondoc Peninsula is increasingly getting to embody what widespread violence and lawlessness are all about.
As pointed out earlier, Aguirre hails from Mulanay, another municipality in the Bondoc Peninsula. He shares that town with Tito Ojeda, the former mayor of Mulanay and owner of Quezon province’s No. 1 television and radio network. After being sacked from his Department of Justice position, Aguirre went into virtual political oblivion, but his undiminished closeness to the President must account for his continuing strong influence in the area.
Certainly not to be outdone in the rush to salaam to President Rodrigo Duterte is Quezon’s top honcho, Gov. Danilo Suarez. He is not among the original Duterte Old Boys’ club, having been Jojo Binay’s right-hand man in the last presidential campaign. But being the father of the province now, Suarez cannot help but work with Duterte on everything that concerns Quezon province, from the fight against illegal drugs and criminality to the provision of livelihood and jobs for his constituents.
Quite interestingly, Suarez hails from Unisan, also in the Bondoc Peninsula.
What is it in the peninsula that it should breed bigwigs in politics, in the national bureaucracy and in police administration?
Philippine National Police (PNP) Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, who is a shoo-in for the position of director general of the PNP, could, at this moment that he is the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, be remotely connected with the breakdown of peace and order in the Bondoc peninsula, but he is from the nearby Tagkawayan, Quezon, where his brother now sits as mayor. He should have as much stake in the peace and general well-being of his province, just like PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde and his protégé, rising star Col. Rhoderick Armamento of Lucena.
Given that those involved in the breakdown of law and order in the Bondoc Peninsula and thereabouts are all the President’s men, how similarly widespread could blood and lawlessness be wherever in the country the President’s boys similarly rule?
The most recent controversy in this regard is the early release order issued by Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Nicanor Faeldon for convicted murderer and rapist former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez. It turns out that Faeldon has had a heyday issuing such early release orders for similarly convicted BuCor inmates until the anomaly was discovered. It is said that a tipster had passed on information on the irregular releases to Anthony Taberna of ABS-CBN who exposed it on his program.
Thereupon the report triggered a widespread uproar from the citizenry in street protests, and all over mainstream and social media. What has not been widely fanned is the mysterious killing immediately thereafter of a BuCor division chief who, according to my source, could have been Taberna’s tipster that had set off the raging controversy.
Of course, we remember Faeldon as the same Customs chief fired by President Duterte months ago over a high-end corruption incident at the customs grounds.
What do we see here? Occasions of the President’s men committing graft and corrupt practices until discovered? But the discovery takes effect only as long as the fire rages. From the BuCor, quo vadis, Faeldon? As you did from Customs to BuCor upon your sacking from the former.
In the case of Aguirre, it is evident that his sacking from the Department of Justice has hardly dented his capacity to influence the politics of his Bondoc Peninsula turf. This is attested to by the victories in the last polls of his Lex Talionis brod Fred Lim’s supported candidates in San Narciso and San Andres.
Those poll victories could sum up the mass irony of a people keeping faith with the country’s electoral processes, but in the end frustrated in the face of the wanton use of violence by the politically powerful.
But there’s one good thing we can make out from what has happened in the Bondoc Peninsula. It has become a microcosm of what could be a general breakdown of law and order wherever Duterte boys rule. You find a formula for solving Bondoc Peninsula’s political woes, you get to solve those woes on a nationwide scale.
So, find the relevance in this my source’s one last call:
“Governor Suarez, General Albayalde, General Eleazar, PNP provincial director Col. Ramil Montilla, Lucena City Mayor Dondon Alcala, San Narciso police chief Capt. Hubert Jabrica, San Andres police chief Capt. Joseph Java and Lucena City police chief Lt. Col. Reydante Ariza, Rep. Aleta Suarez, Vice Gov. Sam Nantes, the Quezon provincial board members, San Andres Mayor Giovanni Lim, San Narciso Mayor Florabel Yap and spouse Allan Yap, Secretary Aquirre and Pagcor President Alfred Lim, Lucena RTC Judge Dennis Galahad Orendain — all you elected and appointive leaders in that southern tip of Quezon, the ball is in your court.
“People are dying, being harassed, slapped with trumped-up charges, etc. and there is a total breakdown of peace and order, and what are you doing, especially you, Duterte’s Old Boys’ Club?”