From war vs drugs to war vs rogue cops
In a sort of comedy of errors, President Duterte ordered Sunday the surrender of Supt. Rafael Dumlao, the principal suspect in the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, within 24 hours, otherwise he would issue a bounty of P5 million to capture Dumlao dead or alive. I was waiting for any explosive news on whether Dumlao surrendered or whether someone had killed him to collect the bounty. But apparently, we heard no news about his whereabouts.
Well, apparently we learned from a report validated by Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa himself that Supt. Dumlao had surrendered to him in Camp Crame that Sunday morning when President Duterte issued that surrender order. So now the president had to recall his P5 million offer, lest someone killed Dumlao inside his cell in Camp Crame. This was one for the books, where the president was not given the full information on the whereabouts of Supt. Dumlao.
In another interesting report, dela Rosa has suspended the government’s war on drugs last Monday, as he wanted to create a new unit that would go after rogue policemen. No less than President Duterte told the media that as much as 40 percent of the police force is involved in illegal activities. So now, the Duterte administration has shifted from the war against illegal drugs to the war against scalawags. I fully agree with this shift simply because cleansing the ranks of the PNP is a higher priority for the nation. Just imagine – 40 percent of our PNP force is into some illegal activities. This report is quite alarming.
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I read last week that Ermita, Cebu City barangay captain Felisimo “Imok” Rupinta and seven of his barangay officials have been slapped with a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman because they refused to assist in anti-illegal drug operations by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. I’m not saying that Capt. Rupinta is guilty as charged, but perhaps they forgot that one of the duties of barangay officials is to assist in the efforts by the police in clearing the barangay of drug users or pushers. Rupinta insists that he has been fighting illegal drugs for a long time now.
Barangay Ermita has always been suspected of being a haven for the illegal drug trade and for sure, these barangay officials know who the people behind the illegal drug trade are. I don’t know why Capt. Rupinta refused to cooperate with the PDEA. Since we are in the midst of a war against illegal drugs, this suspension by the Ombudsman should serve as a warning to other barangay officials who might be coddling drug pushers or, worse, drug lords.
In a side story to this incident, Mayor Tomas Osmeña criticized Capt. Rupinta for endorsing two names as his temporary replacement, saying that this was coursed through the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino. But The FREEMAN reported yesterday that Dino denied this accusation by the Cebu City mayor. Dino opted to let the Department of Interior and Local Government handle this issue. If I know Dino, he is no politician and has little or no interest in barangay politics. But then, there is no love lost between him and Mayor Osmeña.
On the other hand, anyone can very well see that Mayor Osmeña has a vested interest in being on top of the Barangay Ermita issue, suggesting that his (former) bodyguard SPO1 Adonis Dumpit or his close confidant former councilor Augustus Pe Jr. take over Rupinta’s position. These people are Osmeña lackeys and will move only upon his orders. Putting these two to replace Capt. Rupinta would effectively put the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan in control of this very important barangay.
I hope that DILG officials get professional people who live in Barangay Ermita to replace Capt. Rupinta. Lest you have forgotten, the barangay is an apolitical group and, therefore, should not be under any political party. Allowing the “bata-bata” of Mayor Osmeña to run the barangay even temporarily is a mockery to the apolitical nature of the barangay.
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