Wanted: An anti-drug czar for Cebu

For our special presentation on our talkshow Straight from the Sky, we bring you the top officials of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) or the former Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management, led by chief of operations, Mr. Francisco “Isko” Ouano, and Atty. Ismael Garaygay III who handles the administrative side of CCTO.

I haven’t interviewed anyone from the CCTO in a long time and I learned a lot from this interview. First that, the CCTO office has now been moved back to the Ramos market. During our time, we moved it from the Ramos market and placed it beside the South Bus Terminal. They moved it back a year and a half ago. Also one of the things we fought for during our time in CITOM was to make this enforcement body into a Department in Cebu City and apparently this has already been done. But since it has become a Department, CCTO no longer has a board that would map out plans and strategies on the day-to-day affairs of the traffic body.

For sure, this interview with Isko Ouano and Atty. Garaygay won’t solve our traffic problems, which is why I exhort our readers to stop complaining about the traffic problem if you are one of those who cause traffic in our beloved Cebu City. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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The big breaking news over the weekend was the report we got that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered the filing of a case against former president Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III on the still-unresolved dilemma of the Mamasapano massacre. I never thought that we’d see the day that the Ombudsman would finally file the case against her appointing power!

Just to refresh our readers, the Mamasapano massacre began at midnight of January 24, 2015 when 400 highly-trained commandos belonging to the Philippine National Police elite Special Acton Force launched Oplan Exodus and served a warrant of arrest against Marwan and Ahmad Akmad Uson in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. In the end, Marwan was killed in his hut, while the 44 SAF men encountered Muslim terrorists mostly belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who massacred the SAF men.

Now whether or not the Ombudsman filed this case vs. the former president only to eventually drop it in order to clear the name of Aquino is the million-peso question.

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Here’s a letter I got from our fellow The FREEMAN columnist Atty. Paul Oaminal. “Dear Sir Bobit; Cebu has repeatedly been highlighted by President Duterte as center of drug trade/hotspot. Admittedly, our local officials are exerting efforts to address the drug problem but they could only do that much as they have no command and control over the national agencies which have important roles in the anti-drug campaign such as the DOJ, DOH, DepEd, CHED, DILG, Bureau of Customs and others whose policies are dependent on Manila.

“Cebu’s drug problem is peculiar to Manila and the rest of the country, it is an island province whose population is that of a mega-metro city and the center of trade of Visayas and Mindanao, yet it retains accept of a rural or provincial culture. But the question is, is there a person who is in charge of the drug problem of Cebu? The answer is none. Our local officials, city and province and the national agencies must be led by one person so that it will be akin of than of an orchestra with one conductor, now our agencies and LGUs are playing different tunes.

“The President must appoint an Anti-Drug Czar for Cebu and the Visayas, Cebu as its headquarters; this is so as DDB has no physical or psychological presence in Cebu. The profile of the appointee would be a retired general or judge who has moral ascendancy over the LGUs and the national agencies respect. The President has to do this so there will be someone who will be accountable and responsible for the drug problem and if not successful is to be blamed for losing the drug war. Respectfully yours, Paul Oaminal.” Thanks for this enlightening article!

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