Narco politics in the barangay is a reality!

While the fighting in Marawi continues, we are elated by the news in Mosul, Iraq, which after three long and arduous years under the control of ISIS terrorists, the Iraqi Army finally liberated all of Mosul, which is a major blow to the ISIS as it is their major Caliphate… next target for the Iraqi Army is to rid Raqqa of its ISIS occupiers. Let me say it here that ISIS was able to hold on to those Iraqi cities because then US President Barack Obama refused to fight or even mention Muslim terrorists in his speeches!

Now the bigger task is for the rebuilding of Mosul, which has been literally destroyed by the ISIS is at hand. We can say that we also need to do the same thing in Marawi City when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) fully retake that city from the last few Maute terrorists left behind.

But beyond the P20-billion rehabilitation plan by the Duterte government, there should be a concerted effort by the government and Muslim Religious leaders to stop the Muslim Madrasah Religious education, which teaches Muslim youth to be radicalized. Otherwise, another Maute type terror group could emerge and do another violence to our Muslim cities. This false Muslim teaching has to stop before more Muslims get radicalized.

Meanwhile, it is heartwarming to note that last Friday, the Social Weather Station (SWS) revealed that the President’s net satisfaction rating rose by one grade and 11 points to an “excellent” +73 (83% satisfied, 10% dissatisfied) in the Visayas, from +62 (75% satisfied, 12% dissatisfied, rounded off) in March. Net rating in Mindanao dropped 12 points – although it stayed “excellent” – to +75 (83% satisfied, 8% dissatisfied) from +87 (89% satisfied, 3% dissatisfied, rounded off).

You can blame this high rating for Pres. Rodrigo Duterte on the crisis in Marawi, where it kept Pres. Duterte so busy visiting the wounded soldiers, the wakes of those who were killed and visiting evacuation centers. The media in tow with the President recorded all these events and as a President who represents the Filipino people… they are very grateful that we have a President with the heart and soul of the Filipino.

We can never forget the time how incensed was a great majority of the Filipino people when then Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III wouldn’t meet the 44 dead Special Action Force (SAF) troopers during the formal arrival ceremonies at Camp Villamor where he opted to go to the reopening of the Mitsubishi car assembly plant in Laguna. It was a most insensitive act that a President could have ever done… while what Pres. Duterte has been doing since May 23rd was expected of a Filipino President. This is why Pres. Duterte’s ratings are so high!

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It’s July already and we still don’t know whether the members of Congress have already agreed to postpone the Barangay and the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections as proposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista. So far we know that there is a pending bill that would defer the voting for the Barangay and SK to October 2018, while there is also another proposal to postpone it further to May 2020.

Mind you, one of the major reasons for the postponement of the Barangay and SK polls came from Pres. Duterte who revealed that many Barangay officials are into what we call Narco politics. He is afraid that those running in the Barangay polls would have a huge advantage over well-meaning contenders within the Barangay who are not into the illegal drug trade.

I fully support this move to postpone the Barangay and SK elections for the very reason that Pres. Duterte gave the nation. Last Wednesday, I had Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7) Regional Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz as guest on my TV Talkshow and he revealed to me that earlier before we had the taping, he just had the Barangay captain of Malabago, Badian arrested in a buy-bust operation for peddling and possessing illegal drugs worth more than P2 million. That’s not all!

Last Friday morning, Johnny Arrisgado, the President of the Associated Barangay Council (ABC) San Fernando chapter was caught in a raid for illegal possession of firearms and suspected packs of Shabu. Police report show that Johnny Arrisgado had ties to self-confessed San Fernando drug lord Franz Sabalones. Also on the same day, another Barangay official, Barangay Captain Raul Mesa Cole Sr. of Barangay Putat, Tuburan was arrested in a raid that yielded packs of Shabu worth over P235,000.

While I’m ashamed that all this is happening in the Province of Cebu, but at least the authorities are in the arresting mode, rather than shooting these government officials and turning them into Extra Judicial Killings (EJK) statistics. But what is happening in the Province of Cebu is a mere tip in the proverbial iceberg. I’m sure this is happening all over the country!

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