Will the president identify Jaguar’s protectors?

After I wrote the article “Who were Jaguar’s protectors” I received a telephone call from a gentleman whose articulation reflected profound education. I could sense his professional background in the way he expressed his ideas. His way of carrying a conversation with a total stranger like me indicated the kind of culture that is lost among many of our leaders. He said that after reading my article he felt the need to reach out to me. He then found my name in the phone book but apologized that he could not reveal his identity. It was from him that I knew the full name of the subject of my previous column. The alleged drug lord who was reportedly killed by Cebu-based policemen somewhere in Metro Manila was Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz.

My caller abhors criminals and believes that in particular, traders of illicit drugs are among the worst of the denizens of the underworld. He acknowledged, however, that he knew enough of Jaguar as to swear that the alleged drug lord, in fact, lived like Robin Hood. Whatever my caller meant, I had no opportunity to dig, although according to him, this was crystallized by the thousands of mourners who joined the funeral procession.

The hypothesis presented by my caller could be drawn from plots of thriller movies. His imagination, if written in a police memorandum, is worth the attention of President Rodrigo Duterte. He claimed that Jaguar was among the top operators in this part of the country. He was reported to control the “shabu” market. For him to become the dominant source of the dangerous drugs in Metro Cebu, he had to have protection.

It was thus not surprising that when the deadly government campaign called Tokhang claimed the lives of thousands of alleged drug pushers, Jaguar feared for his life. His circle of friends must have told him that it was just a matter of time when the long arms of the law would catch him. Perhaps, he thought that to save himself from the hail of policemen’s bullets, his only resort was to surrender to the authorities. So, he announced to the world that at a certain time he would place himself under the custody of the police.

The news report of Jaguar’s planned surrender, carried on this paper, stirred our city especially as Jaguar reportedly announced that he was going to reveal his protectors. For most of us, ordinary citizens, it was the first time we heard of the name Jaguar being linked to the drug trade. We were shocked even more that there was such a high-value target prepared to reveal his protectors. When I talked to some intelligence men to ask if there was some worth to the news, I was horrified to know that Jaguar was a familiar name to them. Indeed, he was on the radar of the police.

Cebuanos waited. We waited for the names of Jaguar’s protectors. Was he among our elected officials, like a senator, congressman, or mayor? Or was he a judge? A police officer? Some of us even played the guessing game. Whoever he was, he should be prosecuted. In protecting a drug lord, he was worse than the drug lord himself. By giving protection to a drug lord, he in effect murdered the drug addicts. But our waiting was in vain. Jaguar’s promised revelation did not come to pass. He was shot dead in Metro Manila.

My caller concluded that Jaguar was not killed because he was a drug lord. He was silenced. He was murdered so that he could not reveal the names of his protectors. So, my caller said that if President Duterte wants to give added impetus to his campaign against the drug trade using the modified version of Tokhang, he must direct his men to do everything to unmask the protectors of drug lords. To achieve this end, the president shall create a special task force to identify the police officers to be held liable for Jaguar’s murder and more importantly to let Cebuanos know who among their officials gave protective mantle to Jaguar.