Let's await the president's action
This is the third article I have written that tangents (pun intended) with the name Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz, a reported drug lord. Jaguar was killed allegedly by Cebu-based policemen somewhere in Metro Manila. The fact that it was a team of Cebu-stationed policemen who went to Manila to hunt for Jaguar indicated that the apparent purpose of the predator-policemen was to silence him so that the identities of his "Godfather," to borrow the term used by Mario Puzo, would not be divulged. For the third time I dwell on Jaguar hoping that Cebuanos, perceived to be close to President Rodrigo Duterte, such as Presidential Assistant Michael Dino and Atty.Adelino Sitoy may bring this Jaguar issue to the president's attention when he visits our city on February 12.
There are many questions to be answered. Firstly, Cebuanos must know who were the uniformed men composing the team that left our city to search and destroy Jaguar in Manila. Theoretically, ending the life of a supposed drug lord should be a major accomplishment entitling the policemen awards and spot promotion. Yet in this case, their names were kept hush-hush. Why? The family of Jaguar would like to know who murdered him.
Secondly, let us assume that the policemen did not just decide on their own to go to Manila to look for Jaguar. It was beyond their power, and to cross operational jurisdictions from Region 7 to the NCR to hunt Jaguar required the authority of high officials. Who approved the mission? Did he make an order to "shoot and kill" Jaguar without realizing that such directive had unconstitutional taint?
We cannot just forget how a helpless late Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa was murdered inside his prison cell. The way the president threw his protective mantle to those who killed the mayor shocked my senses. But, at least, a criminal investigation was initiated. Here is an extreme comparison. Sometime ago, shown on television was a dog killed by a bystander. The next report centered on a criminal complaint being filed against the suspected dog-killer. In Jaguar's case, there appeared no attempt to find out if killing him was justified.
The third question is obvious considering what Jaguar, in an interview, told a news reporter few days before his death. The pall of death descended when Jaguar said he was ready to reveal his protectors, who could only refer to persons high in the pole of authority, and who could stop operatives from investigating his affairs, raiding his lair and arresting him. By saying he would name his protectors and reveal those highly placed officials as the ones ensuring his success in the illegal drugs trade, Jaguar, in effect, asked his supposed protectors to kill him. The godfather should never be known publicly and so to keep the secret, a possible squealer had to be eliminated.
The success of the campaign against illegal drugs rests partly in exposing the protectors of Jaguar and prosecuting them. We strike fear among coddlers of criminals if government forces are directed against them. When the president marshals his forces to reveal the identities of "drug protectors,"citizenscan start believing in the government war for we shall be encouraged to provide tips to the police where pushing drugs is done in our communities and by whom. The ball is in the president's hand.
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