CEBU, Philippines — Anti-drug crusader and The FREEMAN columnist lawyer Paul Clarence Oaminal, 51, died yesterday afternoon after a week of lingering respiratory problem. He was suspected of having infected with the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19), said Richard Buscayno, a fraternity brother of Oaminal.
“I-cremate siya ugma (today) kay gi-consider siya as COVID suspect although wala gyud na ma confirmed kay wala man siya gi-swab,” Buscayno told The FREEMAN.
“Mga one week na siya gihubak but naa ra siya sa balay gi-oxygen,” Buscayno added.
Recently, he petitioned before the court to declare null and void Resolution No. 114 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Along with lawyer Valentino Bacalso, they described the IATF resolution as “anti-Cebuano” and a “form of tyranny.”
The IATF resolution requires all returning overseas Filipinos and overseas Filipino workers to undergo a longer quarantine period in accredited facilities. The IATF prohibited the provincial government of Cebu from implementing its own protocols for returning overseas Filipinos and OFWs.
Oaminal has authored numerous law enforcement books and recently the “Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020. A manual of the defenders of humanity.”
He was former undersecretary of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and legal consultant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas. He was one of the movers of Drug-Free Philippines and Mamamayan Ayaw sa Droga (MAD).
He writes a column---Cebupedia—for The FREEMAN for several years now.
Bryan Roy Padilla, The FREEMAN’s Opinion Editor, said Oaminal had specialized writing about the history of Cebu, a field that many columnists would not or could not touch.
“He was fond of digging into old records, old books, and old documents to bring up stories and facts that many would appreciate over the passing of time,” Padilla said.
According to Padilla, when Oaminal was not writing about Cebu history, he wrote about drugs and the ills it brings to society.
“Cebu has lost not just someone who wanted to passionately keep our history, culture, and heritage alive, but also someone who crusaded against the drug menace. His death is even more of a tragedy for this newspaper considering we also lost another columnist recently,” Padilla added. — FPL (FREEMAN)