Who were Jaguar's protectors?
There seems to be a renewed vigor by the government in the fight against the country's drug problem. President Rodrigo Duterte must have given a new marching order to his men in uniform. Thanking the President for an idea that can deodorize the stink that Tokhang sowed is probably in order. We should give it to him even if some among us have reservations.
Observe the increasing crowd of protesters, and you will discern that Malacañang bashers claim this new tact is designed to atone for the reported human rights violations during the early months when the dreaded Tokhang chilled our countrymen, but still let us give this new Duterte ploy some chance for it may just prove to be worth a while. Let us give it the benefit of doubt.
There is a very important issue that the President should address. It touches on my sense of justice. If he attends to it with fairness, I will concede that this new Tokhang may be based on his desire to rid our country of this evil. This revolves around the circumstances in the murder of a self-confessed drug lord called Jaguar. By the way, here is a usually useless disclaimer: I did not know the Jaguar. I do not recall of any day we met. There was never an occasion when we were introduced to each other.
This is what I vaguely recall. In the killing spree that followed Tokhang, Jaguar must have thought the President was obsessed in fulfilling a promise to solve finally the illegal drug trade in six months. Kill the sellers of dangerous drugs! Hundreds of suspected drug pushers were then shot dead by lawmen amidst claims of a rub-out than legitimate encounters. Most were unknown players, not "high-value targets" (to borrow policemen's lingo) because, upon scrutiny of the dead bodies, almost always only small sachets of "shabu" were found in the pockets. Jaguar must have concluded that, after the minor drug personalities were decimated, the big ones were next. Fear for his life must have overwhelmed him for if minor suppliers were murdered how much more for those believed to be sources of inexhaustible supply.
This Jaguar may have hatched a plan to save his life. He had to surrender to authorities and in exchange he would reveal the politicians and policemen who gave him protection: A quid pro quo arrangement-his life for the names of politician-godfathers and military coddlers. Jaguar then talked to a reporter of this paper saying he was going out of the safety of his home, hide for a while and arrange for his surrender, where he would tell all. This paper carried that news story, and I feared for his life even more upon reading the report.
On hindsight, Jaguar's strategy was wrong. He telegraphed his punches, and telling the world that he was going to spill the beans, he invited his protectors to shut his mouth forever. That was how I interpreted the consequence when he was shot dead in Metro Manila by Cebu-based policemen.
Jaguar might have been a drug lord (that I do not know) such that his death was a necessary evil to fight the illegal trade, but I must say also that he was a victim of injustice. If President Duterte hopes to continue his war against drugs, this time upholding the tenets of justice, he should order a thorough investigation into the death of Jaguar, ending with the revelation of the drug lord's protectors.
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