Can anyone tell us what’s happening to Cebu?

For my special presentation on our talk show Straight from the Sky, we bring to your television screens Cebu City’s newest addition to the Cebu City Council when Councilor Erik Espina was appointed by President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte to take the place of Councilor James Cuenco. Few people remember that the Espina Family was in politics and Erik’s father was Governor Rene Espina in the late 1960s. He was at the same time appointed Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways and eventually elected as a senator.

I have known Erik for some time especially after we met in Manila. At one time, he had me as a guest on his show “Republika” in GNN. Since he returned to Cebu this year with his father, he also moved his show “Republika” to MyTV. Since he accepted his appointment as Cebu City councilor I asked Erik to refrain from interviewing Cebu City-based politicians and he agreed to this. From the way I size Erik, he will be a great addition to the Cebu City Council as Erik is a man with his own mind.

So watch this show with Councilor Erik Espina on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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I totally agree with the last Saturday’s editorial of The FREEMAN entitled, “Another big challenge” that reads: “His work at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is the motive the family of PDEA-7 senior agent Von Rian Tecson is eyeing behind his murder last Wednesday. Seeking for the immediate resolution of his case, his parents sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation.

“Tecson was on his way home in his black Ford Ranger when ambushed by unidentified assailants in Barangay Perrelos, Carcar City. He reportedly managed to fire back at his attackers and hit one of them.

“He was the second Cebu PDEA officer killed this year. In late July, PDEA-7 senior officer Baby “Earl” Rallos was ambushed near the Cebu Provincial Capitol by two gunmen while he was on his way home from work.”

Indeed two PDEA agents have been killed in less than two weeks. I’ve been talking with a lot of friends about these killings in Cebu and it seems the consensus is the war on drugs has escalated. Before, the drug lords seemed to cower in fear of being killed. But with two PDEA agents killed two weeks apart, it strengthens our thinking that the war against drugs is now being fought in the streets of Cebu!

As reported in that editorial, the brother of Tecson said he has been getting death threats since the arrest of a high-value target in Mandaue City. From these reports, both Tecson and Rallos arrested the big-time drug lord and the killing of both PDEA agents is revenge by the soldiers of that drug lord. So I dare Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas to help assure the families of the PDEA agents that their killers will be apprehended soon.

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What’s really happening to us in Cebu City where Mayor Tomas Osmeña publicly admitted that he was getting death threats? We have known Mayor Osmeña for 20 years or more and this is the first time that we learned that he was getting death threats? Not only is Mayor Osmeña getting death threats, we also learned that Cebu City Police Office Director Senior Superintendent Royina Garma was also getting death threats with a P20-million bounty on her head purportedly set by drug lords.

What’s happening to us in Cebu when our two top officials are being targeted for assassination? As for Mayor Osmeña I really don’t know who wants him killed, but he says it’s the police. So why do the police want our mayor dead? As for Garma, she is so new in Cebu we really have to get to know who she was in her past assignment and why drug lords placed a price on her head. We have to dig more on Garma.

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