Holy Week pall of gloom on six W. Visayas cops

The advent of Holy Week did not spare six Western Visayan policemen from being charged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for the dismissal of drug-related offenses they earlier had filed in court.

At the same time, Superintendent Rolen Balquin, PDEA regional director, said six more policemen are being investigated for bungling drug cases filed with the courts.

PDEA records show that 66 drug-related cases in Region 6 were dismissed and nine more junked last year by Negros Occidental courts.

Balquin admitted that government prosecutors and even PDEA personnel are being investigated in connection with the suspicious dismissal of drug cases by the courts.

PNP regional director Doroteo Reyes gave the PDEA his imprimatur to investigate and file charges against erring policemen whom he failed to name. So with the six others currently being investigated.

But prosecutor Rosanna Saril-Toledano yesterday told Reyes her concern is the unavailability of police witnesses in the prosecution of drug offenders. This, she added, was one reason why many of these cases had been dismissed.

Toledano added that many of these cop-witnesses were reassigned to other areas while the hearings were not yet through. This, she told Reyes, violates the provisions of RA 9165.

PNP provincial director Charles Calima has also launched an investigation into the same practice when he observed that 55 of the 360 drug-related cases filed by the PNP in 2003 and 2004 were dismissed.

Controversial Clarence Dongail, now PRO 6 regional operations and plans division chief, said that since the regional anti-drugs task force launched its campaign against prohibited drugs, the supply was reduced by about 60 to 70 percent. These were mostly illegal drugs shipped to Negros Occidental and Bacolod.

Balquin pointed out that any policeman found guilty of bungling drug cases faces maximum imprisonment of 20 years.

Section 91 of the Dangerous Drugs Act also imposes the penalty on a police officer who orders the transfer of a police witness in a drug-related case, Balquin added.

In addition, policemen found guilty of bungling such cases face dismissal from the service and forfeiture of benefits, aside from criminal cases against them in court.

The PDEA campaign received a boost yesterday with the 2nd Provincial Mobile Group’s 50-man component joining the campaign against peddlers and financiers of the illegal drug trade in Negros Occidental.

In short, with these developments, perhaps the public will no longer view with skepticism publicized arrests of drug peddlers and suspected top guns of the drug syndicates in the region.

But more important is that the names of the errant cops are released to the public.

NBI Official Relieved

As earlier noted, the Holy Week did not spare NBI Bacolod chief Pedro Diaz from being relieved from his post for his alleged recruitment of NBI "Intelcept" members.

NBI regional director Oscar Embido said OIC Pedro Diaz was reassigned as an executive officer of the NBI Western Mindanao regional office in Zamboanga City.

His replacement in the Bacolod NBI office is lawyer Primitivo Unajeroa from Manila.

Actually, Diaz was relieved after an investigation of the Bacolod NBI office which Director Reynaldo Wycoco had ordered, Embido said. The regional director earlier had asked the NBI Internal Affairs Division to investigate Diaz for recruiting 300 "Intelcept" members who had been issued identification cards.

Wycoco, Embido contended, had terminated all confidential and civilian agents of the NBI since August 2004.

The clean-up continues to rid the government agency of some questionable characters. Even during the Holy Week.

Bishop: Uphold Human Life

In the face of the determined campaign of the government to promote the Ligtas Buntis campaign, Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra yesterday issued a pastoral letter urging the Bacolod faithful to "become bearers and defenders of human life which is now being considered as a hindrance to the economic growth of the country."

He warned against the "extraordinary increase and gravity to human life today, most especially to the weak and the defenseless." With the growing "intensity of materialistic and utilitarian attitude in our society, the preciousness of human life has gradually been taken for granted," stressed the Bacolod prelate.

"Amid the widespread influence of moral decadence in our society, Christ presents Himself as the God of life and thus, encourages us to uphold the value of human life. Those values include respect for human life from the moment of conception, respect for marriage for its insoluble unity and respect for the stability or the family," stressed Bishop Navarra.

He did not single out any specific program of the government or any government agency. But there was no doubt in the minds of the Bacolod faithful that Ligtas Buntis of the DOH was one of those against which the prelate was protesting.

Ex-Cager’s Morale Boosted

With the attention of Filipinos focused on Manny Pacquiao last weekend, former basketball star Rudy Distrito thought he had been forgotten.

But he was surprised when Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) and several Bacolod newsmen and fans visited him at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas where the former cager is detained.

"For a minute, he was speechless. And soon tears rolled down his eyes," was how Visayan Daily Star’s Xenia Tupas and Mary Ann Barcelona described Distrito’s reaction last Monday.

"He thought he had already been forgotten. And then he cried realizing that he had visitors from Bacolod City," Puentevella told the Bacolod newsmen who accompanied him.

Distrito is scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge filed against him and two companions for the killing last Nov. 24 of Juan Amaya, an American citizen of Mexican descent.

Puentevella said the former cage star has aged a lot. "He had a lot of white hair and he has lost weight. It must have (deprived) him of a lot of strength behind bars," the lawmaker said.

Puentevella was accompanied by Rene Cuison, a US-based alumnus of St. Joseph’s High School. Four others — Roland Anilo, Tony Querido, Edgar Mahigme and Rafael Chavez — were not allowed to visit Distrito because only two were permitted to see the cager under the prison rules.

Anyway, that was a major boost to Distrito’s morale. And there is a lot more to be reported later about Distrito and how the ex-cage star has issued an appeal for help from Bacolodnons in the face of a P27-million bail set by the court for his temporary liberty.

That’s a story to ponder during the Holy Week.