How long can the PNP hold Calvin Tan?

Yesterday's headline news in The FREEMAN blared, "Calvin Tan now in Cebu!" Frankly speaking, I don't know if Calvin Tan's extradition and eventual arrival here in Cebu is a welcome development simply because his presence may just too disturbing to his former connections here who until now hasn't been exposed to the public as of yet. Since we don't know who these connections are, quite possibly these people (I'm sure made a lot of money from their friendship with Calvin Tan) may just be planning a "warm" reception for Mr. Tan… like a sudden mysterious death or an assassination perhaps or even a dramatic escape!

At present, Mr. Tan is in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and I'm sure that they don't have any maximum-security prison to house Mr. Tan. But even if they had a maximum security prison, no matter how thick or high your prison walls are, a determined prisoner can still escape for the right price… and in th is country of corrupt jail guards or wardens, we have seen high-profile prisoners escape for a piddling sum. For sure, Mr. Calvin Tan can promise his jail guards a king's ransom if they helped him orchestrate his escape.

If I'm writing about this, it is because our history is replete with sensational escapes from maximum-security prisons, it has become the national joke! On July 15, 2003 just barely two years ago, the nation's number one terrorist (I guess he also held that notoriety in Southeast Asia) Mr. Al-Ghozi of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) who confessed to having masterminded the Rizal Day bombing escaped with Abdulmukim Ong Edris and Omar Opik Lasal, both members of the Abu Sayyaf from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame. Back then I suggested that this camp be renamed Camp Escape because Al-Ghozi wasn't the first celebrity prisoner to walk away from this high-security prison.

Indeed, before the dramatic Al-Ghozi escape, notorious Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and Pentagon Gang leader Faisal Marohombsar also walked away to freedom… of course, they eventually were killed while in hot pursuit, hence we asked in our column on July 16,2003, "If you can't hold 'em, why arrest them?" So where are we going to put Mr. Calvin Tan, at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) or in Mandaue City Jail?

But like what we said, it doesn't matter how high or thick those prison walls are for as long as his jailers are given a briefing on what would happen to them if Mr. Tan escapes or dies. Hmmm, that brings us to ask… what harsh punishment is in store for jailers who help their wards escape? Perhaps we ought to seriously find ways to discourage corrupt jailers from succumbing to monetary temptation by imposing stiff penalties on them. So there you have it… at least, you can't say, we didn't warn you.

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The National Democratic Front (NDF) has unilaterally scrapped the Peace Talks with the Philippine Government because it believes that the Arroyo Presidency is "crumbling" and won't last very long. That is according to Fr. Luis Jalandoni, chief negotiator of the Utrecht-based NDF panel. So what does this mean? For people like me who've long exposed the truth about the locally bred communists, this unilateral act of scrapping the peace talks means, there will be no peace to be settled in the negotiating table and I don't have to expound to our readers that this means more bloodshed!

Let me point out that I have never believed that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or the New People's Army (NPA) or the NDF were sincere in talking to the government. The main objective of their 30-year struggle is to establish a communist government in this country or die (actually, it is their lower ranked cadres who are dying, while Joma Sison and Fr. Jalandoni are enjoying peace and freedom in the Netherlands) trying. This is why decades later, the CPP-NDF-NPA has never achieved anything near a strategic stalemate which would have forced the Philippine government to grant them concessions in exchange for peace. Peace talks for the communist means, a respite for R and R then to rearm and restock their armed cadres.

So now it's back to banditry, pillage and more killings as far as the communists are concerned and I guess it is time for the military to ram home the message that armed elements whether they are underground communists or Muslim separatists should be dealt with a serious blow. For too long, the military has been complacent with no visible military victories in sight, while the NPAs get propaganda mileage when they kill our soldiers in ambush. It is time to turn the tables on the NPA, but is the military prepared?

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com