I'm reminded of Vhong Navarro's case, where several women suddenly came forward to say that they too, were raped or molested by Navarro, just when the cases against Deniece Cornejo and Cedric Lee were filed. The lawyer of Navarro quickly dismissed the cases as pure harassment or simply brought out to muddle the case. All three rape cases have since been dismissed for lack of merit, or to many, for simply being too stupid to begin with.
It seems the same thing is now happening to Jorbe Adriatico, the MMDA traffic enforcer who was allegedly mauled by who is now being called the "Maserati Mauler." Several motorists have come forward to tell of the abusive behavior of Jorbe, having also been cited by the traffic enforcer. They described him as abusive, impolite, and arrogant. And to add to that, some freelance workers at Banawe did not mince words when asked about how Adriatico treats them.
But MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino stands by his constable, and sees all of these complaints brought up to muddle the case against Joseph Ingco. Ingco has been the subject of a ton of tirades and criticism online and in media for his alleged actions against Adriatico. So it seems his camp is now on the offensive. Indeed, we are talking about the case at hand, which is the mauling of Adriatico. And he does have a broken nose to prove that. That alone is a criminal offense against a person of authority, of which Ingco will be charged for.
Tolentino also encourages all those who believe they have been subjected to abuse by any MMDA personnel to come forward immediately and file a complaint, if not a case. And that is the way to do it. It does not help if you delay any complaint, as it can be easily seen as rehearsing a different version of the events. Nobody wants an abusive person of authority, no matter who he or she is. I would encourage Chairman to also investigate these complaints against Jorbe, even transfer him to a different location. Just to be fair.
But it seems Ingco is finding himself in more trouble. It has been discovered that he owns several firearms whose licenses have already long expired. One pistol and a high powered rifle at that, one expired in 2011 while the other expired in 2012. I thought the PNP has an "Oplan Katok" to address this very issue of expired licenses? How did these two guns go undetected, or were they simply overlooked? Is Ingco's obvious wealth a factor as to why he isn't being prosecuted for illegal possession of firearms? I have friends who get a "friendly" reminder from the PNP, even if their licenses are only about to expire. In Ingco's case, at least two years have passed, especially for his Bushmaster rifle which is described as a much better and more expensive version of the standard M4 rifle the military uses. I hope this new issue isn't glossed over once again. I shudder to think of how dangerous a man he can be if someone pushed his wrong buttons.