LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza
Are there bad eggs in the uniformed service?

James Balao, 47; has been abducted and gone missing for 18 days now. For parents, the thought that their children are out somewhere unknown makes them grow older than their age.
In some part of our early lives we admit that we were vagabonds. But I never cared about what my parents could have been thinking or how they felt while I was away somewhere they did not know.

It is only when I became a father and turned into a Lolo that I came to know how my parents worried and felt about my “missing.” By way of this space the parents, sisters, brother, relatives and friends of James ask for anyone’s assistance who may have possibly seen him or heard of him in their vicinity.

“Your assistance in locating James is vital to his survival. He is still in captivity, we hope his captors release him. If he is being mistreated, we hope that his captors cease their actions and spare him anymore harm,” the Balao family appealed.

James Balao has concentrated on research work on issues affecting indigenous communities’ rights and defense of ancestral lands, thus helped in the drafting of the 1986 Constitution’s provisions on indigenous people’s rights. For sure there are bad eggs in the uniformed service or military who become innocent instruments, or scapegoats sometimes, in the government’s bid to rid their perceived enemies. They too are victims of the policies being used by government against its imagined enemies.

If you are one of them bad eggs or government scapegoats, please do answer the appeal of the Balao family. I am sure there are ways that you can employ so you can get in touch, without the boss knowing about it. Please contact CP No. 0918 691 8480 for any information.

And if you are a parent, you would know exactly how it hurts to have a missing son or daughter. I know James as a very harmless brandy drinker like me. Release him.
***
The erection of COMPAC ( Community Police Assistance Center ) buildings in strategic locations was seen to provide protection to the host district, local and foreign tourists. This, according to retired police Chief Avelino Razon. The police centers are as neat and sparkling as a hotel suite – vandals are tempted to write on the walls. Even mosquitoes could hardly make any landing because they could slip and slide once they do so.

But then the ‘spic and span’ centers can easily be reduced to mere physical structures with no character at all if persons assigned to manage them are worse than the scalawags that they apprehend.

This is so in the case of Peoples Tonight photojournalist – correspondent Cesar Reyes, who, instead of being assisted, was detained against his will at the COMPAC atop Session Road. Apparently, the cops who took custody of him already decided on a case that has not even been filed in court.

After traffic altercation where the journalist pays P2000 for the damages incurred in the accident and further surrenders his gun together with its license and permit – he goes to jail.
The gun’s papers that were taken from Reyes were not submitted to the fiscal as part of the evidences. Why? That is known only by the apprehending cop.

I suspect this is not an isolated case where offenders of simple crimes become victims of scheming cops who orchestrate the outcome of a case in order to obtain what interests them.
All of those I have talked to about the case of Reyes said the cop should be investigated for his involvement, most especially why the confiscated gun’s papers were kept by him.

The owner of the taxi that figured in the simple traffic incident should also be brought to court and to be investigated why after receiving from Reyes the agreed amount for the damages, proceeded to file a case.

Certainly there are bad eggs in the police force. But the integrity of other good men in uniform who go about their sworn duties honestly should not be tainted. The bad eggs in the force should be removed in order to preserve the good name of Baguio ’s Finest. –ozram.666@gmail.com