Post -election plans; new drug war strategies

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

To satisfy curiosity and despite bad weather, I invited myself to a boodle fight prepared for senator-elect Bong Go at the covered basketball court of Barangay Camp 8 last May 25. The venue was packed with winners and losers in the last election, although I did not see the politicians shaking hands because they calculatedly avoided each other, I suspected.

For example, I saw mayor Domogan leave before reelectionist Congressman Mark Go arrived. It seems, politicians have built-in radars that warn them to go in order to avoid shattering their day. I hope the mayor did not see IPMR Roger Sinot, too.

Bong Go’s physical presence is entirely different from the way he appeared on TV. Even the way he spoke out his mind is kilometers away from how I heard him talk on TV. I noticed that he is more politically smarter personally than on TV.

Upon being handed the microphone and thanking the crowd for their support, he announced his proposal to have the terms of barangay officials nationwide to be extended until they finish in three years. This provoked a loud round of applause from the crowd as he said, he already mentioned his proposal to President Duterte.

 I saw the move as a smart replay of a Marcos administration act where barangay officials were captured voters. To recall, barangay officials who won in the May 14, 2018 barangay and SK elections are supposed to serve for only two years because this was reset by Republic Act 10952, instead of the three years previously mandated by law.

The new law that was immediately enacted for the May 14, 2018 barangay polls also scheduled the next elections for May 2020. After this, the polls would be every three years again, or 2023, a year after the presidential election on 2022.

I do not know how Bong Go plans to sail his proposal smoothly in the Senate because it is irregular and there is already a law on barangay elections that is presently under implementation. But since he is already senator he can introduce amendments. We have to admit, that is how congress works.

By the way, the number of years for a term of elected barangay and SK officials is not set by the Constitution but by legislation. So if the congressmen and senators want threeyear terms or five-year terms, it is valid. Another political move Bong Go made was his proposal for the establishment of a “Malasakit Center” or a one-stop shop where health and social services involving the DSWD, DOH, Red Cross, Phil-Health may be found. But, what was worth following was his promise to make Baguio the second city in the country after Davao, that will have a faster response to emergencies, with the installation of the “911” system.

Those are all positive political maneuvers. If not for the noisy crowd taking pictures with him, I could have grabbed a moment to tell him something about the “build, build, build” P4.37-billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Project (CRPIP) of his boss President Duterte that has been opposed. Somebody told me last year that an infrastructure project that is equally important to residents of the Chico River area such as a road and railway system or any other project could have helped diffuse opposition.

By the way, Mayor-elect Benjie Magalong was in the crowd too. IPMR Sinot and I were gladly accommodated by his lonesome where he disclosed that he has at least prepared for his first 100 days in office as an initial move to cushion problems such as basura and traffic that his administration inherited.

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Police intelligence is still weak. That is how Senator Ping Lacson, a former PNP Chief, sees it. Oddly, he has now become the informant of intelligence material about a Chinese drug lord who may have slipped through immigration authorities. Authorities seized a total of 166 kilograms of high-grade shabu in the possession of the Chinese national who was arrested with four others in a raid conducted in Ayala, Alabang Village last March. All of them were suspected members of the Golden Triangle Drug Trade.

 The police and PDEA said the drugs worth around P1.13 billion were stored in biscuit packs and tea canisters labelled “Refined Chinese Tea”, and meant to be sold in the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila. After the Alabang drug bust came the Tanza, Cavite operations that nabbed 270 kilos of shabu. By reading the news about the two drug raids, it conveys that the anti-drug war is becoming worse. It also says that the authorities need new strategies in conducting anti-drug operations.

In both raids, foreign nationals were involved. This means the police should now focus on the big-time operators rather than apprehending and shooting to death small-time traders. The police know it. Sometime ago I heard one of them say that if they run after the big-time suppliers and distributors, supply will slowly run out. But looking at the present situation, it seems the supply of shabu is being replenished.

 The police and anti-drug agencies know what is happening but have not come together to make a study and plan out better strategies. All that the people see are smalltime drug pushers getting killed because of shabu in sachets and a few thousand pesos. That will not reduce the supply in the streets.