Where is the local police?

THERE have been regular reports of drug dealers being arrested in buy-bust operations in different parts of the province, but this is noticeably mainly coming from the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and not the local police.

And so it begs the question, why is the PDEA seemingly more successful in getting results than our city and municipal cops who are supposed to be closer to the neighborhood where all the dealing is going on? The obvious answer is there protection money going around.

And surely that would not just be the local police on the receiving end. For illegal drug pushers to thrive in a community, frontline political leaders, i.e. the barangay officials, would be suspect. Further up in the ladder of local governance, elected city and municipal officials are at the very least presumed to be either afraid of losing votes or simply apathetic, and at worst also on the take.

The illegal drug problem in the province, especially in the commercial and educational center that is Dagupan City, tagged as the droga hub not just of Pangasinan but also neighboring areas, is worsening. And the thing with the crime of selling prohibited drugs is it begets more crime as users become high and wild. Shabu, a synthetic drug that has become the most accessible in the streets, is particularly notorious for damaging brain cells and makes people, well, out of their minds.

There is no gentle way of stopping the drug problem. It needs a determined, swift, and constant operation. But are our local leaders and the police willing to take the necessary action? Only if they want to prove that they are not benefitting from the substance that is destroying families and communities.

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Gracious in defeat

FIRST, our strongest bet yet in the famed “American Idol” competition in the United States bowed to a virtual underdog.  Jessica Sanchez, the Fil-American from Chula Vista, California, lost in Los Angeles last month in what was generally regarded as a won battle for her in the No. 1 singing competition in the US today.

And only last Sunday, Manny Pacquiao dropped a split decision to a long shot in a shocking reversal of fortunes.  Two of three American judges made American Timothy Bradley the winner.

In Sanchez’s case, the American public made American Phillip Phillips Jr. the surprise winner.

Like Sanchez, Pacquiao was gracious in defeat, telling his countrymen, “Let us not harbor any ill feelings. Let us accept my defeat whole-heartedly.”

If all contestants, combatants, are like Jessica and Manny, this world will be a better place to live in.

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