An earnest war vs. drugs

ARRESTS of illegal drug dealers in the province, mainly in tagged drug-hub Dagupan City but also in several municipalities, continue to take place. Authorities, particularly the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the local police, are proving that the capture a couple of weeks ago of major drug lords in a raid of a big den in Dagupan was not mere bravado. They are truly showing impressive gains in the war vs. drugs.

The continued operations prove that law enforcement can produce results, especially if politicians who are motivated by their political agenda don’t interfere. Remember Kapitan Jay Hernandez of Barangay San Leon in Umingan who put up a coffin at the entrance to their community to warn drug pushers of ending up in one of these if they attempt to creep into their village? Of course politicians do not need to venture into such theatrics (but it is undeniably an attention-grabbing tactic), what they can give is policy and administrative support that will go a long way in the fight against illegal drugs. Then again, it is probably enough in some cases that they simply don’t get in the way.

Citizens also have an important role to play if they want drugs out of their communities. As we saw in the arrest last week of Efren Caramat, the no. 9 most notorious drug personality in Dagupan, the tips from residents in the neighborhood where he operated was the lead used by PDEA to plan his entrapment. The successful operation also demonstrates PDEA’s sincerity to act on the voice of the public.

Perhaps Pangasinenses could now rest easier at the thought that the current war being waged against drugs is a serious and earnest one, no thanks to the mayors and kapitans who coddled the drug financiers, suppliers and pushers until the trail got dangerously close to their doors.  It is long overdue.

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Acid test

SEEMINGLY, Agbimuddin Kiram had taken matters into his own hands when he led nearly 300 fully-armed Filipinos to Sabah in an audacious move to “reclaim” Sabah. Kiram is part of the clan of the Sultan of Sulu Jumalul Kiram III, whose ancestors leased Sabah to an Austrian businessman in 1878. Sabah was a gift by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu. According to former Sen. Jovito Salonga, the Sultan of Brunei did it in gratitude to the Sultan of Sulu’s successful suppression of a revolt against Brunei in 1708. But in 1946, the lessee transferred his Sabah rights to the British Crown. The Crown announced on July 10, 1946 its sovereign rights over Sabah to the consternation of American Governor General to the Philippines, Francis Burton Harrison. In 1950, Congressmen Macapagal, Lacson and Tolentino (all departed) sponsored a House resolution to reclaim Sabah. Nothing came out of it and, sadly, Sabah remains today a Malaysian territory.

It is hoped that Kiram’s desperate, if not reckless, move to “retake” Sabah would not lead to a full-blown bloodbath — even as 60, of whom 52 are Filipinos in the camp of Kiram , had already died in the Sabah gunfights as of Friday last week.

Again, PNoy’s leadership is being put to an acid test.

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