DOUBLE BARREL CAMPAIGN

THE war on drugs in the town of Balungao has turned into a full blown political war between the chief of police and the town’s elected officials.

The Sangguniang Bayan of Balungao passed a resolution last week declaring the OIC-chief of police, P/Chief Inspector Raymund Nicolas as persona non grata.

The unprecedented move was preceded a week earlier by the staging of a protest rally led by the town’s chief executive himself, Mayor Philipp Peralta, against Nicolas for arresting barangay officials known to be close allies of the latter.

Nicolas, however, said he is not affected by his being declared a persona non grata and he will continue to do his job as he sees fit as police chief, citing his own pledge to accomplish the mission in the war on drugs with the implementation of the Double Barrel strategy.

 

The SB’s resolution cited several reasons among them: 1) There was no confirmation and no proper endorsement of Nicolas designation as chief of police.

2)  Nicolas violated the inter-office protocol by failing to present a program to the sanggunian and the executive department on the peace and order in Balungao.

3) Nicolas’ “lack of leadership and absence of dedication to duty“ that led to failure of the police to keep peace and order in the town.

4) Nicolas was disrespectful towards the Philippine flag by ordering the the Balungao police personnel to walk out during the flag raising ceremony last July 3.

5). The increasing incident of shooting in the town since Nicolas became the chief of police.

6) The Balungao police station failed to give an update on the the kidnapping of Levi Galileo and the shooting of Renato Pascua and Walter Pascion.

P/Chief Inspector Nicolas, Balungao police chief, (left) face off with protesters led by Mayor Philipp Peralta (center) in front of the police station last July 3 as shown in this file photo shared with The Punch by Liezle Basa, correspondent of the Manila Bulletin.

During the protest rally staged against Nicolas, Peralta charged that the police chief has been targeting barangay officials in the campaign.

Three barangay captains, one barangay kagawad and a driver of the mayor had been arrested for possessing unlicensed firearms while other barangay kapitans, known to be the mayor’s political allies have been included n the town’s drugs watch list.

Nicolas clarified to the rallyists, mainly employees of the local government, that anyone who violates the law could be subject of search warrants as he pointed out that all the 13 operations were done lawfully, armed with authentic search warrant issued by court judges, and with the presence of barangay officials who served as witness during each operations.

Nicolas said he was dismayed by the protest rally because the station’s campaign against drugs and loose firearms was gaining headway and cited the arrest of Romel Baliton, second top drug personality in the town, in Barangay Rajal. (Nora Dominguez)

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