Thank God, they’re back

FOR a while, we thought that the war on drugs was already lost when President Duterte ordered the PNP to stand down and pull back from the campaign against drug syndicates, all on account of the attempt of rogue drug operatives to use the campaign as the ploy to extort that led to the morbid death of a Korean businessman.

All Filipinos are one with the thought that identified rogue cops who kill and maim targeted victims for extortion should be promptly hauled to court and locked up in jail. But even their numbers are still in the minority. While our policemen are admittedly grossly underpaid, a great majority are in the service to serve and protect communities.

The decision, therefore, to make PDEA the lead agency in the war on drugs is a definitely a step in the right direction. In fact, it should have been at the helm of the campaign from the very beginning because the illegal drug trade is PDEA’s only mandate, its specialty and expertise.

Since PDEA will have now have complete and full supervision of police operatives, targets listed by the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council can also be validated jointly with the town’s/city’s police.

With the changing of roles, we have reason to believe and hope that there will be less suspicion of extrajudicial killings by rogue cops.

Unfounded rumors

DID he resign or not?  Was he fired or not?  Peter Lavina said he has resigned this week as chief of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to “spare the President” of intrigues arising from rumors that “I have asked money from contractors.”

Dirty minds, though, insist that President Duterte kicked out Lavina, who was Mr. Duterte’s spokesman during the presidential campaign leading to the 2016 May polls.  Said Lavina: “I have been vilified in the past; my name used, abused and maligned.  Recently, there had been efforts to discredit me again.  There are rumors circulating that I have asked money from NIA contractors.  These are not true.”  With the President accepting Lavina’s resignation, the issue should be put to rest.  Because, unless Mr. Duterte himself admits he had given Lavina the boot, the record will stay:  Lavina resigned.

In the absence of solid evidence to back up corruption rumors, let’s leave it at that. Lavina is clean.

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