Pubdate: Wed, 09 Feb 2005
Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
Note:  also listed for feedback
Cited: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency http://www.pdea.gov.ph
Cited: National Bureau of Invesitgation http://www.nbi.gov.ph/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Rodrigo+Duterte
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Summary+Execution

SIENES: NBI TO SOLVE SUMMARY KILLINGS?

Different Strokes

"...the NBI has agreed to investigate the summary executions... Will
it succeed in identifying the killers? Won't its investigation be
hampered by the refusal of witnesses to testify?"

DRUG lords out to discredit Duterte, PDEA? There are rumors reportedly
being bruited around that the state-of-the-art drug equipment and
high-grade shabu confiscated from a shabu laboratory in Dumoy last
December will not be burned as ordered by the court.

They will simply disappear under mysterious circumstances and end up
in the hands of other drug lords. In short, sold to other drug lords
making some people multi-millionaires overnight.

PDEA Regional Director Wilkins Villanueva appealed to the public not
to believe the rumors, as they are being funded by drug money in order
to discredit Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and the PDEA.

Truth to tell, we have not heard of such rumors. But if there indeed
are such rumors, why should the people believe in them when they are
just rumors? But the possibility that such rumors are being funded by
drug money to discredit Duterte and the PDEA is not remote.

Drug syndicates are awash with money and they have their own
counterpropaganda arms. However, we find the rumors rather
preposterous. Everyone knows Duterte and the PDEA are waging a
no-nonsense war against the merchants of illegal drugs in the city.

So why would they allow the state-of-the-art drug equipment and the
high-grade shabu confiscated from a shabu laboratory here to fall into
the hands of other drug lords? The rumors are ridiculous. (The shabu
materials seized during the Dumoy raid were burned at the old
Palaruang Lungsod or the Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. Sports Complex
and at the Davao Union Cement last Wednesday. The burning was done in
public and was fullly covered by media--Editor).

Of course, there have been cases of confiscated drugs in the
possession of authorities (not here in Davao City) disappearing under
mysterious circumstances. There are always dirty hands, so it is not
also highly improbably that the confiscated drug equipment and shabu
will also disappear under mysterious circumstances. But we doubt it.

The best way to dispel and disprove the rumors is to make a full
public accounting of the confiscated drug equipment and shabu shortly
before they are burned, make public their destruction, with media
covering the activity. This, we believe, had already been done at the
PTA grounds. So there should be no more rooms for such rumors in the
minds of people.

NBI to solve summary killings? The summary executions in the city and
other parts of the country (they also have this in the cities of
Tagum, General Santos and Cebu) have become so frightening that people
are becoming jittery. Militant and other concerned groups are planning
a massive protest rally against the summary killings in the hope of
stopping them.

Equally apprehensive because of the monstrosity of the summary
killings is the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao based in Davao City. He
has asked the NBI to investigate the cold-blooded killings. NBI chief
Reynaldo Wycoco agreed, so now the NBI will start looking into the
summary executions, which have already claimed so many lives.

Relative to the NBI investigation, we saw a movie, Counterforce, just
recently through our VCD and DVD players. We found the movie timely
and topical particularly since city residents seem to believe in the
existence of the DDS.

Counterforce tells the story of the bloody exploits of a shadowy death
squad composed of well-trained policemen in a police department in one
of the cities in America.

Here's how the death squad was formed. An honest and hard-working
policeman in the police department, who was due for retirement, became
a witness against a powerful and well-entrenched crime syndicate in
the city. Unfortunately for the policeman, the syndicate won the case
in court. Using its influence, the crime syndicate caused the
dismissal of the policeman. With his dismissal from the service, the
policeman forfeited all his retirement benefits and became a ruined
man.

The policeman's forced and unjust dismissal angered many of his fellow
policemen in the department, who then formed a death squad to go after
big bosses and minions of crime syndicates.

The death squad first targeted the leaders and members of the big
crime syndicate that caused the dismissal of their colleague. Wearing
black uniforms and masks, they staged a commando-like raid and killed
all the big bosses and the members of the big crime syndicate.

Even guests of the syndicate who happened to be around, women
included, were not spared. Soon leaders and followers of other crime
syndicates in the city fell victims to the shadowy death squad.

The killings became so bloody and widespread that city officials and
city residents became alarmed. They asked the FBI to step in. The FBI
assigned one of its crack agents to the police department to unmask
the members of the shadowy death squad. After careful and meticulous
sleuthing, the FBI agent succeeded in unmasking the members of the
death squad and putting an end to their bloody killings.

But not after a bloody encounter between the members of the death
squad and a team of crack FBI agents and policemen. Locally, the NBI
has agreed to investigate the summary executions in the city.

Will it succeed in identifying the killers? Won't its investigation be
hampered by the refusal of witnesses to testify? This bears watching.

By the way, if you have a VCD or DVD player, I have a disc of the
movie Counterforce.

Point to ponder: "He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages
it." (Seneca: Troades)
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