Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2016
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Column: On Target
Copyright: 2016 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.inquirer.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073
Author: Ramon Tulfo

UNEQUAL TREATMENT

IF THE intelligence reports about public officials tagged by 
President Digong as protectors of the illegal drug trade were A-1, 
they should have suffered the same fate as lowly drug pushers who 
were summarily executed by the police and vigilante groups.

The only difference between these officials and small-time drug 
pushers is the privilege of rank; they're still lowlifes for having 
destroyed millions of lives.

Even in the war against drugs, the people at the higher end of the 
totem pole are treated differently.

Otherwise why would Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa let 
Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera, Leyte, a suspected drug lord 
in Eastern Visayas, sleep at the "White House," the official 
residence of the Philippine National Police chief? By the way, if all 
the judges and mayors implicated in the drug trade were to be given 
the same privilege granted to Espinosa, they would dirty up the White House.

PNP chief Bato has complained that the room that Espinosa and his 
family slept in reeked of cigarette smoke the day after.

The smell would be much worse if the "drug" judges and mayors were to 
sleep at the White House.

Cooped up in a small space, they would have the PNP chief's official 
residence smelling foul in one day.

People doomed to die tend to go to the toilet very often.

Jesus Celeste, whom President Digong identified as one of the mayors 
involved in the illicit drug traffic, is no longer mayor of Bolinao, 
Pangasinan.

He is now congressman of the province's first district.

In a previous column, I had dropped hints about the involvement of 
Celeste and a close relative in the drug trade -an open secret among 
Bolinao residents.

*

When Director General Bato berated the policemen in the "Duterte drug 
list" at his office in Camp Crame yesterday, it was like he was 
venting the citizenry's pent-up emotions toward abusive cops.

When Bato swore at the policemen on national TV, it was as if the 
citizenry was doing the cursing.

Let's hope Bato also does the same thing to cops who commit other 
crimes or perform inefficiently.

The sight of uniformed policemen patrolling busy streets and crowded 
places is a welcome one for the public.

Ordinary citizens feel assured of their safety when they see 
uniformed cops in their midst.

Perhaps because they're doing it for the first time, cops on patrol 
loaf or just talk among themselves in a corner; and if they walk 
around, they do so oblivious to their surroundings.

I saw a policewoman-who I found out later was PO1 Grace -at the 
Greenbelt 5 in Makati City on Sunday, chattering on her cell phone as 
if she had not a care in the world.

Around 20 minutes after I first saw her, she was still talking and 
laughing on her cell phone when I passed by her again.

Cops on duty should never be allowed to use their cell phones, 
especially if they're patrolling the streets.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom