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Friday, March 19, 2004
Wenceslao: Sandalo’s fall
By BONG WENCESLAO
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Cecil Ezra Sandalo has finally gotten the drift. He has made himself scarce, has started clearing his office of personal belongings and may go on an indefinite leave. The once proud police official seems to have finally succumbed to the continued sniping of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
I don’t know Sandalo and could not confirm what I have heard—that he is incompetent as CCPO chief and is lovey-dovey with video carrera operators. What is apparent is that the problem of criminality in Cebu City has not been solved, but who has? As for the corruption charge, even the mayor based that on rumors.
Maybe Sandalo is both incompetent and corrupt. But that point has already been overshadowed by the unceremonious-ness of his departure, which contrasts heavily with the lofty anticipation that attended his acceptance of the post months ago. His case reminds me of a boxer who climbed the ring in glory but left it carried in a stretcher.
But Sandalo could not claim he wasn’t warned. Osmeña pressured the Philippine National Police leadership to transfer Sandalo from Talisay City, where he had good relations with Mayor Eduardo Gullas as police chief, to Cebu City. At that time, police officers steered clear of the CCPO directorship because of the mayor’s bullying ways.
Not that Sandalo distinguished himself in Talisay. He was also accused of being soft with video carrera operations then. This is the reason why I find Osmeña’s recent ranting against Sandalo as misleading, even dishonest. I mean, it is amazing how he is purging himself of the blame for recommending Sandalo to the post in the first place.
Now Osmeña is bullying Sandalo—heaping verbal insults and a physical one, the taking away of his service vehicle—and thus placing the CCPO in limbo. This as criminality, especially drug trafficking, has not abated. Consider, for example, the recent seizure by local law enforcement agents of a shipment of ephedrine, a material for shabu.
Estimates pegged the worth of the chemical at P3.65 billion, sparking speculations shabu laboratories exist in the island. That’s how far our situation has deteriorated. And this is not being helped any by a mayor who, because of his monstrous ego, still has to know how to work well with all the police chiefs assigned to his city.
COMPACT. Akbayan Cebu City chairperson Cathy Ruiz invited me to the launching of the Compact for Peaceful Elections yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit in the activity with my schedule. Anyway, Cathy gave me some handouts on Compact.
I have always been for initiatives by non-government and people’s organizations to raise the level of voters’ awareness and to stem the tide of violence during elections. I agree with the point that merely advocating for peaceful elections would not generate immediate results. Direct intervention, like what Compact is doing, is the way to go.
P.S. A Text Reax contributor clarified that the crusade of businessman Miguel Juan del Gallego is only for Paco Larrañaga who, according to del Gallego was with his daughters in Manila when the Chiong sisters were abducted. “He’s not crusading against the conviction of the other guys,” the texter said.
(e-mail: khanwens@yahoo.com; text: 0927-4912362)
(March 19, 2004 issue)
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