Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Tom badmouths 3 top cops to Glo By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
FRUSTRATED with the illegal drugs problem in Cebu City, Mayor Tomas Osmeña reported to the President how three senior police officials residing in Barangay Calamba have failed to curb the drug problem there.
And he gave her their names — Julio Augusto, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Deputy Director for Administration; Col. Orlando Pestaño, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Manila; and Gen. Manuel Cabigon, also of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The mayor said Arroyo got “quite upset” when he told her this during her visit here last Monday.
“Bahala na sila. I think she should know. Of course this will be looked into,” Osmeña told a news conference yesterday.
The drug problem in Calamba, he said, is “very alarming” and is worse than that in Pasil.
“Calamba is a hotbed of drugs and within the 200-meter radius, you have three senior police officials who live there and they are aware of the problem but I’ll be darned why they don’t know how to solve it,” Osmeña said.
Crusader
The drug problem in Calamba came to prominence in November 1997 when anti-drugs crusader Alden Abi-abi was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men.
Four suspects, including a policeman, were arrested, charged but were absolved of the crime by the courts for failure of the prosecution to prove their involvement in the killing beyond reasonable doubt.
There have been several drug-related raids and arrests in the barangay, which belongs to the south district of Cebu City.
Mayor Osmeña clarified to reporters that he has not received reports linking Augusto, Pestaño or Cabigon to the drugs trade in the barangay.
Sought for comment yesterday, Augusto said it is the mayor’s prerogative to report the matter to Arroyo.
He said he has done his part in solving the problem, such as conducting raids in the area and encouraging the residents to participate in the campaign against drugs.
Unfortunately, the community is uncooperative, he said.
Living condition
“The mayor can do what he wants. I don’t know what his purpose is but we have to remember that drugs is a social problem and the Chief Executive has to do much more about it,” Augusto said.
“The living condition in Calamba is much worse than Pasil. Social services must be provided in the barangay and in Calamba, wala gyud. Livelihood, orderliness and other basic services must be provided first if we want to solve the problem,” he said.
The police official is due to retire this month.
Pestaño and Cabigon are reportedly based in Manila.
One battalion
The mayor also recalled how Augusto sent one battalion of policemen from the Regional Mobile Group to Pasil to stop illegal activities there last year, “but in Calamba, only four policemen,” he said.
Osmeña said illegal drug activities are not limited to Calamba, since this is also rampant in Ermita and T. Padilla, “where policemen can even be part of the problem.”
The PNP law empowers the mayor to have a say on the choice of police chief of his area. He picks from a list of recommendees submitted by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
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