Thursday, October 02, 2008 Editorials: Knotty situation for PASG, NBI
CEBUANOS have an apt phrase for the controversy sparked by that confrontation between two law enforcement units over a seized container van: gubot pas lukot.
It turns out that not only the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) has to iron out the kinks in its organization but also the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
PASG –Cebu’s Ariel Palcuto may have been putting up a calm front when facing reporters but there’s no denying that PASG chief Antonio Villar bypassing his unit in favor of NBI 7 elements in that operation against three container vans hurt.
It was not only an insult to PASG-Cebu but raised questions not only on its competence in leading the local anti-smuggling activity but also on its integrity.
NBI, too
In comes Reynaldo Esmeralda, deputy director for regional operations, ordering NBI 7 to explain why he was not informed about the unit’s apprehension of the container van Monday, an initiative that sparked the confrontation with PASG-Cebu elements.
Esmeralda’s action was made even as another NBI deputy director (for technical services), Edmund Arugay, who incidentally is also chief operations officer of PASG, was the very same one who goaded NBI 7 to go after the shipment.
This means that NBI has a possibly worse organizational problem than PASG.
Reasons
The bigger question, however, is not on how the situation within NBI and PASG has turned knotty but on why this has
happened, a point that has become a subject of speculation among sectors concerned with the smuggling problem in Cebu.
Did PASG Manila and NBI 7 deliberately eased PASG-Cebu out of the picture because they don’t trust its people or was the refusal to coordinate done so they will get sole credit for the bust or, if it was a money-making venture, be its sole beneficiary?
Did PASG-Cebu and the Mandaue City police go to the warehouse and confront NBI 7 elements because they sincerely thought those who apprehended the container van were dubious people or did they go there mainly on the behest of the cargo owner?
In a way, the incident may have provided the public with some of the reasons why the drive against smuggling has not been successful despite the number of law enforcement units attending to it.
