WE ARE now in the homestretch of the campaign. It’s twelve days more to go and the country will hold the mid-term elections. In Cebu City, the ongoing campaign has become more exciting and heating up. But the controversies were not centered on the two opposing camps, the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) against the opposition, Barug PDP Laban. Most of the controversies were between the BOPK and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) with the opposition watching only at the sideline.
In many instances, the BOPK camp has accused the police acting as “goons and henchmen” of their political rival. The “former political has-been,” who is the titular head of BOPK, has accused the police of masterminding the strafing incidents in the residences of his allied barangay captains in the mountain barangays. He even criticized the putting up of a Comelec/police checkpoint in front of his residence in Barangay Guadalupe.
The BOPK and CCPO conflict escalated as barangay tanods and even barangay captains identified with the administration have been subjected to searches by the police for unlicensed or loose firearms. Many BOPK allied barangay captains’ houses have been subjected to raid and searches and yielded unlicensed firearms. This alarming situation has prompted the “former political has-been” to come up with a series of full-page newspaper advertisements appealing to Regional Trial Court (RTC) judges not to easily issue search warrants applied by the police as these might be used for political purposes.
The issue on the reported checkpoint breach of the BOPK’s vice mayoral candidate is just one of the results of the intense conflict between the BOPK and CCPO. The police accused the vice mayoral candidate of Comelec/police checkpoint breach last April 28 somewhere in Barangay Kasambagan. But the candidate denied committing a checkpoint breach and instead accused the police of harassing her and her campaign staff. And during the incident, the “former political has-been” came into the rescue of his beleaguered running-mate. I don’t know who’s telling the truth. BOPK camp is contemplating of filing a case against the police. But CCPO Director Royina Garma is unfazed by the threat as she also threatened to file a case against the politicians involved in harassing the police.
I even suspect that there was an “unseen political hand” in the filing of charges against the eight policemen assigned at the Talamban Police Station who were accused of mauling drug suspects. I think a politician is backing up the victims of that mauling incident that happened last April 18 inside a bingo gaming house in Ponce compound in Barangay Carreta to ostensibly put the police in an embarrassing situation. The relatives of the victims revealed that Garma threatened to kill the entire family if they are not going to delete the CCTV footage which became viral in social media and if they will pursue their complaint against the police. I don’t think Garma really issued that threat.
Is the police really acting as “goons” for the opposition to harass the administration party and their supporters? I don’t think so. I cannot even imagine that the local opposition has the influence to control and tell the police what to do. Garma is not foolish to just allow herself to be used by politicians who would taint and destroy her police career. If the “former political has-been” has the strong connection to President Duterte, why not report the matter to the chief executive. I have heard Duterte in his speeches, urging the public to report to him if they heard of members of the police force who are involved in politics or being used by politicians.
Some quarters said the conflict between the administration and the CCPO is just a diversionary tactic or smokescreen by the powers-that-be for the electorate not to look into the real issues hounding the present administration, like garbage collection, worsening traffic problem, deteriorating peace and order situation and anomalies at City Hall. Well, maybe this is true.
The problem with the “former political has-been” is that he is now crying wolf because he can no longer control the police. But in the past, when he had full control of the police, he used the same police force to advance his political agenda. That’s what they call “weder-weder politics.”