WHEN he was in Bangkok a couple of months after his election, one of the first things that Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella did was to visit one of the city’s night markets. At that time, President Duterte had not yet ordered that the streets be cleared of sidewalk vendors but Labella must have anticipated that the vendors will eventually have to go and he was looking for ways to help them in that event.
The Bangkok experience may have come in handy when Duterte’s order was announced, along with a warning that local executives who do not heed it will be punished. The vendors were understandably unhappy when the time came to implement the presidential directive. The city offered them relocation but they demurred because they wanted to return to their old hangouts.
Then Labella announced the creation of a night market. The vendors were allowed to do business in the city’s oldest street during certain hours of the evening. But first they had to be registered. After all, the night market was meant to accommodate displaced vendors, not attract new players.
It must, therefore, be frustrating to Labella, who drew some flak for his supposed lack of compassion when he implemented Duterte’s order, to learn that some of the people he wanted to help are now stabbing him in the back.
The vendors committed that only they will sell in the spaces allotted to them. And now come the reports that some of them have actually sold their rights to third parties, preferring a quick buck over honest work and integrity.
The vendors should police their own ranks if they do not want to be evicted again. Being allowed to sell in the night market is a privilege that can be withdrawn anytime. They should not force Labella’s hand to do just that.
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Prohibited drugs worth around P194 million were destroyed at the Apo Cement plant in Naga the other day. Lest drug dealers and users start lining up to buy Apo cement, it must be clarified that the ashes from shabu and other illegal drugs will not be used as component in the manufacture of cement.
Levity aside, the 26.8 kilos of shabu that were destroyed were part of the government’s haul from the campaign against drugs in the cities and towns of Cebu during the last 25 years. The police regional director, Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said they still have 120 kilos of shabu in the custody of their crime laboratory. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which delivered only 400 grams for destruction, said they have 35 kilos left with them.
Both the police and the PDEA said they’re just waiting for the court where the cases are pending to order them to destroy these drugs. As an aside, former congressman Tony Cuenco pointed out that under the law the drugs have to be destroyed within 72 hours from their confiscation.
Anyway, if you total the shabu (which appears to be the drug of choice among most Filipino users) that were destroyed and those that are still in police or PDEA custody, you get the impression that only about 181 kilos have been confiscated during the last 25 years. Isn’t that too little and the inventory too late?
There must be a better explanation to this other than the suspicion that most of the confiscated drugs were recycled by “ninja” cops. We should be allowed to hear them.