The fact that the illegal drug problem continues to exist and, judging by the recent arrests and seizures, flourish means something is going on that the rest of the public is not aware of.
That is, until the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) appealed to all full-fledged police colonels and generals to submit their courtesy resignations in January.
You see, after months of studying the problem, it has found that several police officials are actually involved. That’s why the agency wants to cleanse police ranks and ensure that those who remain do not work for drug syndicates. A five-man committee will conduct an evaluation and those who are found to have links with the illegal drug trade will be charged.
I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m just wondering why it took them so long.
Granted, in 2022 more than a dozen police officers were arrested or relieved from their posts and placed under investigation for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
But I can’t help but ask.
How did they manage to stay under the radar under then President Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year rule when hundreds if not thousands of drug personalities fell during the government’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs?
At any rate, I hope the DILG, the Philippine National Police and Malacañang are serious about going after these officials who have betrayed public trust. I hope it’s not another press release.
It is frustrating.
Earlier this year, a drug personality who was arrested ratted out Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officials at the Cebu City Jail for their alleged corruption.
What has become of him? Better yet, what has become of the BJMP officials he claimed allowed contraband inside the jail in exchange for cash?
Mind you, he was not the only one.
There was one who was arrested last November who told police that his supplier was a big-time drug personality detained in the same facility.
Of course, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Brig. Gen. Jerry Bearis was quick to release a statement that they were willing to investigate the matter but only if the BJMP asked them to.
Obviously the BJMP hasn’t because the PRO 7 hasn’t issued a press release that it is.
Then there’s Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Col. Ireneo Dalogdog who issued a warning that his office would go after anyone caught causing trouble on the streets following the arrest of several youths who were involved in a street brawl.
Finally, I thought, the CCPO would do something about the minors who keep people on J. Urgello St. in Sambag 1 wide awake till the wee hours of the morning.
But it hasn’t.
Then maybe it’s time it did.