A FRIEND from Zamboanga told me his experience with the Kuratong Baleleng when he was a young boy staying with his uncle in Ozamiz City. He lost his bicycle on the first week of his stay, which prompted his uncle to approach a person who was a Kuratong member. The uncle pleaded to have his bike back, which the guy assured he will.
On that same day, that man brought back the bicycle. But that's not the end of the story. That man asked for a "fee" for his effort for retrieving that bike.
I kind of remember the song by Gary Granada that goes "Ninakawan nang holdaper si Juan, pero ang holdaper pa ang kaniyang pasalamatan" and this one just happened.
That is how my friend learned about the power of the Kuratong Baleleng, how they run the streets, and how they are linked to the Parojinogs who control the group and the city as local officials. That's just one of the many accounts of how this gang ran drugs and crimes they are linked to for decades.
He told me this story last year after Duterte won the elections, with the portent of things to come in Duterte's war on drugs. He told me, if Duterte could topple down Parojinogs, that would be the day.
That day happened on the dawn of Sunday, the bloody death of Mayor Reynaldo "Adiong" Parojinog, his wife and a relative in a police raid, splashed our headlines. The mayor's daughter, who is vice mayor, and son are arrested.
I still have to ask my friend what he thinks of this. Is this justice served?
But another buddy from Ozamiz says there's no rejoicing. "Those rejoicing over Facebook don't know what's happening in Ozamiz," he said. "The Kuratong spawned many leaders, and they are just there waiting to take over."
That’s a grim assessment. Perhaps, the problem of narcopolitics reflects the deeper system that runs our politics and that is being discussed by Professor Roland Simbulan in his writings on "Modern Warlordism: its Historical Evolution."
Simbulan notes that our country's politics is virtually controlled by 178 political dynasties who are placed in 73 of 80 provinces. Political dynasties get to become powerful through the decades as they become extensions of the government's counterinsurgency campaigns and also become enforcers of ensuring votes and support for the ruling party.
A case in point is the Ampatuans where they amassed ammunitions in the fight against the MILF in the 1980s. They turned this into their own political machinery, silencing opposition and amassing wealth and property at the expense of the poor in Maguindanao. That power was shown in how Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won the province's vote in 2004 by 99 percent.
It's the same thing with the Parojinogs, the Kuratong started as a counter-insurgency group in the 1980s so much like the AlsaMasa here in Davao, and was headed by Adiong's father and mayor Octavio Sr. After driving off NPAs, they became the machinery to ensure the Parojinogs’ power, and they were treated as RobinHood of Ozamiz protecting the peace of their city.
Political warlords like this can be found in varying degrees in towns and even small cities. It's a deep system that needs to be taken down, as it enforces not just drugs, but the problems of poverty and the suppression of our economy.
But with Duterte warning there are two more mayors and two other governors to be taken down, one can shudder, does this war really root out the problem of crime and poverty?
"Cut down one head, two more shall take its place."
Perhaps, Simbulan article gives advice in the words of lawyer Pedro Abad Santos' advice to the poor: do not come to me with tales of abuse from your landlords. Next time, kill them, and I will defend you.
(tyvelez@gmail.com)