REMAI ALEJADO
Provincial Press Bureau
and
JONG CADION
Chief of reporters
Governor Aurora Cerilles cracked the whip last week when she announced that she will wage war against druglords and gunrunners and will beat the evildoers whoever they may be—whether friends, partymates or relatives.
The governor’s announcement came in the heels of the so-called “Alabang Boys” controversy wherein it was reported that there was an alleged P50-million bribe that led to the recommendation by state prosecutors to dismiss the charges against the rich boys, named as Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph and Joseph Ramirez Tecson.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) caught the “Alabang Boys” peddling Ecstasy pills in a sting operation last September but the DOJ investigating panel later dismissed their case for insufficiency of evidence.
President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday made her stint in the mess and declared she will temporarily act as the government’s anti-drug czar, or overseer, of the war against illegal drugs.
Arroyo, in commenting on the “Alabang Boys” mess, said the controversy regarding young drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Jordana Tecson, and Joseph Tecson should serve as a lesson to all sectors to intensify the war against illegal drug use.
Treading after Arrroyo’s pace, Cerilles said: “As long as I am the chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) of Zamboanga Peninsula, I will do my best to stop illegal drugs in the region. We should protect the future of our children and grandchildren as illegal drugs are considered a menace of society.”
The governor then zeroed in on the names of Labangan Mayor Abubakar Afdal and his nephew, Vice Mayor Wilson Nandang as publicly suspected druglords in the province.
She said that for several times she sought verification on such talks going on around about the two Labangan executives and told them that if ever they are involved, “they must stop it because it won’t do well to the people.”
Cerilles added that she felt uncomfortable everytime she presides the RPOC meeting because she would encounter reports of high incidence of drug-related cases in Zambosur as compared to Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
Cerilles said that she will propose that all public officials in the province undergo a lifestyle check, which means that an independent body will scrutinize all public officials’ material assets and bank accounts to determine whether their expenses are proportionate to the money they earn.
Cerilles ended her press conference by saying she suspect Afdal’s and that of Nandang’s ill-gotten or unexplained wealth could be attributed to drugs and gunrunning.
In retort to Cerilles’s accusations, Afdal said in an interview with reporters that, “Hindi kami nag-away ni Boss Cong. Tony at ni Madam Governor. The issue on us labeled as druglords was already there before we entered politics in 2004. It is just hearsay.”
“If we are involved in illegal drugs and gunrunning, why would Governor Cerilles invite us to join politics under her political party?” Afdal asked.
The mayor recalled that during their campaign and rallies, it was even the governor, herself, who would tell the public that “those were only political issues and intrigues.”
“The governor would even challenge our political opponents to show their evidences regarding the issue and if proven, she herself will help and led the arrest against us,” Afdal said.
The mayor explained that after what happened it Tukuran last August wherein five bodyguards of his vice-mayor were killed in an alleged misencounter with police and military personnel, he has limited his movements and restricted his public appearances.
With the governor’s disclosure last week, Afdal said he fells all the more troubled and will just confine himself inside his residence where he has been doing his temporary office.
Meanwhile, the PDEA have on their watchlist some 200 drug personalities in Zamboanga del Sur while a report from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that Zamboanga del Sur posted the highest number of election gun ban violators during the 2007 implementation of the gun prohibition.