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Crush the syndicates

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S

Jonathan De la Cruz

01/04/2009

It is often said that there are two sides to a controversy — his and the other. Of late, others have included a third one — the truth — perhaps because of the murkiness and non-closures associated with the “he said, she said” syndrome. This truism holds in a number of disputes greeting us in the New Year. In the Middle East, the Israelis claimed self-defense in pounding targets in the Gaza strip right after the end of the ceasefire between them and the militant group Hamas which holds sway over the territory. Hamas says otherwise saying they are raining rockets on towns near the border in protest over Israeli incursions and decades of occupation of the territories. The week old battle has resulted in at least 400 deaths, thousands of injuries and damaged properties. If diplomacy fails, these “rocket exchanges” may escalate into a full blown “battle to the last breath” as Israeli forces prepare to roll into Gaza. Only a determined intervention by third parties possibly through the UN and the US led Middle East contact group could stop this unfortunate incident from turning into full scale war. Hopefully, that may happen sooner than expected to avoid deaths and further damage including that of an oil boycott which some Hamas supporters are urging their oil producing brethren to do in solidarity with their problematic cause.

Valley Golf and the Alabang Boys. Closer to home, only the intervention of third parties will also put to a close and bring out the truth in the two most profiled cases which spilled over into the New Year: The De la Paz vs Pangandaman “Valley Golf mauling” incident and the PDEA vs DoJ row over the so-called Alabang Boys’ drug buy bust operation.

Of the two, the first may be easier to handle now that both sides have told their stories on air and the investigations by the local police, the NBI and the Valley Golf management are underway. In fact, this unfortunate incident would not have been blown out of sync had the management done its job, resolved the issue when it first erupted right at the teahouse and filed its own report. But for some reason it failed to do so. I will not speculate why except to refer to past incidents involving rowdy players specially Koreans who were not even admonished by management for their unruly behavior. That kind of laxity has come back to hound the club and should serve as a reminder to one and all, especially golfers and their clubs to get stricter with their players, the hangers on and the implementation of their rules.

In any event, whatever will be the result of the investigations the Pangandamans have been tarred no end by this incident. Which is quite unfortunate for a family which has stayed out of the de rigeur politics of violence in their part of the country. But they have to bear with the aftermath of this much blogged incident. After all, the image of an elderly person and his 14-year-old son ganged up by a group of grown ups in the company of a powerful person not once but twice as narrated by Bambee de la Paz in her blog and on TV can put anybody on the defensive. Whatever Secretary Pangandaman now says about the incident will always be taken with a grain of salt. Knowing him and his family, I can only sympathize with their situation. At least, he has apologized even if the De la Pazes rejected it. That is the least he can do at this point. Now, the investigators should do their jobs and, as both parties so indicated, let the courts decide when this case finally gets there. Meanwhile, we should all pause and not let our biases get the better of us. There are a lot of things out there needing our attention there is no need to dwell on this one unless we can shed more light on the incident that has escaped us since.

On to Alabang and the syndicates. We cannot help but be angry at the mess up that’s marring the PDEA’s case against the so-called Alabang Boys and an earlier one involving the country’s biggest drug bust in La Union last year. That PDEA operatives led by retired AFP Chief of Staff Dionisio Santiago are crying foul over the reported dive taken by prosecutors to dismiss the case is not just the issue here. It is the seeming inability of government and I mean the entire machinery — from the executive to the judiciary to the legislative — to come around and get our anti-drug operations in sync and moving with all deliberate speed. Which is a pity considering the fact that we have in place one of the most comprehensive and stringent dangerous drug law in the world, RA 9165. The law is so strict it can send shivers up the spine of all those engaged in this illegal trade — from the users, to the pushers and their confederates in government. In fine, the law is such that we should already be bidding goodbye to the trade in illegal drugs by now. Sadly, that is not the case as the Alabang Boys’ story unfolds.

Bribery as a weapon. Of course, money, loads of it, is moving to get the boys out of PDEA custody. No less than Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez publicly admitted that somebody in the agency was pushing the suspects’ release even just for a furlough during the Christmas holidays. He did not sign anything and has directed a thorough investigation of the incident as well as the PDEA’s earlier claim of money changing hands in the prosecutors’ dismissal of the case for “insufficiency of evidence” and “lapses in procedure” committed by the PDEA agents who mounted the said buy bust operation.

These hunches and/or allegations will now be the subject of the independent probes being mounted by the DoJ and by Jan. 19 when Congress opens its sessions. That inquiry will also ascertain whether the boys are victims, as claimed by chef and noted radio host “Johnny Midnight” Joseph, whose son is one of those under custody. Joseph admitted talking to the PDEA agents led by Marine Major Ferdinand Marcelino not to offer money but his services as radio host to bring PDEA’s messages to a bigger audience. Hopefully, the boys’ lawyer who had earlier denied any such bribery taking place will also have time to put together his clients’ story about this mess up including the alleged instances of bribery, if any, committed by people who were allegedly acting in their behalf.