Well now, we have this notion that Davaoenos, especially their political leaders, could be in some kind of a celebratory mode. What with the departure of probably their “most hated” Police Regional Commander in Southern Mindanao, Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre 111.
By departure we mean Torre III is moved from his PNP regional responsibility to head a national unit of the police organization – the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) effective yesterday. Designated as his acting replacement is Brig. Gen. Victor Zamora Rosete. The order of Torre’s promotion in responsibility was signed by Lt. Gen. Jon Arnaldo, head of the PNP’s Directorial Staff, as approved by Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, Police Director General.
Just what Brig. Gen. Rosete is going to do to restore to the “strained” relation between the officials of the Davao City’s local government and the police regional office under Torre III to what is ideal, for certain it will be the most awaited development.
It may be recalled that the strained relation between the city’s leaders and the police regional office came about as consequence of Torre III’s immediate revamp of the City Police Office that led to a series of change in the city police director and the subsequent relief of several station commanders and police personnel.
The relation seems to turn to its worst when the police regional director initiated the service of arrest warrants of then fugitive Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy right inside the compound of his Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church along C.P. Garcia Diversion highway.
Torre’s scheme did not bode well with the KOJC leaders and members as well as the leaders of the city who are known close friends of the Pastor.
With Torre now out Brig. Gen. Rosete will surely have to do a lot of fence-mending. That is, if he is to aspire for a better working relation with the local government of Davao City.
Will Rosete succeed? Only time can tell. But we are certain that mending a broken relation could be one of his priorities. We hope he will make it.
Personally, we are expecting that Rosete’s first order of the day is his courtesy call on Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte and his appearance at the City Council. Doing these two approaches will surely help him know who he will be coordinating with in the duration of his tour of duty in the region and the city where the regional headquarters of the police is located.
Welcome to Davao City Brig. General Rosete. Your family name reminds us of a friend, then Colonel of the Philippine Army Douglas Rosete.
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So God used the police headed by then PNP Region XI Director (now CIDG acting head) as the divine warriors to defeat the self-proclaimed “appointed” son of God? That is, if we believe in Torre III. Yes, we cannot blame the former Police Regional Director if he is now basking on his success in flashing out the former fugitive church leader. Rev. Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy has been able to dodge the police dragnet for several months. No thanks to those who shielded him and misled the police trackers as to his whereabouts.
But then, the police’s persistence in searching the elusive KOJC leader and five of his trusted men and women, and the possible hard-to-reject enticement of the P10 million reward money for the Pastor’s arrest, Torre eventually succeeded in getting a definite information on the hiding place of the Pastor – in the most unlikely place he could have taken refuge — a facility inside his main headquarters.
The Pastor’s arrest (or surrender if you prefer to call his eventual custody by the law) triggered several alleged deeply guarded secrets of the sect leader. Among these are the coming out of some of his alleged victims in sexual exploitation, the Pastor’s former members including a resigned bodyguard who shared their alleged undesirable experiences while serving the church leader.
Their revelations on the Pastor were in complete contrast with what he portrayed himself as preacher of the words of God, his “appointing”(?) Father.
All these could possibly be the reasons that Torre was bold enough to claim that the raiding policemen on the KOJC compound were used by God to defeat what they might claim as “evils” done by one who does his thing invoking the Almighty.
But whether we agree with the just elevated police general or not, it is up to us. He could be right, or he could be wrong.
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We would like to congratulate our friend and former media colleague Tek Ocampo, now first district councilor of Davao City, for finally realizing that the city does not have any enabling ordinance that will make more effective the operation of R.A. No. 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. The national law governs the operation of the country’s mining industry that includes quarrying.
We are just wondering why it took the City Council roughly 30 years before knowing that Davao City’s local government has virtually no hold on the quarry industry in the city. This seeming ignorance of local authorities in the governance of quarrying in the city is possibly the reason why illegal extraction of aggregates including in areas supposed to be prohibited by law, is done without let-up both by legal and illegal operators.
We can only hope that the committee of Councilor Tek will be able to review fast his proposed measure and the proposed local legislation be introduced in the Council plenary for deliberation. With an ordinance on this industry the further rape of the city’s quarry areas can be averted.
We know that many among us Davaoenos are aware that quarrying in both the riversides, the hills for the extraction of the desired materials is one of the major causes of the city’s environmental degradation that of late resulted to massive flooding in low-lying areas.
Or shall the councilors wait for the floods to become deluges before passing an ordinance, enabling of whatever.
