THE MANDATORY drug testing of uniformed and civilian personnel in the Police Regional Office (PRO) XI is ongoing.
According to the spokesperson of the PNP XI, Maj. Catherine dela Rey, the drug testing is part of the so-called internal cleansing process.
However, it seems that the cleansing is only limited to finding out whether the police and civilian employees are taking drugs. Meaning, the result will reveal whether the concerned uniformed policeman or civilian employee is using drugs.
What then is the process used by the command to determine if the involvement of the police or civilian personnel is in drug pushing themselves, or protecting the drug merchants, or are the merchants themselves?
We hope that the Regional Command has devised some schemes to positively determine the level of involvement of any policeman or civilian employee in the furtherance of the illegal drugs business.
If there is none whatsoever, then the efforts to check whether the policemen are drug users or not are just exercises in futility.
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Now we have it from no less than the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Gen. Romeo Brawner, Jr. That is, rumors about certain sectors in the military still in active duty mobilizing people for a planned coup d’etat. The groups are alleged to be led by officials with ranks as high as General.
According to Brawner, these are plain rumors emanating from those who are known to be politically partisan in the military and have allowed themselves to be instruments in the efforts to destabilize the government. “Not under my watch,” according to the AFP Chief of Staff.
Personally, we believe the General. We know he cannot afford to compromise his reputation by engaging in anti-government initiatives or doing things that are strongly averse to what is taught in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
It is our take that if Brawner is suspected of having done contrary to the responsibilities the soldiers are sworn to do for the benefit of the Filipino nation, those who are creating the suspicion could very well be the real perpetrators of military shenanigans.
As one favorite saying goes, “The hen that cackles the loudest is the most likely the one that is currently laying eggs.”
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We are not expecting any of the 24 councilors who will compose the next City Council will be left out in the distribution of chair positions.
The reason is understandable, of course. All the incoming members of the next Council are with the home-grown political party, the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (STL). And surely, not any of them will be excluded from the membership of the different Council committees.
What does this mean? What else but all are happy in the Legislative Branch of the local government? All committees are likely to be holding hearings even more than the regular schedule. And the members will likely have perfect attendance, but not necessarily perfect in physical presence. For those in the know of the workings of the council committee, they sure get what we mean – a give and take arrangement in the attendance record. It is hard to miss out on the honorarium per attendance in committee hearings.
And the more committee chairmanship and membership, the more honorarium to receive.
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A news report says fugitive and ousted former Negros Oriental Congressman Arnulfo Teves was arrested in his house in Timor Liste. The arresting officers were reportedly Immigration agents. It was, however, not mentioned if the Immigration officials included those from the Philippines.
It was also not clear whether Teves was immediately repatriated to the Philippines. But the ousted Congressman’s son was quick to cry out that his father was “kidnapped.”
Now we have two words to confuse each other with – arrest and kidnap. Of course, the confusion only comes in when the person served with an arrest warrant is highly influential in society or is a popular politician like former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Congressman Arnulfo Teves.
