THIS is in reaction to various reports in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the DOJ vs. PDEA controversy: After reading about Varona’s nearly successful caper and the DOJ’s speed of its processing and subsequent follow up, it looks suspicious enough (or that it stunk to high heavens so badly) for citizens to think that the DOJ has positioned itself to defend the Alabang boys on basis of some technicalities, while at the same time wanting to prosecute the PDEA agents.
The arresting agents have now become the prosecuted. I can imagine the drug syndicates laughing at our government’s uncoordinated efforts to incarcerate the drug dealers and stop the illegal trade. It also appears that the lawyer of the Alabang boys was sneaky and sleazy enough to have almost pulled a fast one on the “unsuspecting” DOJ. Was he really pulling a fast one or was it already a routine for him with some cohorts inside?
For him to have prepared the resolution and fast-tracking it into the a prosecutor’s office and forwarded to the Secretary for signature makes him as cheap as any prohibited LTO “fixer” of before was to his credit though, the lawyer was like a stealth and was damn effective! I think that there may never be enough evidence to prove the guilt beyond doubt of the DOJ people in the bribery case, nor can there be sufficient proof to nail any of the prosecutors for serious and maliciously motivated wrongdoing. If those cases are weak then we should drop them and focus on really getting the Alabang boys into high security jail, for good and for the rest of their lives.
Let the Senate pass laws learned from this episode to bolster future cases filed by the PDEA. What they should all do is to support General Marcelino to nail these enemies of society (the “boys”) to prove to us, the citizenry, that they are not guilty of having been bribed. Some questions asked by concerned citizens include speculations, such as :if the PDEA agents could not be bribed , which agency should the next payoff attempt be that would yield quick results of a release just before Christmas day?
General Marcelino and his men did a good job. The guys at DOJ should match that performance with a true prosecutorial effort, and not look like they are part of the Defense. And they should run after the defense lawyer - because that cheap trick denudes the office of its respectable image.
Victor Manalac, Taytay, Rizal, via e-mail
January 26th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I think with that big evidence of prohibited drugs. The DOJ must immediately prosecute instead of defending the accuse.
What is happening the accuse is the one being defended? is it right and it is the other way around.
You the DOJ must prosecute if the accuse found enough substantial evidence instead of being blind.
PDEA already found them selling drugs through buy-bust operation. They can be the witness. DOJ prosecutors must act immediately with out delay because people are waiting.
Otherwise the BRIBERY might be true….
January 20th, 2009 at 10:41 am
if we to mind that the PDEA’s job is to protect the citizens from the citizens, then they have done their job. To put them to trial tantamounts to a government gone really bad. Granting that there are bad apples in the barrel, we should separate , take care and commend the good ones because there are not many of them.
The DOJ chief with his bad mouth should know( he of all people) that a soldier ’s work in this country is to protect -not correct and this means also putting their lives in jeopardy. He sets in his aircon office.. shoots his mouth while the likes of Marcelino get shot atm,ambushed, rained on, made hostage and what else.
This country should do a lot of soul searching.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:22 am
The problem…
Our system provides that the apprehending officer is the police and custody is taken by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), two different entities.
In this case, the apprehending officer is a PDEA agent and custody is taken by the PDEA, the one and the same entity.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
PDEA should be stripped of its police power, arresting power.
Instead,PDEA should be only an agency for compliance and regulation of business establishments on controlled substance.
Let the police do its work.
The police are better equipped to do the work against illegal drugs.
The local police know the community and they know the character of the people in their area.
PDEA is a police duplication composed of soldiers trained for soldiering.
Let’s have one arresting agency,one police body, the Philippine National Police.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
12jan2009
lasvegasnv
2000
pdea,doj et al -impressive office title but no meaning. bunch of invertebrates. men in uniform, trapos, political dynasties, the oligarchs, the court system and the common “tao” of the republic is in symbiotic relationship. sucking each other’s blood,like parasites.
harsh words,but how else i can describe the dire situations of the republic’s future.
don’t cry for me filipinas. we reap what we sow. the institutionalized corruption is not only endemic in our present society it is also in vivo.
if we all can not get in one lock step to rid of the cancer in our society- as in one voice,mission and vision for another patriotic cause - i see more misfortunes and ills abounds in our society still in years to come.
all the writings is on the wall. we are becoming a society without law. anarchy soon will prevails and civility is gone to the dogs.
our forefathers managed to threw out the crown that usurp powers for over 300 yrs. in patria adorada. fought for second independence and bled,died and overcame hunger from the long march for juan dela cruz’ posterity.
pls. do’nt give up the ship.
kayana2 sends,
lasvegasnv.