Near shoot-out at PDEA

A near shoot-out took place inside the office of Director General Jose Gutierrez of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Thursday morning, according to agency insiders.

Gutierrez called members of the special enforcement service (SES), PDEA’s version of the police’s SWAT unit, while he and his intelligence and investigation chief, Zoilo Lachica, were allegedly confronted by nine agents who were placed on floating status by Gutierrez.

“Floating status” means the agents would be reporting to the  office every day but will  not be given assignments, some form of  punishment.

The agents had been linked to an P8 million extortion case by  Mark Sy Tan, a drug-trafficking suspect.

The agents protested the punishment.

PDEA insiders told me that the agents said the punishment was unfair since they claimed  Gutierrez received P2 million and Lachica, P1 million, out of the total amount allegedly extorted from Tan.

According to the Chinese suspect, the P8 million was in consideration for his release from detention.

However, he continues to be in jail since drug trafficking is a nonbailable offense.

Outnumbered by the disgruntled agents 9 to 2, Gutierrez and Lachica reportedly called in members of the SES.

My sources said that the SES agents cocked their M-16 rifles on the disgruntled agents who were armed with pistols.

By golly, if the shoot-out had  taken  place, drug lords and drug pushers would have had a field day!

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The latest boo-boo the President Noy made was in paying the P70,000 bail of newly appointed Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Grace Padaca who is facing graft charges in   the Sandiganbayan.

Por Dios, por santo, Mr. President, why did you have to do that!

Why did you send Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, a Liberal Party official, to bail out Padaca?

That would make Padaca obligated to the President and the Liberal Party and make her  look like a Palace stooge.

How can the people now expect Padaca to be fair in adjudicating election protests involving administration candidates?

Padaca, for her part, if she had any sense of delicadeza at all, shouldn’t have allowed herself to be bailed out by the Palace.

The President’s act certainly  left a bad taste in the mouth since he had prejudged the case.

Only the Sandiganbayan can say whether she’s guilty or not after a fair trial.

Since when did the President become a judge?

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Why didn’t the President’s legal advisers prevent him from posting Padaca’s bail even if—as the Palace claims, the money came out of his own pocket?

That speaks volumes about Palace lawyers, chief of them being  Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, who  is an Ateneo Law graduate.

Perhaps P-Noy’s lawyers should minimize their drinking sessions  so  they can stay focused on the job.

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Even if he was rather late in announcing that he would seek a seat  in the Senate, Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn has a big chance of winning even as an independent.

Hagedorn is a no-nonsense, straight-talking public official who put Palawan—its capital Puerto Princesa City, particularly—on the world map.