Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has ordered Corrections Director Franklin Bucayu to investigate a report that a convicted drug lord was able to build a two-story house inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) grounds.
De Lima said “heads must roll, (especially of) those responsible, who allowed it to happen.”
One of them should be Bucayu, who could have ordered the dismantling of the house when he took over the helm of the Bureau of Corrections.
He cannot claim innocence because his office is within the NBP.
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The convicted drug lord who’s being given VIP treatment is Amin Boratong.
My brother, Erwin, and I view Boratong’s special treatment with personal interest.
We exposed Boratong’s drug den, now known as the Pasig shabu tiangge, eight years ago leading to his conviction for drug trafficking.
When Erwin and I showed a video of the inside of the drug lair, to then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Art Lomibao, he nearly fell off his chair.
Lomibao expressed shock that a half-hectare drug flea market operated practically within spitting distance of Pasig City Hall.
He ordered the creation of a special task force, led by then Director Marcelo “Jun” Ele, to raid the place.
Ele’s plan for the raid on the well-guarded drug flea market was a master stroke, which has since become a pattern for other drug raids.
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Erwin and I went with the raiding team, mostly composed of members of the PNP’s elite Special Action Force (SAF).
We saw stalls where methamphetamine hydrochloride (known in the streets as shabu) was sold just like in a flea market.
We saw many women, toddlers in tow, among the customers. They would drop by the drug den on their way to the market to have their “fix.”
Those who didn’t have the means got money in exchange for sexual favors with drug pushers in kubol (huts).
More than a hundred people, including Boratong and his common-law wife, were arrested in that raid, the first big apprehension the PNP had involving a drug lair.
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Erwin and I took great risks exposing the drug lair.
We are, therefore, shocked to learn that Boratong, who has destroyed countless young lives and made cuckolds of many husbands, is living like a king inside prison.
In a few years, Boratong may walk a free man because of our corrupt judicial system, and wreak more havoc on other people’s lives.
If I had my way, those who give Boratong VIP treatment should be lined up against the wall and shot along with him.
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What kind of people would criticize or ridicule Interior Secretary Mar Roxas who fell off a motorcycle which he rode on his way to a town in Samar badly hit by Typhoon “Ruby?”
The same kind of people who would laugh at a person who stumbles on a banana peel or croaks on stage during a singing contest.
In other countries, people would have helped a rider who falls off or would ask if he was okay.
I remember watching a Grammy Awards night when a singer croaked. The audience stood up in unison and gave her a standing ovation.
Instead of sympathizing with Roxas for looking after typhoon victims, many laugh at him for falling off a motorcycle and not wearing a helmet.
What’s with this country?