Something fishy in call center raid

About 40 heavily armed policemen, including members of the station’s bomb squad, and 20 private security guards raided a building at 1201 Vito Cruz Ext. and Venecia Road in Makati City last Tuesday.

No, they were not after a terrorist or criminal group in the building. They raided a call center office with 50 employees.

Imagine, 60 fully armed law enforcers swooping down on an office doing legitimate business!

The business process outsourcing (BPO) office was reportedly caught in the middle of a court battle between the building’s previous landlord, Vicente Siapuatco, and the alleged new owner, Miguel “Ike” Hernandez.

The call center operator had been paying rent to the old landlord.

The raid was based on a court order served on Siapuatco to vacate the building.

Judge Joselito Villarosa of the Makati Regional Trial Court issued the order in February last year.

The raiders ordered all call center employees to leave the building but detained a woman in her own office for 12 hours with nothing to eat or drink.

Her employees and husband tried to bring her food and water but were driven away by the cops and guards.

Why was there a need for so many armed Makati policemen and private security guards just to take over a call center office?

And why did Judge Villarosa issue the order for the takeover when the call center office didn’t have anything to do with the controversy involving Siapuatco and Hernandez?

The call center office remains closed to this day.

By the way, Villarosa was ordered by the Supreme Court last year to stop issuing orders involving commercial cases as he had been transferred to a regular court.

I’m not saying Villarosa is involved, but there is reportedly a syndicate of judges in Makati City which shakes down businesses involved in receivership controversy.

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At last, the military is gaining the upper hand in its fight against the bandit group Abu Sayyaf and secessionists belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

As of last report, Army Rangers have killed 24 Abu Sayyaf bandits and wounded 24 others in the military offensive in Sulu province.

That’s a big number of casualties on the Abu Sayyaf side.

According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the bandit group is on the run.

In some parts of Maguindanao and North Cotabato, where there is fierce fighting between the BIFF and government troops, the BIFF is also on the retreat.

Gen. Pio Catapang Jr., AFP chief of staff, ordered the all-out offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and BIFF four months before his retirement.

“I want to significantly lessen the bandits’ ability to carry out violent attacks against civilians before I retire in July 2015,” said Catapang.

Considering that he’s a “dove” or pacifist general because of his statements that he wants to preserve peace with the Moros, Catapang’s all-out offensive is surprising.

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The Rangers, the Army’s elite unit, must have unleashed all their strength on the enemy after being given the order to attack because they had been restrained for a long time by higher officials at headquarters.

If the Rangers and the other Army units as well as the Marines are not ordered to hold back their punches against the Moro group now that all hell has broken loose, the Abu Sayyaf will surely be decimated.

The Army and Marines know the camps and lairs of the Abu Sayyaf but they could not attack because their commander in chief, President Noy, wants to have peace with the Moros at all cost.

P-Noy probably wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize.