Martial law at the Bureau of Customs
Let’s hope President Digong was quoted out of context when he was reported to have said he wanted US military special operations personnel out of Mindanao because they were magnets for terrorist attacks.
The country can’t afford at this time to dispense with the advice of US Army Special Forces and US Navy Seals personnel assigned in Mindanao.
Those elite American soldiers provide vital intelligence to our troops through unmanned drones and satellite pictures about movements of the enemy.
Veterans of many combat assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American warriors also teach our soldiers guerrilla warfare.
Do you think the notorious Abu Sabaya, an Abu Sayyaf leader who took part in the kidnapping of some guests at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan years ago, would have been killed if our soldiers were not provided intelligence by the US warriors?
So, Mano Digong, please don’t drive away the American military advisers in Mindanao—that is, if you were quoted right—because we need them badly.
Instead, make the Abu Sayyaf bandits disappear from the face of the earth like what you’re doing to dealers of illegal drugs.
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I know the reason why President Digong hates the United States.
When he was Davao City mayor, police arrested an American citizen who was found keeping bombs in his hotel room.
US Federal agents came to the city and asked to interrogate the American in the same hotel where he was apprehended.
The following day, the US Federal agents were gone and so was the US citizen caught with the bombs.
This was years ago and Digong has not forgotten that incident.
It was clearly a slap on Philippine sovereignty.
Now, can you blame Mr. Duterte for harboring hard feelings towards the United States?
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The killing of Aurora Moynihan, 45, sends a clear message to persons who supply illegal drugs to show biz personalities: Stop what you are doing or be prepared to meet your Maker.
It sends the same message to movie and TV personalities who are known drug users or addicts: Your fame will not shield you from bullets.
Famous personalities with the initials TY and VG, be warned!
These duo are known to push or sell “shabu” or meth, cocaine and ecstasy to their show biz clients and rich kids who go to high-class bars at the Fort Bonifacio Global City.
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The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now run by the Oakwood Boys.
They are former soldiers who took part in the mutiny against President Gloria and got their moniker because Oakwood Hotel in Makati was their staging area.
Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, himself an Oakwood boy, has authorized his former fellow mutineers—all 50 of them—to set up barracks within the customs zone.
It’s bad enough that Faeldon chose to make a mockery of civil service rules, but what makes things far worse is that the Oakwood Boys are bullies of the highest order, according to insiders.
They shout, curse and even threaten to hit customs employees—even women—at every turn.
The especially notorious ones, the sources say, are James Layug, Milo Maestrocampo, Neil Estrella, Mike Sabban and Gerardo Gambala.
One of them allegedly made a female BOC employee eat and swallow the plastic wrapper of a pack of biscuits, simply because she was eating them at her desk.
The customs bureau is now under martial law.
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It’s just right for corrupt customs officials and employees to be treated like trainees in a military camp or plebes at the Philippine Military Academy. They deserve the shabby treatment since they steal money from the government big time.
But then, most of these Oakwood Boys have reportedly taken over the tara collection from corrupt customs personnel, according to my sources.
I can believe that because the Oakwood Boys are gutom na gutom or famished.
