A test of wills between bishop, Duterte

Every night, the bells will ring in all the churches of Albay province to remind the faithful to pray for an end to extrajudicial killings in President Digong’s war on drugs.

The pealing of church bells when the clock strikes 9 has been ordered by Bishop Joel Z. Baylon of the Diocese of Legaspi.

Baylon said he had written a letter to Digong about his order after the controversial President told drug pushers and dealers to stay in their homes or be shot on sight.

Baylon said the ringing of the bells and offering of prayers would continue for as long as the killings persist.

It’s going to be a test of wills between the prelate and the President who has vowed not to stop his war on drugs as long as the pushers, dealers and drug lords remain standing.

The faithful living near the churches will, at first, welcome the call to prayer at 9 p.m. but eventually consider it a nuisance because the ringing of the bells will disturb their sleep.

Baylon could have come up with a better idea, such as asking the faithful to pray for the drug addicts in their midst during Sunday Mass.

The bishop should not ask his faithful to pray for the impossible.

Since the good bishop doesn’t know the extent of the drug problem, he can pray to God to help the President in his war on drugs, which God will surely answer.

Does Baylon know that some high officials in the Bicol region are involved in the drug trade?

My unimpeachable sources in the Bicol region and at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said there are two ranking elected officials in Catanduanes province who are allegedly in cahoots with Eric Isidoro, head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) office in Gen. Santos City.

Isidoro is now being investigated by the NBI head office on orders of Director Dante Gierran.

A “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory was raided by the police on Saturday in Barangay Palta Small, Virac, Catanduanes.

The laboratory sits on a 1,000-square meter lot leased by Isidoro to Filipino-Chinese Jayson Gonzales Uy, who was not in the lab during the raid.

My source at the PDEA said the two elected officials had been in the radar for sometime now but government agents couldn’t pin them down because of their influence with the previous administration.

The two local officials slowed down their drug operations after Digong Duterte became president.

The revelation shows that their syndicate, whose operation embraces the entire Bicol region, is apparently much bigger than the one run by Kerwin Espinosa in Eastern Visayas.

It would be interesting to know the national and regional police officials who are on the payroll of the syndicate.

By the way, before he was assigned to General Santos City, Isidoro was head of the NBI antinarcotics unit in Manila.