Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II cried as Wally Sombero, a retired police official, recounted to him how Immigration Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Mike Robles extorted P50 million from online gaming operator Jack Lam.
Aguirre couldn’t believe that Argosino and Robles, whose appointments he had endorsed to the President, would abuse their authority.
Argosino and Robles are members of Lex Talionis, which counts Aguirre and the President among its prominent members.
Lex Talionis (not Taleonis as reported earlier) is a fraternity at San Beda College of Law.
The P50 million payoff took place at the second floor of the City of Dreams hotel and casino, Sombero said.
Argosino and Robles forgot that the establishment has closed-circuit television cameras all over the place.
They were also probably not aware that Sombero, who acted as Lam’s messenger, is a retired policeman and recorded their conversation.
Apparently, avarice made the two commissioners very careless.
President Digong’s war on drugs has more adherents than detractors, according to a story in the Inquirer yesterday.
“Duterte War: More Cheers Than Jeers,” shouted the Inquirer’s banner headline.
The story by The New York Times about President Digong’s unorthodox method in dealing with drug peddlers and drug lords drew thousands of comments on its website, most of them defending extrajudicial killings.
“As far as I know, if you’re a law-abiding citizen nothing happens to you. That’s how we are in Davao City, which is among the nation’s most peaceful cities,” said a netizen.
Another netizen, Daphne A. Diamola, said: “We can now sleep peacefully and walk at night knowing our President is serious in his war on drugs… Slaughter (of drug peddlers) might be harsh but I guess they deserve it.”
Street crimes, especially holdup incidents, have gone down significantly in many parts of the country because many addicts, who commit such crimes to support their addiction, have been eliminated.
As more addicts turn themselves in for rehabilitation and more drug peddlers disappear or get killed, both petty and heinous crimes such as rape and murder will decrease proportionately.
Most crimes in the country are blamed on drug-crazed persons.
Even members of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic bandit group, are reportedly drug-crazed when they engage government troops in gunfights, for how can one explain their foolhardiness in combat?
So, Mr. Duterte, go on with what you are doing to drug lords and peddlers because the citizenry is behind you.
But the President should be warned that his defense of the policemen who killed Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa might send the wrong message to abusive policemen, especially the nitwits among them.
Many cops might use the war on drugs to settle scores with their personal enemies.
This columnist knows of many instances when a policeman shot an innocent citizen just because the cop didn’t like the way the stranger looked at him or his manner of replying to the cop’s question.
“Isumbong mo kay Tulfo,” my public service program at dwIZ (882 on the AM band), is witness to countless complaints from citizens about abusive cops.