A bad omen for criminals

The killing of Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and some of his henchmen by policemen serving arrest warrants on Sunday did not come as a surprise to this columnist.

In fact, I had long expected it.

Then Davao City Mayor Duterte told me years ago that in the “remote possibility” he would be elected President, he would go after the Parojinogs for their alleged involvement in drugs and other crimes.

The Parojinogs became strong political figures in Misamis Occidental after their involvement in bank holdups and kidnappings in the 1990s until the early part of 2000.

The dreaded Kuratong Baleleng crime syndicate, which amassed billions of pesos from robbing banks in Metro Manila, was a creation of the Parojinogs.

After the famous or infamous — depending on which side you’re on — rubout of some Kuratong Baleleng members in 1995, the Parojinogs slowly shifted to the drug trade.

They reportedly paid off policemen, prosecutors and judges who went after them while those who could not be bribed were killed.

“Patyon gyud nako sila bai, kay way makatandog sa ila kay hadlok man nila (I’ll have the Parojinogs executed because they’re untouchable as they instill fear),” said the then feisty mayor who cleaned up his crime-ridden city of lowlifes.

That statement by Digong, made in the early part of 2000 during dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Davao City, was just a pipe dream.

Digong never thought that he would someday become the country’s Chief Executive.

He would repeat that statement time and again whenever I ribbed him about running for President so that he could rid the country of criminals.

“Ah, daghang mamatay, Mon, kung presidente ko kay di nako buhion ang tanang buang (Many would die, Mon, if I became President because I would be harsh on criminals),” he would say.

The killing of Parojinog signaled the start of the crackdown on big-time drug lords and criminals.

Now, they will not be able to ply their trade because they will be too preoccupied protecting their own hide.

* * *

If indeed President Digong gave PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa the order to eliminate the New People’s Army (NPA), the directive was given to the wrong person and

institution.

It should have been directed at the Armed Forces of the Philippines and not the Philippine National Police.

The PNP doesn’t have the capability to decimate the ranks of the NPA.

Unlike its predecessor, the defunct Philippine Constabulary whose slogan was “always outnumbered, never outfought,” the PNP is almost always defeated by enemies of the state.

The NPA’s principal source of firearms are police stations in remote areas which they raid.