The kidnap-murder of casino junket operator Carlos Abad Tan was a wallop, a big setback to the gaming industry in the country.
Our government-operated casinos earn billions of pesos from big-time gamblers who come from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.
Tan, a Hong Kong national, was abducted by a group composed of active and former policemen on Oct. 21. He was murdered after no ransom was paid.
As a result, many of Tan’s fellow junket operators are planning to move to other countries like Taiwan and Malaysia where they feel safer.
“Imagine, another group of policemen kidnapping and killing their victim! I thought that they were all gone after what happened inside Camp Crame?” said an online gaming operator from Singapore.
He was referring to the abduction and killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo right inside the camp which is the national police headquarters.
The police said the mastermind in Tan’s kidnapping and murder is Senior Supt. Johnny Orme of the Southern Police District personnel holding center.
Orme’s accomplices — SPO1 Benjamin Paragarigan, PO3 Rodel Estonactor, PO1 Ramil Espejo, PO1 Rolando Albios and civilian Erwin Escobido — were killed in a shootout by members of the PNP antikidnap group based in Camp Crame.
Orme is not an ordinary police official as he is a member of Class 92 of the Philippine National Police Academy, the police counterpart of the Philippine Military Academy.
Cases of policemen involved in car theft, robbery, gun-for-hire, extortion and smuggling are so numerous they cannot be accommodated in a single page of this newspaper.
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The ill-disciplined PNP continues to be a big headache for President Digong who has time and again berated the organization for its rogue members.
The President wants to double the pay of all policemen but first, he should purge the PNP of scalawags until its 150,000-strong force is halved.
That’s the time the remaining members’ salary should be doubled or even tripled.
After the mass attrition, the remaining policemen will become so efficient and disciplined they will comprise a mean and lean force.
Quality, not quantity, is what’s needed in the PNP.
How come vigilantes, on whom the PNP blames most of the EJK cases, do not target scalawag policemen?
The reason is simple: Most of the vigilantes are “ninja” cops or those who recycle drugs through street thugs. They kill their wards either because the latter failed to remit drug money or they know too much and might squeal on them.
The President should form a group composed of military counter-intelligence personnel to go after rogue cops.
The PNP can’t be trusted to go after its own, not with blabbermouth Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa as its chief.