Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has hinted at the possibility of running for the Senate.
He has probably sensed that President Digong, his classmate at San Beda College of Law, is displeased with his performance.
Well then, Aguirre is perceptive.
A Palace insider told this columnist that the President was so pissed at the Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary that he commented: “I hope he runs for senator and loses.”
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Aguirre was trying to invite himself to the ruling PDP-Laban party when he told reporters: “I don’t want to run because there is so much to do in the DOJ. But if they ask me to run, that would be a different story.”
He doesn’t stand a chance in the senatorial race after the public outrage brought about by the DOJ’s dismissal of the charges against confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa and alleged Cebu drug kingpin Peter Lim.
Aguirre also fell into disfavor with Cebuano voters when he linked Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to the drug trade.
Cebu is a vote-rich province.
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Neither will Aguirre win if he decides to run for governor in Quezon province.
All his relatives in his hometown of Mulanay would campaign against him.
“He has become so arrogant after he was appointed justice secretary,” one of Aguirre’s cousins told me.
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Nelissa Rullan, who was charged by the police in Angono, Rizal, with drug pushing, is appealing to the President for “personal intercession.”
In her letter to the President, Rullan, 44, claims the case is based on trumped-up charges.
She says that PO2 Daril Piamonte of the Angono police station booked her for drug pushing after he caught her taking a video of him as he was conducting an investigation.
Rullan had gone to the police station after her brother, Herman, and his two companions were arrested for allegedly selling drugs.
Her sister, Cherry, has sought the help of “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo” on her predicament.
My staff and I conducted a probe into Rullan’s arrest and here’s what we found out:
She was asked by her mother to accompany Herman and his two companions to the police station to prevent investigators from beating them up.
Barangay officials and neighbors were shocked by the drug pushing case against Rullan whom they described as an upright citizen.
However, they were not as keen about defending Herman who, they claimed, was a known drug user.
Barangay officials said the arresting officers didn’t go to the barangay hall after Herman’s arrest, a violation of the protocol in the arrest of drug suspects.
Under the law, arresting officers should present the drug suspects and the evidence before barangay officials before hauling them off to the police station.
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The Angono police claimed “presumption of regularity” when it filed a drug case against Rullan.
But this defense flew out the window after they violated the protocol in the arrest of drug suspects.