BI functionary buys brand-new P10-M bulletproof SUV

Insiders at the Philippine National Police are asking why Police Lt. Joven de Guzman Jr., the team leader in the controversial Antipolo drug bust in May, was just suspended for 59 days, instead of being dismissed.

Three other policemen involved in the allegedly anomalous raid were sacked but De Guzman was merely suspended “upon the recommendation of the Internal Affairs Service (IAS),” according to the PNP officer in charge Police Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa.

But this was denied by IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo who said that they had recommended the dismissal of all seven police officers involved in the operation, including De Guzman.

Triambulo claimed their recommendation was “altered” before it reached the office of the PNP OIC. “There was [a finding] of conspiracy and the act of one is the act of all,” he said.

De Guzman was also one of the 13 policemen in another controversial drug operation in Mexico, Pampanga, in 2013. He was reportedly in the United States when the Senate blue ribbon committee was conducting an investigation on the issue.

A lot of questions linger. Why couldn’t then PNP chief Oscar Albayalde and now Gamboa dismiss De Guzman as recommended by the IAS? Are they afraid that he might turn state witness and reveal what he really knows about “agaw-bato” and a “cover-up?”

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Who is this Bureau of Immigration (BI) functionary who bought a brand-new bulletproof sport utility vehicle (SUV) worth P10 million?

Immigration chief Jaime Morente should subject this guy immediately to a lifestyle check for his blatant display of wealth. He even has his own security backup which is better than that of the commissioner.

Insiders say this guy’s modus operandi is to delay action on pending government documents and then accept favors in exchange for approval. Recently, a BI staffer was arrested in an entrapment operation involving P1.5 million for the release of an overstaying foreigner. The staffer was allegedly with this guy’s driver when the entrapment took place.

Attention, President Duterte!

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The deadly African swine fever (ASF) is seriously threatening both the hog raising and meat processing industries estimated at around P600 billion.

Hog raisers say they lost P10 billion in two months after the virus appeared in Luzon. Around 55,000 pigs were killed but this is just 1 percent of our total 12 million heads. Farmgate prices for backyard growers are down to P70-P80 per kilo and P90 per kilo for commercial growers.

On the other hand, meat processors say they will lose P55 billion this year, including P22-P23 billion during the holiday season. Their products are available in Luzon but banned in Visayas and Mindanao by 56 governors.

But a leaked news report supposedly from the Bureau of Animal Industry confirmed as ASF-positive the hotdogs and other processed meat products coming from a Central Luzon-based company. Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura supports the local government units’ ban on processed meat products while Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc., together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health, want the ban lifted.

People are only becoming more confused. Why can’t they just help each other?