Why give his death such importance?

“Shootout or Rubout” shouted Inquirer’s banner headline yesterday, referring to the death of Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

The question is, was he involved in the illegal drug trade?

If he was, why give his death such importance as to be investigated while his cohorts’ deaths before his were ignored?

Just because he was up there in the totem pole of drug traffickers, dealers and pushers doesn’t mean his death should be mourned.

Lowlifes are lowlifes, period; there should be no ranking or order of importance.

The more criminals disposed of, the better for society.

Dimaukom’s favorite color was pink.

In a photo apparently taken months or a year before his death, the mayor was wearing a pink shirt and he was standing beside his Hummer, which he painted pink, with a pink mosque in the background.

He was probably selling pink crystal meth or “shabu,” as well.

Authorities know that some mosques are being used in the illicit drug trade, as a marketplace for shabu, but don’t move because of religious repercussions.

In Metro Manila, the areas around the mosques in Quiapo, Taguig, Culiat and Caloocan are doing brisk business in drugs, according to police
intelligence.

To our concerned Muslim brothers and sisters, please don’t abuse the government’s leniency towards you!

Before the mosque was built in Quiapo, Manila, in 1976, the busy district was relatively peaceful.

Of course, petty crimes— such as pickpocketing and bag snatching—were reported within 1,000 meters of the Quiapo church.

But when the mosque was finished and a Muslim community sprang within its area, Quiapo deteriorated and became Manila’s inner city.

As we all know, an inner city is the poorest section of a city where crimes are rampant and the most notorious criminals live.

The Muslim community in Quiapo is feared more than Tondo decades ago.

Police in small groups fear to venture into the Muslim district for fear of being shot at.

You can count with your fingers the number of times the police entered the Muslim area and they were battalion-size.

Several foreign investors, mostly Chinese, have left the country because of extortionists at the Makati police station.

These extortionists approach investors and tell them their names are on the list of drug lords and they would be cleared with their help.

They demand a big sum of “earnest money” and a monthly retainer.

The group is headed by a police chief inspector.

Many Filipinos who have made good in the United States want to give back to their home country.

The Fil-Am community in Phoenix, Arizona, plans to conduct a medical mission in San Pablo City, Laguna province, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3, 2017, but is being prevented by the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology, an association of eye doctors.

If the mission pushes through, it will be composed of four eye doctors and the same number of anesthesiologists who will conduct cataract operations for free.

They will be bringing their own surgical equipment for cataract operations, and 5,000 pairs of eyeglasses to be given away for free.

Preventing Fil-Am doctors to serve their compatriots as a form of giving back is jealousy of the worst kind on the part of local ophthalmologists.