WE should be relieved that the Boston marathon bombing didn’t happen in Manila. Otherwise, we would have the officials and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation throwing up their hands in helplessness and admitting the “difficulty” of tracking down the terrorists, as did Reynaldo Esmeralda, NBI Deputy Director for Intelligence Services.
Here’s how the media quoted Esmeralda about the “big challenge” in finding fugitive and new media favorite Cezar Mancao: “It’s a big challenge because he knows what we are doing and he is also trained for this thing. But we have a job to do. We are bent on getting him back.”
Mancao “knows” what the NBI is doing???
Of course! Any kindergarten school kid will tell you that the NBI is infested with Mancao sympathizers and spies. No wonder he is always one step ahead of his “pursuers.”
And if you’re wondering why Jovito Palparan (remember him?) can’t be found, ask any kindergarten school kid. He’ll tell you to ask the military. Palparan’s fellow officers know where he is.
And why are the other “Big Five Fugitives” – the Reyes brothers of Palawan, Globe Asiatique’s Delfin Lee and Dinagat Rep. Ruben Ecleo – still at large? I’ll give you several thousand (or million) guesses.
Never mind the reason why the NPA’s Benito Tiamzon and Jorge Madlos can’t be caught. They have their own grassroots support system that’s not necessarily within the law. But it’s obvious why the other “fugitives” are Uncatchable. They are being protected and tipped off by persons who are supposed to catch them.
De Lima said it herself, referring to Mancao, as quoted in one news report: “I refused to believe na wala siyang kasabwat sa NBI (I don’t believe he didn’t get help from somebody in the NBI).”
A direct accusation like that, made in the US, would create such an uproar that the agency accused of coddling the fugitives would be hauled before a Senate Committee and the top officials would be forced to resign.
But that’s wishful thinking in our beloved Philippines.
Having been told to their faces that they are guilty of obstruction of justice, the NBI officials will simply “keep cool” until the media turn their attention elsewhere, De Lima is confronted with another dilemma, and the situation gets back to normal.
Two high-ranking “former fugitives”, Senators Ping Lacson and Gringo Honasan have not even been subtle about the reason why they and the current men-in-hiding-kuno cannot be snared in the government’s net.
Honasan and Lacson should know. They also helped make that net so tattered and torn, even St. Peter, the Sublime Fisherman, would not be able to catch a single fish with it.
According to the press, Honasan said, “If a significant section of the people supports his cause, he will be given sanctuary.” Translation: Persons in authority are protecting the fugitive.
And, referring to Palparan, Lacson reportedly believes that “operatives have some idea of Palparan’s whereabouts, but don’t have the motivation to pounce on him in spite of the offered reward. As in, “What for?”
Yeah, sure. What for? Aquino’s directive to raise the reward for the capture of the Big Five Fugitives is really just a Big Joke. Pang-press release lamang po.
But assuming that Noynoy Aquino and Leila de Lima are really determined to catch the Uncatchables, but are simply clueless on how to go about doing it, they should brush up on Eliot Ness and the Untouchables.
It was the 1920’s. Prohibition was being enforced and the mob, led by Capone, was raking in millions by dealing in bootleg liquor and operating speakeasies (illicit bars so-called because one had to be “quiet” about their existence). That, in addition to murder, prostitution, gambling and a host of other criminal activities.
Al Capone could not be pinned down and was running circles around Chicago’s justice system for the simple reason that the city’s law-enforcers and judges were in his payroll. Capone was being tipped off on every move that his supposed pursuers made. The situation was as hilarious as the eternal pursuit of Tweety the Canary by Sylvester the Cat.
And whenever Capone was ever brought to the courts, the corrupt judges simply let him walk (does that remind you of the infernal TRO’s?).
When Herbert Hoover was elected president, he directed US Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to find a way to bring down Capone.
The first order of the day was to find an incorruptible lawman. That was Eliot Ness, an agent of the US Treasury Department. Is there an equivalent of Ness in the Philippines? There has to be. Otherwise, let’s just close shop and allow anarchy to reign.
The second order of the day was for Ness to identify a team of equally incorruptible agents. According to Wikipedia, “With Chicago’s corrupted law-enforcement agents endemic, Ness went through the records of all Prohibition agents to create a reliable team, initially of 50, later reduced to 15 and finally to just eleven men.”
Can Hapless, Helpless, Hopeless Secretary Leila de Lima find eleven incorruptible officers in the FBI, the PNP and the DOJ? Siguro naman, hindi ba? Otherwise, her Boss Noynoy Aquino should just direct Tourism’s Mon Jimenez to launch a new campaign, “Being a Fugitive from Justice – It’s more fun in the Philippines.”
I bet, that’s easier to implement than Aquino’s dramatic directive to capture the Big Five Fugitives by raising the reward money.
It certainly will be more effective than Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin’s challenge to Palparan to surrender because the latter was ruining the image of the AFP (as they say in social media, LOL).
At any rate, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables (so-called because they could not be “touched” by fat bribe offers) operated outside the radar of the Old Boy Network in Chicago’s justice system. This left Capone and the mob with no sources of prior information on raids and dragnets.
Does it take brain surgery for Malacañang, the Department of Justice, the NBI and the PNP to understand and apply the tactics of the Untouchables? No it doesn’t take brain surgery. Of course they know what to do.
But they just don’t feel like doing it. To quote Ping Lacson, “What for?”
Frankly, if I were De Lima, I would quit. She’ll probably be happier and wealthier lawyering for the fugitives.
And what about Noynoy Aquino’s directive to arrest the fugitives? As they say in social media, “LOL.”
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