POINTBLANK
Retrain policemen
The chief of the City Proper Police Station Chief Insp. Federico Silvestre had been criticized for declaring as “case closed” the incident involving a scion of a prominent businessman and his police bodyguard after it was allegedly settled by both parties. That is our present criminal justice system—it favors the big and the mighty.
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Policemen from Molo District should better undergo retraining so that they will know how to respond to calls for assistance from the public. Last Friday night a roving patrol team of the Molo police was called after a man threw several bottles in the middle of the road causing one tricycle to have a flat tire. The patrol car which was parking a few meters away immediately responded and upon reaching the scene of the incident the complainants pointed to the man responsible for throwing bottles on the road. The policemen simply looked at the man asked a few questions then leave. They did not arrest the man which was positively identified by the complainants and many witnesses as the culprit. In other words, sorry na lang ang mga salakyan nga nagkupos ang goma tungod sang mga buka nga botelya. That is how our policemen respond to calls for public assistance nowadays. No wonder the operation of the “basag kotse” gang in the city is unabated.
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The political season has started. This is also the time when politicians become onion-skinned. They immediately react on issues or news items involving them. Every negative issue or news, even if it is valid or backed by documents, are deemed as politically motivated. Indeed, politics is a dirty game. That is why it is not for the faint-hearted and onion-skinned.
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One does not have to identify himself when filing a complaint with the Ombudsman. In fact the Office of the Ombudsman encourages anonymous complaints and even complaints through text messaging. Being the government’s watchdog, the Ombudsman understands that there are complainants who do not want to be identified for fear of persecution especially if the subject of your complaint is your boss or colleague. Anyway it is not the identity of the complainant that matters but the complaint itself. The Ombudsman has all the means to verify if indeed there is meat in the complaint or if it is baseless and a mere figment of the imagination.
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Reports have it that the rating of mayoralty candidate Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog in the recent survey has went down. From a rating of 60-65% in June, Mabilog’s rating in a survey commissioned by a presidential candidate end of November has slid down to 44%. Raul Gonzalez Sr., on the other hand, increased his rating to 35%. This development is a wake up call for Mabilog. Perhaps, he should review his strategies in order to regain a big lead against his closest opponent in the surveys. Anyway, the elections is still five months away.
