President Rodrigo Rodrigo has taken a direct hand in last Saturday and Sunday’s open air bayside concert in Pasay in which at least five people died out of more than 10,000 concert rockers.
Mayor Digong is mad. Mad that this thing has happened at precisely the time when he is about to take over the reins of government. It is as if some people and some very large companies didn’t get his message that the incoming president is serious about drugs—that anyone connected with or peddling drugs will be killed, on the spot if need be, or hanged twice in public, “until the head separates completely from the body.”
And here comes Unilever and its Closeup toothpaste sponsoring or managing a concert for the young and drugs, the illicit and the dangerous variety, are peddled in great abundance and passed around in incredible effrontery, in the presence of people in authority.
I cannot understand the relationship between a toothpaste and illegal drugs except that both are used with the help of the mouth, preferably in closed quarters.
“I was forced to call this press conference,” Duterte told a hastily convened meeting with newsmen past midnight of May 25, “because nobody is talking about this incident.” He said he wanted to voice strongly the anger of parents—“how or why could this happen?” “There were so many government men in the area, from PDEA [the drug enforcement agency],” the mayor related. He wanted to know what the government people were doing.
Indeed, five days after the incident, the police went about with a perfunctory investigation, lackadaisically. So far the police has not come up with a credible, if not exhaustive, narrative about the incident, how it happened, why it happened, how drugs penetrated the crowd, why drugs were passed around freely, who the people behind it are, and who the suspects are. Do they have any persons of interest in custody or under investigation? Is Unilever culpable? Are there top businessmen culpable?
“How come so many people died? Where were the police? Where was PDEA? Where is NBI?” a sleepless Duterte asked in his presscon. “It’s a
failure of intelligence,” he fumed. “The law enforcement has failed,” he added. One or two deaths is a concern you could attribute to bad luck, he said. But five? It’s criminal, if you ask me.
Parents and authorities like Digong want answers, stressing “I am talking now as a mayor outside Davao City and just a civilian.” “Just a civilian” carries a lot of import or nuance. It could mean Duterte could behave badly towards the culprits and the police.
If the police and other law enforcement authorities do not know it yet, Duterte is hands-on when it comes to drugs. Drugs is the other side of his two-pronged platform of government which is anchored on reducing, if not eradicating, crime and corruption —in three to six months.
So when you have incidents like the Closeup Concert, the authorities and the business community better come up with good answers. Otherwise, you may not have time to brush your teeth before you could meet your maker or meet the piranha-type fishes of Manila Bay where Digong had previously promised to dump dead bodies.
Here is the verbatim warning of the mayor in his presscon:
“ I am at a loss kung bakit sa ganung karami pinagpapasahan, it was reported that there was one corner the drugs are being distributed parang they sold and it escaped the attention of the law enforcements authority. It is unacceptable!”
Because of the incident, Duterte now plans to reshuffle the entire Philippine National Police, from top to bottom. From the generals to the janitor. Those who area in Manila might be assigned to Jolo. “There will be a massive reshuffle,” Duterte vows. “I am not threatening you,” he told the police. “Because I will do it.”
Also to be reshuffled are the guards of the National Penitentiary which drug lords have converted into drug laboratories. These drug lords are also using the guards as their made-to-order private army, funded by the national government.
In the meantime, the criminal elements are encouraged to do their thing until Duterte takes over on June 30. He said:
“Whoever is listening now, as a citizen of this country and mayor of the local unit, magkasala na kayo na magkasala [putang-ina ninyo]. Bakit wala kayo dun? Baka binayaran kayo or baka kayo talaga ang nagbebenta. Pagka ginawa mo yan you might make the sign of the cross I will finish you, believe me. Wala akong interest na tatagal ako as president.”
“I said I have committed to do these to the Filipino people I will stake my honor, my life and the presidency itself. I don’t care if I lose it tomorrow. I can go tomorrow.”
“Kapag nahuli ninyo ang nagpasa duon [Close Up Event] my order is give everybody heartache. Naintindihan ninyo yan? Kapag hindi ninyo naintindihan, tarantado, may pagkabobo pala ninyo and you’re a shit. Failure of Intelligence. Dapat nung umpisa pa lang anduon na kayo, nakaamoy na kayo. Tangina karami ninyo dyan sa Maynila. Bakit kami magbayad ng sweldo ninyo kung ganun.”