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By Bencyrus Ellorin

THE “war on drugs” has taken at least 12 lives in Cagayan de Oro.

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It is a good thing that Councilor Romeo Calizo is keen on looking at this sad development before things can get out of hand. Councilor Calizo, a retired general and Mayor Oscar Moreno’s pointman on peace and security matters, knows what he is talking about.

The city police director Senior Supt. Nelson Aganon should have an acceptable explanation. In a recent meeting of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, Aganon said the drug operations that resulted in deaths had at least two common characteristics: the fallen suspect had a (1) warrant of arrest either for drugs and/or other crimes; (2) were mobile peddlers of illegal drugs.

The police chief said drug peddlers have resorted to mobile operations as drug dens have been dismantled.

One point of concern though is the pattern which seems to follow the nationwide trend: the suspects had P500, sachets of white crystalline substance believed to be shabu, caliber .38 pistols which were used to fire shots at law enforcers. Lately, they have been armed with grenades. Fortunately, none has been exploded.

I listened a few days ago to Bombo Michael’s noontime radio program. He did make some valid observations.

  • In the PDEA operations, the volume of drugs confiscated is much more and the suspects, most of the time, are caught alive like that LTO-10 officer.
  • Armed with small handgun, dead; with grenade, alive.

The second, of course, makes fun of the LBC-Divisoria heist where policemen failed to stop robbers who purportedly threw a grenade with its pin on.

Two Fridays ago, three PDEA agents had an altercation with taxi drivers in front of a subdivision in Barangay Pagatpat. The PDEA agents were drunk and outnumbered by taxi drivers. This prompted them to use their high-powered automatic rifles. The timely inervention of the police and coolerheads prevented a bloodbath.

It’s a good thing that the PDEA brass is letting the axe fall where it should. Their abusive agents deserve the full force of the law. The incident may also highlight the need to review PDEA’s rules in issuing mission orders for high-powered rifles like the ones brazenly displaced by their agents. I saw what looked like an M4 and a Tavor. These were mean killing machines brazenly carried by drunken agents in their basketball jerseys in a populated area.

This disgrace should not be allowed to happen again.

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