JUST ANOTHER DAY

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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Is Guimaras a transit point for illegal drugs?

COME to think of it, that controversial statement of former World Mayor No. 5 last Sept. 5 during the Iloilo City Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC) reorientation has a ring of truth in it.
In that statement, Mabilog was insinuating that Guimarasnons were transporting illegal drugs, the reason why they were avoiding the Guimaras-Iloilo Ferry Terminal that has x-ray machines capable of seeing through their baggage.
That statement can either be said out of sheer desperation as Mabilog is up to his neck in drug-related issues that he just wanted to take some of the heat off. Or maybe he knows something that we don’t. Either way it is not farfetched that the illegal drugs flooding “I Am Iloilo” making it the “most shabu-lized” city might indeed come by way of Guimaras.
Let’s look at the facts; Iloilo City so far does not have a “shabu laboratory” yet illegal drugs are awash in the city. While it is also true that there are no “shabu laboratories” nor drug lords or big-time pushers in Guimaras, it may just serve as a transit point for illegal drugs bound for the more lucrative markets of Iloilo.
It does not take a “rocket scientist” to figure it out; Guimaras is an island with a lot of hidden coves and secluded beaches, the perfect place to unload contraband from a boat. Consider this: the late Melvin Odicta, a convicted pusher and identified by the PDEA or Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as a “drug lord”, owned a big boat or a yacht as most people prefer to call it.
Surely, that yacht had other uses other than taking “friends in high places” for a cruise and jet skiing around Guimaras Strait. But I could be wrong; “Brother Melvin” might be a closet “Captain Ahab.”
The entire coastline of Guimaras is not patrolled or guarded by the Coast Guard or police; they’re only concerned with the ports. It would not be farfetched for a boat to land in the wee hours of the morning in some secluded beach or cove to unload or load contraband. Likewise, the entire coastline of Iloilo is also not secure, so what’s stopping any resourceful “drug lord” from unloading his contraband in the dead of the night in some secluded beach in the coast of Iloilo?
I find it funny for the local government officials of Guimaras, particularly the vice governor and the Provincial Board, to be defensive and quite touchy about the statement of former World Mayor No. 5 Jed Mabilog. Why argue with Mabilog on the semantics of his statement? If they’re sensible, they should take it as a warning or information that they’re missing something.
Firstly, no self-respecting “drug lord’ would use the regular channels to transport his contraband. You really have to be stupid to transport contraband using the regular ports. Guimaras is the perfect place to use as a transit point for any contraband intended for the city of Iloilo, the proximity and the many avenues to use where you can be undetected.
Instead of acting like a woman scorned, the local government officials of Guimaras should look into this and think out of the box. For all they know, right under their very noses some resourceful smuggler or “drug lord’ is using Guimaras as a transit point for contraband for Iloilo or to any point in Panay.
The funny thing here is that the local government of Guimaras is more concerned with form rather than substance. The issue here is illegal drugs that might be smuggled by way of Guimaras and they’re not concerned about it but about the negative image it will bring to their tourism.
Is it incompetence or sheer stupidity? Any sensible person, when told that his house smells of shit, will check first if indeed there is shit in his house before he complains to the person who told him his house smells like shit./PN

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