By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE Silay Component City Police Station (SCCPS) in Negros Occidental was rocked by a “video scandal” that spread like a wild fire on Facebook (FB).
Billed as “hublas nga kamatuoran” (HnK), the video showed the naked Jezrel Diaz, 24, of Barangay Lantad, Silay City.
Jezrel was a drug suspect nabbed in a buy-bust operation by SPCCPS’ Anti-Drug Unit in Sitio Patuloy, Barangay Mambulac on Oct. 31.
Prior to the frisking moment, he stripped. Somebody from the crowd took the video and eventually uploaded it on FB.
For more than a week, the video went viral. It elicited nasty comments from netizens against SCCPS operatives. Thus, it prompted the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCCPO) to refer this case to its legal department and Police Regional Anti-Crime Unit (RACU) for proper disposition against the uploader.
But the video, as of this writing, has been deleted already.
NOCCPO’s spokesman Lieutenant Judesses Catalogo said the video ploader could be held liable. For what exactly?
What’s really the truth behind this video hullabaloo?
I took time sitting down with SCCPS chief, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Anthony Darroca, to know the “puno’t dulo” of the matter. In a no-holds-barred “tell-tale”, Silay’s top cop bared everything.
And here are the following HnKs.
HnK NO. 1
Jezrel, Colonel Darroca said, is one of their high value targets (HVTs).
Prior to the buy bust, Jezrel was placed under surveillance for a month.
He was poised to be nabbed twice. But only on the third try he ended-up unlucky.
Jezrel was cornered after a police poseur-buyer positively bought from him one sachet of suspected shabu worth P600.
Then, a coin purse containing more sachets of shabu fell on the ground after he went berserk.
Total recovery was pegged at P130,000.
Colonel Darroca explained: “The crime (selling of shabu) has already been consummated with evidence secured even before Jezrel went hysterical and stripped himself.”
“No truth to the allegation that we planted evidence. ‘Twas just his style (to go livid) to catch people’s attention and gain public empathy,” Colonel Darroca said, but adding, “Abi n’ya maisahan n’ya kami.”
On Nov. 2, Jezrel was charged in court with violation of Sections 5 and 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2022.
HnK NO. 2
The video uploaded on FB was just a clip of the entire proceeding, Colonel Darroca warned.
In fact, he said, “Our operatives were mobbed by the crowd. Good thing they remained patient.”
Per personal assessment, Colonel Darroca said: “Mambulac seems to be the ‘Shabu Capital’ of northern Negros.”
“I think since the birth of shabu in the Philippines, Mambulac, perhaps, was among the first trading centers. The place, a squatter area, is conducive to shabu business. Almost 99% of people there are almost into it. And only 1% report to the police.”
Colonel Darroca, a true-blooded Silaynon and bemedalled anti-drug czar in Western Visayas, stressed he’s determined to make a “breakthrough” in Mambulac.
HnK NO. 3
Those who cast foul comments against the police via FB aren’t off the hook yet. RACU is now studying various legal options.
As a matter of fact, during a buy-bust operation, it’s SOP (standard operating procedure) that anyone (not the subject) is advised to stay away from the perimeter.
Too, anybody must avoid arguing with the operating authority, must stay calm, not get involved with the raid, and must refrain from taking videos and readily upload on social media without verification of the actual event.
Hampering an ongoing police operation is a criminal offense under Presidential Decree 1829 – obstruction of justice. Such constitutes the penalty like a fine of P6,000 and imprisonment of six years (as maximum).
HnK NO. 4
Talking of shabu, NegOcc and Bacolod remain “problematic”.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 director Alex Tablate made this latest pronouncement.
And Silay ain’t exempted.
Almost every day, Colonel Darroca confided, they have raid(s), especially in Mambulac.
In August, SCCPS made a big haul: P7-M worth of shabu.
Though the Divinagracia drug ring in Silay was neutralized, lots of its remnants became active anew.
The War on Drugs (WoD) in the Philippines became “infamous” during the incumbency of then president Rodrigo Duterte. Such was popularized by “tokhang” and highlighted by extrajudicial killings (EJKs) of suspected drug personalities.
That time, “drug syndicates” laied low.
But after Duterte’s exit, it is as if “shabu fiesta” is back.
HnK NO. 5
Ateneo de Manila University’s Institution Repository, in its Qualitative Research in the Early 2000 published last year, showed that around nine million Filipinos are into illegal drugs, and 94% of them are shabu users.
Too, police’s statistics revealed: 65% to 75% of heinous crimes in the country are drug-related.
“Nauseating” to note. Many become millionaires or billionaires because of shabu.
Imagine how many younger lives/future are ruined because of this illegal substance.
Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle’ wrote in his famous book The Power of Now: “Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain.”/PN
