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BY OSCAR CRUZ
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‘Shabu Sayyaf’
RECENTLY, there came to fore a novel and curious phrase in conjunction with the deadly and lamentable “lawless violence” that took place in Davao City and caught the interest of a good number of countries – “Shabu Sayaff.”
The rather new phrase is meant to forward the possible combination of two shady realities.
The bombing that mercilessly killed or at least cruelly disabled a good number of people in Davao City was a collaboration of two fearsome forces. One is the force of quasi-limitless amount of money from the illegal drug industry and the other is the force of mortal explosives in the hands and command of a well-known deadly group of individuals in Mindanao. Translation: The former finance the other to come up with the “big bang.”
Put the two realities together and there came about the infamous episode – with three rather serious and disturbing messages:
* one, the Head of State was in effect told to have his hands off the nationwide mortal drug business in the Philippines
* two, the same Head of Government was actually warned of going against the well-known fierce and well-armed force in that part of the country
* three, foreign governments were warned not to encourage their citizens to go and visit this land of supposed heavenly sites and wonders, of great fun and laughter.
What will happen next? Nobody really knows. But the following are rather clear and in fact now being acted upon by the government forces concerned:
* quasi everybody should be considered a suspect who can cause serious trouble in any place or in any region
* checkpoints of one kind or another are thus found operative all over the land
* vigilance is continuous and intense – communities, airports and harbors in particular.
These are becoming tiresome if not disquieting.
But then, there is the formal and expressed constitutional provision that clearly stipulates: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, house, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be involved…” (1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Phil., Bill of Rights, Sec. 2)
So it is that among the reasonable questions raised in conjunctions with the needed vigilance vis-à-vis the now existing danger of the alleged “Shabu Sayaff” combination are the following:
* What happens next? How many more lives will be lost? How many more individuals will be disabled? How much more properties are waiting to be wasted?
* Can the illegal drug trade be really stopped? Can the illegal drug manufacturers and distributors be actually placed behind bars – if not in fact done away with – without remorse, without regret?
It is understandable that there are no definite and defined answers to such questions. But legitimate questions they remain and pursuant resolve should be made, particularly by those in tenure of public office for public service./PN
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