WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THESE TOP COPS?

On Target

THE nerve of Dir. Vidal Querol, chief of the National Capital Region
Police Office (NCRPO), when he said he was having the Pasig City
police chief investigated for failing to stop the operation of the
"shabu flea market" right in the heart of the city!

If there is anybody to be investigated, it should be Querol because
he's the Big Boss of the police in Metro Manila.

By putting the blame on his subordinate, Senior Supt. Raul Medina,
Pasig police chief, Querol was trying escape responsibility. If Querol
has any delicadeza at all, he should ask to be relieved on the
principle of command responsibility.

If a regional commander could be sacked for not being able to stop
"jueteng" in his region, much more so a regional commander under whose
very nose dangerous drugs were being sold.

Querol cannot escape responsibility for the open, large-scale selling
of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) at the Mapayapa Compound in
Pasig City.

The raid was a slap on Querol because it was conducted by another
group, the anti-illegal drugs task force under Dir. Marcelo Ele Jr.

I'm reminded about the Japanese police many years ago. A policeman in
a town far from Tokyo raped a housewife while he was pounding his beat.

As a consequence, the offending cop's immediate supervisor and the
town's police chief committed hara kiri (suicide). The mayor of the
town resigned.

I'm not saying Querol should commit suicide in shame. The least he can
do is ask to be relieved for incompetence.

Querol's anti-drugs task force chief, Supt. Jerry Valeroso, is
allegedly his fair-haired boy. Valeroso raided drug dens in Cavite,
way out of his jurisdiction, but why wasn't he able to touch the 60
drug dens inside the Mapayapa Compound in Pasig?

Of course, the persons to be blamed for the existence of the shabu
flea market are Medina, Pasig police chief, and Chief Supt. Oscar
Valenzuela, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD).

The EPD headquarters is only a few meters away from the flea market
for drugs. In this country, only the small fry get to be punished for
wrongdoing. The big fish get only a slap on the wrist.

Director General Art Lomibao, PNP chief, told me that he would order
Medina's relief if the raid yielded positive results. He told me this
as we were planning the raid together with my brother Erwin and Dir.
Marcelo Ele. Lomibao repeated this to me at the shabu flea market
after it was raided by 100 fully armed police commandos and members of
Ele's national anti-drugs task force. Lomibao scolded Medina at the
scene.

But so far, only the police community precinct chief, a mere inspector
(police lieutenant), was sacked along with his men.