RAMIREZ
If the gauge to quantify the performance of barangay officials in the campaign against illegal drugs is the continued presence of drug lords, drug peddlers and drug users, Barangay Ermita officials should not only be preventively suspended but should be investigated and meted with the corresponding punishment.
Even if I wanted to see nonfunctioning officials punished immediately, the latest move by the Ombudsman in preventively suspending Barangay Chairman Felicisimo Rupinta and all of his seven barangay councilors for their alleged noncooperation to stand as witnesses in a drug raid conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is highly questionable.
In my layman’s understanding, investigating agencies like the Ombudsman will issue preventive suspension on the ground that the officials subjected to the investigation could influence the process and hide material evidence relevant to the conduct of the investigation.
This could have been the reason why the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) could not yet implement the Ombudsman’s order for lack of basis because they don’t see the danger of the investigation process being influenced.
What needs to be proven is only the noncooperation of the barangay officials in a specific raid conducted by PDEA. We’re not even talking about the overall performance of the barangay officials in the fight against illegal drug use and trade in Barangay Ermita.
How can the barangay officials be able to influence the investigation or hide material evidence and witnesses when what is needed in the investigation to prove the guilt of the officials are testimonials if indeed they refused to cooperate when they were invited to stand as witness in the raid?
There is a disconnect between the preventive suspension handed to the barangay officials and the nature and severity of the complaint hurled against them because it is apparent that there is nothing to influence and hide in order to arrive at the right conclusion.
I could not help but ask, is this a shortcut? Hopefully not, because such is not justified even if the government has waged a serious fight against illegal drug use because we could not fight crime with another violation of the rule of law.
I am saddened by the current public perception of Barangay Ermita because the very word used to name the barangay has a deep religious connotation.
Based on the readings of Mr. Jose “Jun” Velez, a fellow faculty member of University of San Jose-Recoletos, Ermita comes from the word “hermits,” which had long been used to refer to the district.
The hermits were the first group of contemplative religious who later on became the Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) who built a Catholic school in the very site where the hermitage used to stand. The area used to be an oasis of weary souls who needed a fresh start.
A fierce fight against drug abuse is in order because that is what the place needs, a splash of new insight to bring back the picture of a bustling district in the old Cebu where the movement of people is accented by the religious activity of the hermits and religious that abound in the area.
The immediacy to stop drug abuse is pressing, but resorting to shortcuts to attain this goal is never justified.