Even after his resignation as Capitol security chief, Loy Anthony Madrigal has left his boss Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III hanging.
True, he turned over his service vehicles and he was cleared of administrative liability after he and his secretary resigned, preempting a messy investigation into alleged immoral conduct.
But what about the service firearms he’s holding on to?
The inventory records two shotguns, five .38 revolvers and two 9mm MP9-A5 submachine guns for use of the Civil Security Unit personnel and the anti-illegal fishing task force that he worked with.
Madrigal insisted on keeping some or all of the firearms, saying his life is under threat by illegal fishing operators and other enemies he made with the province’s intensified campaign. But even he knows that his request isn’t supported by legal basis.
The hyper-alertness for security may stem from his past stint as a New Orleans policeman and private body guard. Madrigal knows how tough it is to survive without armed protection against criminals. Still, the service firearms are province-owned.
Does Madrigal need reminding about the Mitsubishi Strada service vehicle he used to drive? The one he allowed a non-Capitol worker to drive at high speed two weeks ago in Bogo City, with him in the vehicle, ending up in a collision with a motorycle, whose driver, a golf course worker died and whose wife was badly injured?
Madrigal said they were speeding to San Remigio police precinct at the time time after noticing that he was being tailed by unidentified men on a motorbike. What’s to keep Madrigal from using or misusing the service firearms against anyone that he perceives to be a threat to his safety?
Lest he forget, his secretary’s husband was also angry at him for luring his wife to leave the family home and straining their marriage.
As a private citizen now, Madrigal can resort to the reliefs of a civilian.If he feels under threat, he can go to the police or engage his own security men. Surely his ally Bogo Mayor Junie Martinez would not leave him twisting in the wind.
It’s a fall from grace indeed for the two-year Capitol official, who was given free ranging powers to conduct checkpoints, stop truck deliveries of sand and gravel or suspicious loads of fish on the road, and chase fishing crews at sea.
But even while he was an ID-carrying government worker, Madrigal was duty bound to comply with the law even as he took liberties in carrying out warrantless seizures.
As a former enforcer, he knows that this obligation to follow the law exempts no one.
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