He may be accused of grandstanding, but Clarence Paul Oaminal’s threat to place tarpaulins that would declare a barangay official’s support of drug lords in Cebu City takes on some meaning in light of last Friday’s deaths of two policemen in a botched drug raid in Moalboal town, southwest Cebu.
PO3 Fabio Fernandez and PO1 Alrasid Jimlani were gunned down while they were acting as lookouts in a secluded area where police raiders had visited a shack used as a suspected drug den.
Motorcycle-riding riding assailants caught all of them off guard. Four suspects sitting outside handcuffed were rescued.
Fernandez was supposed to retire next year while the subject of the search warrant and drug raid, Michael Aquino, didn’t show up.
Some people like Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron may disregard the shooting as just one of those crimes but try telling that to the widows of the slain police officers.
At a time when policemen in Cebu City are being pressured to go after robbers who victimize 24/7 convenience stores, local officials appear to be slacking off on the anti-drug campaign.
Oaminal’s threat doesn’t carry much weight even if he chairs the Cebu City Anti-Drug Council because he issued it in response to the lukewarm participation of barangay officials in the March for a Drug Free Cebu last Nov. 15.
Councilor Philip Zafra, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Cebu City, thought the tactic was too extreme and said the lack of participation doesn’t indicate that barangay officials are remiss in their role to combat the drug menace.
Still, it should serve as a wake-up call to barangay officials who underestimate the extent of drug deals in their areas or have turned a blind eye in exchange for some monetary favors.
Drug trafficking isn’t a mom and pop trade in Cebu, which has long been identified as a transhipment point for narcotics.
Drug syndicates operate in our province, their handiwork seen in off-and-on raids and reports of foreigners arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) bringing in cocaine.
The fight against drugs starts with the young and the community so we have to ask if the anti-drug councils of every barangay are really active, or just compliance on paper.
We also ask the Department of Education (DepEd) if they conduct classes to raise awareness of the pitfalls of drug use.
It’s true that one can’t define a barangay’s campaign against illegal drugs through the conduct of parades.
The drug menace isn’t an urban headache. It has reached far-flung towns of Cebu, as Moalboal’s shooting and botched raid clearly show.