Death by ‘elected position’ (Latest Sabong News)

Forgive the editorial abuse but today’s title is a play of words on the extremely violent murder of Governor Degamo of Negros Oriental along with eight other innocent individuals who were seen as targets or deemed as threats by hired assassins. Given the random shooting of anyone who was in the way, I suspect that the shooters were not professionals and probably on drugs. The title death by “elected position” is simply stating the obvious, that in today’s political reality, being elected into public office at the local level includes the possibility of murder or assassination. There was a time when politicians or candidates were killed for only three reasons: ego, honor or to eliminate the competition. The massacres and killings that have happened from Luzon to Mindanao in the last 50 years have often been about the over inflated ego of political leaders, clan members and supporters. Some have been personal issues or family feuds from Ilocos to Maguindanao. Some of the colorful but bloody political wars in the 70’s and 80’s were allegedly about a woman whose honor was stained decades before, or a man dishonored by an illicit affair involving his wife, mistress or girlfriend. As far as eliminating the competition by murder, more often than not a politician or aspirant would first be offered a bribe or paid to quit; when that fails, veiled threats and intermediaries are asked to stop the aspirant and when all else fails, someone puts out a contract or a hit on the aspirant. Back in the day, the hits would be masked and blamed on insurgents or set up to look like a mis-encounter and not a contract killing. But times have changed and, as the late senator and beloved “Tita Miriam” Defensor Santiago pointed out, a “culture of impunity” has reigned upon the Philippines. But wait, there is more to politics as we once knew it. Philippine politics has added on the acronym “Inc.” Yes, “Philippine Politics Inc.” is a mega business worth hundreds of billions of pesos involving legal and illegal businesses. The marketplace of Philippine Politics Inc. features elected and appointed officials, lawmakers, law enforcers and law breakers sometimes performing both roles. The forms of businesses and transactions are so many and varied that it would eat up the space for a week’s worth of commentary. In any case, law enforcement agencies have listed the recent series of events where several elected local government officials and staff members have been assassinated, wounded or injured as “politically motivated.” This is often the default mode of the police and the military when an ambush or massacre involving political personalities takes place. It’s quite convenient because it lays to rest fears that there might be a “peace and order” issue or breakdown in law and order. By writing off violence and assassinations as a political reality, we are misled and distracted away from issues such as the serious drug trade, illegal gambling, extortion and protection rackets and money laundering activities that have been an on-going fact in the world of Philippine Politics Inc. I have heard and been told on several occasions about the active drug trade that have gone on unchallenged in LGUs nationwide before the election of Rodrigo Duterte. Local officials were either bought, bribed or threatened to look away while the police were either part of it or afraid of “it.” With PRRD no longer in office, my police sources tell me that the drug lords and their political allies are once again trying to re-establish control and dominance in their previously foreclosed “markets.” The area of Governor Degamo along with Iloilo were two areas recently mentioned where the problem was on the rise. For nearly a decade, there was a serious “fight” between several gambling lords and jueteng lords concerning the illegal numbers game and attempts to replace it with the STL or Small Town Lottery. In the end, the version adopted by the national government turned out to be the one designed by a prominent jueteng lord. To this day many jueteng operators shamelessly talk about who among the mayors, local officials, police benefit from illegal gambling. Even the big-time gambling lords have alluded to the fact that ALL politicians come to gambling lords with begging bowls before every election. I was recently shown by a sabong colleague a website for online sabong that actually took bets, etc. Another source told me of how a gambling lord continues to operate a similar system and is in cahoots with several mayors to control or monopolize the jueteng and sabong operations in their region. I belatedly discovered through an aide of a current Cabinet member that some officials in the previous administration were invested or imbedded in government purely for the protection of online sabong. There were several members of Congress, a couple of police generals, an undersecretary of DILG and several other agencies. Now some of those crooks are busy putting up their gamefowl farms and busy buying roosters all over the country and in the US. Yes, Philippine Politics Inc. is a basket full of rotten crooks but there are some good and clean individuals who eventually get eliminated by politics or death for being in the way. Some police officials I know had opted for early retirement in the past rather than get sucked in or implicated in illegal activities undertaken by higher-ups. Someone I know was reportedly killed for refusing to make his container yard and import operations available to the illegal drug trade. You could be a clean LGU official who simply won by popular vote and got in the way of a mobster or a corrupt official who had plans on setting up business in your backyard. For that you could be sentenced to death by “elected position.” * * * E-mail: