Tabaco City residents fear drug user and robber, 13, will be subject to EJK

By Manly Ugalde – AUGUST 2, 2017
TABACO CITY—Mico Jimenez (not his real name), 13, is waiting to be placed under drug rehabilitation by the Philippine National Police in this city.

Pending rehabilitation, however, the unlettered Mico continues with his trade as a robber and a drug user. The police could not detain him long because he is a minor who must be referred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, where he would be eventually returned to his parents’ custody.

Mico, a resident of Barangay Baranghawon, is now listed as among the Tabaco police’s list of notorious young criminals involved in a trade known as the Akyat Bahay Gang operating throughout the city. Mico is only after cash, the police said.

Baranghawon top councilman Roy Barra confirmed Mico is a Baranghawon resident. He advises residents to be wary of Mico, as his age still prevents them for jailing him for long periods of time.

A retired teacher complained to police last Sunday that an unidentified suspect allegedly attempted to rob her sari-sari store in Baranghawon, but failed to destroy the two padlocks. Mico was the usual suspect.

Police records showed Mico is residing in a tent along the river of Baranghawon with his mother and 13 siblings. Mico’s father works as a peasant at San Miguel island, a 45-minute ride from Tabaco via motorized banca. He goes home on weekends to bring his “harvest” for the family needs.

Tabaco Deputy Police Chief Insp. Jon R. Retumban said he had been meeting often with Mico for counseling in a bid to reform him, admitting Mico has already a record number of detentions at the police for robbery.

Retumban added Mico had been involved in the Akyat Bahay trade as early as when he was 7, adding the boy has not even finished Grade 1. He said his mother often enrolled Mico in Grade 1, with Mico dropping a few months after due to misdemeanors.

Retumban added Mico had been diagnosed with a minor mental problem for which a doctor-psychologist prescribed him medicine. His parents are too poor to buy the medicine.

Retumban admitted a drug test conducted on Mico found him positive for drugs. Being small in size, the slippery Mico easily penetrates the his target premises. He said the last time Mico was arrested and jailed, he could hardly walk after he; jumped from the second floor of his victim’s house.

The police said Mico only takes cash. Among his victims was the former Vice Mayor Rey Bragais.

Retumban said, however, that Mico now takes other valuables like laptops and cellular phones should he fail to get cash.

Many residents of Barangay Baranghawon are already wondering why Mico is still alive with the proliferation of extrajudicial killings (EJK) involving drugs and other criminal
activities.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/tabaco-city-residents-fear-drug-user-and-robber-13-will-be-subject-to-ejk/

Albay seniors cheer enforcement of antismoking law, laud Salceda

By Manly Ugalde – JULY 29, 2017
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—Former Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda has been vindicated by President Duterte’s antismoking Executive Order 26, senior citizens in Albay said.

Enforcement of a nationwide antismoking law started last Sunday, July 23, with Albayanos recalling an event in 2012 when Salceda spearheaded what he touted was the world’s “biggest antismoking human logo” project. Budgeted with millions of pesos, the project was held at the Bicol University here with 12,000 participants joining the whole-day celebration by forming an antismoking human logo.

Albay senior citizens hailed the former Albay governor in his effort to educate the public on the adverse effect of smoking to health. His effort was even submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for recognition as the world’s biggest antismoking human logo.

President Duterte’s antismoking executive order clearly vindicated Salcedo’s campaign against smoking, said retired banker Marcial Tuanqui, 71, former president of the Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Other senior citizens who gather regularly in a food house at the Pacific Mall here joined Tuanqui’s hailing of the former governor’s project, saying smoking is “an antilife activity that every human being should discard”.

Salceda’s critics said the millions of pesos spent for the human-logo project was a clear wastage of public funds designed to merely propagate Salceda’s personal political ambition. They claimed the best action against smoking was for local officials to enforce the ordinance against smoking.

A heavy smoker himself consuming three packs of cigarettes daily, Salceda signed his anti-smoking provincial ordinance in 2011 to enforce the virtually ignored existing municipal and city ordinances against smoking. Salceda was governor from 2007 to 2016. He is now the congressman of Albay’s second district.

Despite the provincial ordinance against smoking, Salceda found his campaign ignored by local executives lacking the political will to enforce the ordinances.

Making himself the best example, Salceda quit smoking two weeks before signing his anti-smoking provincial ordinance. Three months after quitting, Salceda called on his former classmate that then-President Benigno S. Aquino III to quit smoking, saying Salceda’s health had improved after successfully quitting.

The former president was a known heavy smoker, seen even during his provincial sorties of failing miserably to control his addiction to smoking.

A few weeks after signing his antismoking ordinance, Salceda, together with a few of his selected staff, went to dine early in the evening at the Hotel Casa Blanca here. Still fighting his smoking addiction, the former governor grabbed the clutch bag of his escort, took a cigar and lit it, thinking he could freely smoke in the restaurant. To his surprise, a waitress accosted him, telling him, “Sir, smoking is prohibited here,” pointing to a sign indicating the restaurant was a no-smoking area. Apparently, the waitress never knew she had accosted the governor, then-Provincial Board Member Herbert Borja said.

In 2013 an antismoking advocate from Manila held a forum with local executives, the media and local antismoking personalities at the Albay capitol. During the forum, one participant cited the complaint of a retiring teacher in Tabaco City who said that while securing a police clearance at the Tabaco Police Office, a police desk officer on duty was freely blowing his cigar before customers.

Tabaco City Mayor Krisel Lagman Luistro said by signing the smoking-ban EO, a great improvement in the campaign against smoking in public places has been noted, adding the city is doing its best for a change.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/albay-seniors-cheer-enforcement-of-antismoking-law-laud-salceda/