Posts
Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig
For more than a decade, print media has done great disservice by bombarding the youth with iniquitous mantras that may have contributed to the new drug culture. Let me tell you straight up, words written in print are potent. And words like, “partying guiltless... Smart Addict (endorsed by Tim Yap, Borgy Manotoc etc) ... party animal... party till you drop... prince of partydom.... and pop those pills” will sooner or later take their toll on today's young people. Just last month the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s lifestyle section displayed high-profile paparazzi shots of the “Alabang Boys” partying in Club Warehouse. Examples like these via PRINT MEDIA has greatly shaped the “drug culture” of the youth.
A 2004 Dangerous Drugs Board survey found 6.7 million drug users in the country.
A few months ago anti-narcotics agents and their K-9 units checked every corner of the Embassy bar. Drug-sniffing dogs were also placed at the club entrance. A special agent, who I knew, also showed me new types of ecstasy available in the market. The “PDEA” according to him, is “dead serious” about the rising drug problem in BARS. The Embassy gained “notoriety” after a series of squabbles and scandals involving socialites and well-known personalities took place within the bar's premises. Print and television have also been monitoring the bars activities. Ever since the "Gucci Gang" fiasco exploded, "people have become more aware" according to one of the club's regulars.
Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson are the highest profile drug suspects to be arrested by the PDEA after a season in which a number of drug lords, got away thanks to some influential politicians. The drug entrapment took place inside snooty Ayala Alabang Village. A PDEA agent was attempting to buy drugs from Joseph who was allegedly assisted by Brodett- but sensing the setup tried to speed away. PDEA agents gave chase, firing about seven shots but miraculously Brodett ducked the bullets.
Tony Lopez of the Manila Times says “The boys are said to be scions of influential, if not hugely wealthy parents, relatives and backers. A parent of one of the Alabang suspects is supposed to be behind a lucrative government contract having to do with running (not of humans).” Drug Czar Gen. Dionisio Santiago says, “These boys have been described as salot [curse] by families of their victims.” Santiago also hints at possible links of the boys to international drug syndicates. The father of one of the boys, Johnny Joseph, Johnny Midnight, has gone on a media offensive. His son, he admits, “is a social user but not an addict. It’s no big deal.” To which General Santiago counters: “If I kill someone, can I say that I am just a social murderer?”
Dionisio Santiago has a 37-year military career and is a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and director of the National Penitentiary. Santiago is known to be stubborn, which is often how he gets things done. When Gloria Arroyo named him PDEA chief in April 2006, her instructions to Santiago were: “Get back to work.”
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