“I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power.” –Patricia Cornwell

I salute Police Regional Office-6 (PRO-6) director, Police Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, for lending support to Police Officer 3 Federico Macaya, Jr. of the Guimbal Police Station in Iloilo. I also applaud Philippine National Police (PNP) Director-General Oscar Albayalde for ordering the PRO-6 chief to recall police escorts for Iloilo first district Rep. Oscar ‘Richard’ Garin, Jr. and to file criminal charges against the congressman and his father, Guimbal Mayor Oscar ‘Oca’ Garin, Sr.

The decision came after the legislator reportedly mauled Macaya last Wednesday as a cuff was placed on the cop’s hands with the mayor allegedly holding a .45 caliber firearm. According to Bulalacao, the PNP was “insulted” that one of their personnel was attacked by a politician while in uniform. The alleged assailants were reportedly upset at the police officer for not filing charges against an individual involved in a local rumble that occurred last weekend.

Virgil Gegato, the son of a town councilor, allegedly struck Noel Gicana with a bottle. However, Macaya insisted he “did not interfere” as Gegato and Gicana purportedly “agreed” to settle the feud; the former is even said to have paid the latter P1,500 for hospital bills.

Repeat offender

This is not the first time the congressman has mauled a police officer. Several years ago, as Guimbal mayor, he kicked and manhandled a cop who failed to immediately respond to a police dispatch. At the time, his father, who was then-congressman, disagreed with his son’s methods.

Since the Garins are so powerful and influential, the case has been forgotten and the victim never pressed charges.

Between father and son, it’s the elder who is known for easily losing his cool and barking at people he didn’t like.

It’s also no joke to tangle with either one physically, especially when armed and surrounded by bodyguards.

They are also both tall and “heavyweights.” The two can easily turn any tough guy into a marshmallow.

A friend

As the editor of a daily newspaper in the 1990s, I always criticized the Garins and I never lowered by guard when I was in front of them for events or press conferences. I also wrote favorable pieces on them but most of the articles were something narcissistic politicians (like the family patriarch) would never retain in their memory.

The congressman is a friend. He regularly tags me on interested topics on social media and I find him to be a soft-spoken person who loves conversing with ordinary people. I greeted him back in 2010 in the lobby of the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, where he was waiting to receive a pass for the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey bout that was taking place the next day at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

My friend, Dr. Allan Recto, a Texas-based pediatrician, also speaks highly of the legislator.

When President Joseph Estrada visited Bacolod City in 1999, Garin Jr., then-Guimbal mayor, invited me to stay with him overnight. His wife, former Department of Health Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin, used to address me as “my good friend.”

I have no bad blood with the Garins – to this day, I support the congressman’s quest to help clear his wife’s name in the Dengvaxia imbroglio; but what he did to Macaya really disturbed me as a journalist.

I don’t know Macaya from Adam but I feel a moral obligation, as a journalist, to uncover the truth and remind public officials, like the Garins, that power is not a privilege. No matter one’s position in society, they are not above the law and they have to behave and live by the standards expected of elected officials.

Most importantly, police officers (and any ordinary person for that matter) have human rights and dignity. Macaya, as a law enforcement authority, did not even hold a personal grudge against the family. Yet, the congressman allegedly spat in the cop’s face, along with kicking him while he was bound.

Has (absolute) power gone to the legislator’s head? If Macaya is telling the truth, that is not the Richard Garin I know./WDJ