During a recent discussion over coffee, a retired police officer said, “If you name is called, better disappear.” Why? What he was referring to is what President Rodrigo Duterte tries to imply in his speeches.
“It is alarming when the president calls out your name and implies his point; trying to let you hear something he means,” the retiree explained. “He will never call your name – neither warn [or] remind you – if he does not mean anything serious.”
A golfer noted, in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, there are reports discussing a list of individuals involved in the illegal drug trade. “Bacolod should not be happy because the city is not illegal drug-free,” they added.
An individual who works in the insurance industry reiterated the police officer’s point, saying, “It is very alarming when the president calls out your name.”
“It is either a warning or a way of saying, maybe, that you better disappear or you will be in the line,” they added.
A salesman from Iloilo City said, in their hometown, there was a famous nightspot where many police officers gathered and, when a guest asked security who was the VIP that attracted such police attention, they were told it was a drug lord.
The retired police officer explained, being involved in the illegal drug trade does not mean one is selling as an elected official who is quiet and passive is tolerating such activity.
A support of the president also repeated the police officer’s point, saying, “The public now knows that when your name is called, the president means something – something serious.”
“He will never remember your name if your name is not significant, either in a good way or in a bad way,” they added. “He has a good memory and just be careful because his memory stays put all the way.”
The police officer noted, whomever was called out during the president’s recent visit to the province had better hide.
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This column greets Western Visayas presidential consultant Jane Javellana, JC Clavecillas, Bev Ilagan, Richard Oquendo, Tony Cacho, Rodel Parcon, Danny Dangcalan, Art Colmendora, Johnny Dubouzet, Pastor Emilio Henares, and Marlon Navarro./WDJ