Drug lords don’t take shabu
SIX months into the Duterte administration’s brutal war on drugs, I don’t think the question should still be about who between Mayor Tomas Osmeña and former mayor Mike Rama is a user. The national and local issue now is narcopolitics.
Well, it is possible that an official was drawn into protecting a drug lord because he was hooked into drugs in the first place. But watching the teleserye-like House and Senate hearings gives me a sense that what’s in play is corruption.
Besides, confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and Franz Sabalones revealed on national television that they don’t use shabu. The slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz was also not a user.
Drug users who are also pushers would most likely fail to account for their supplies. Thus, the non-users are the ones who survive. Perhaps, it could be because non-users are not irrational, like maybe suddenly singing during a press con.
*** Would urine and hair drug tests free Rama of the “drug lord protector” tag? Based on a newspaper report, apparently, he believed it would. “Encompassing,” he described the test results.
What? He does not know that a drug test using urine would only determine if he had taken shabu within the last three days? This is the reason urine tests are best done as a surprise. But Rama wants to set the date and time when he wants to take a urine test.
Nevertheless, we should look forward to the hair test results. Both Tomas and Mike took the tests. I gather that the two are confident the results will be negative.
I Googled drug test using hair. And I realized, addicts should be careful with the hair test. Aside from being more accurate, if one had taken shabu within the last 90 days, it would show in the results.
In his Facebook, Rama mentioned somethings about Alpine, referring to the milk. An addict told me a long time ago, they would drink lots of water and Alpine evaporated milk before a urine test. Nothing works in case of a hair test. Unless, of course, somebody switches samples.
Still, both urine and hair tests won’t say Rama is not a drug lord protector. Let’s wait for President Rody Duterte to clear the former mayor.
*** Knowing the Rama challenge was more for show, I did not expect Osmeña to also take any drug test Saturday.
Of course, Mayor Osmeña would also take a drug test, said a coffee shop kibitzer. He won’t allow former mayor Mike Rama hogging the front pages the next day, maybe even teasing him nga nikakak. Hmmm. Duna kay punto, do.
After an overdose of headlines about the drug war at the national level, heated political battles at who is coddling drug lords at the local level should be a welcome change.
*** Congratulations Customs Deputy Commisioner Edward Dybuco! Though BOC Commissioner Nick Faeldon tapped him to fill the position and start working when their term began last July 1, Dybuco only got his official appointment last week.
The months working with only a designation and without an official appointment is not a joke. I understand that he made it through because of his dedication to make the Duterte administration deliver on its promise of genuine change.
I remember Dybuco helped plan with Jun Evasco (who later became the campaign manager and now Cabinet secretary), Doris, and Eric Bucoy the Cebu leg of then Davao mayor Rody Duterte’s “Listening Tour” on federalism long before the filing of COCs.
*** Apparently, BOC Cebu has responded well to the administration’s call for change with its consistent positive collection performance. District 7 Collector Koko Holganza has achieved for Cebu the distinction of being the country’s top billionaire port in 11 months.
*** The Duterte administration is speeding up its social development agenda with the creation of the Office for Participatory Governance (OPG) under Cabinet Secretary Evasco. I understand OPG will be working closely with the Kilusang Pagbabago in pursuing anti-poverty programs rather than picking fights.