Fair game in the drug war
There’s a photo of Luz Canlobo on Facebook. Face down, with what looked like remorse etched on her face. Somehow she reminded me of someone who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. So to speak. But nothing could be further from the truth.
You see, Luz was arrested along with three others during a buy-bust conducted by members of the PDEA 7 in Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City last Friday night. Allegedly confiscated from the suspects was shabu with an estimated worth of P6 million.
Her husband Christopher was the main target of the operation, but he managed to escape. He is reportedly a big-time drug pusher in the city.
He was subjected to Oplan Tokhang back on Dec. 29 by his own brother, SPO3 Nestor Canlobo. The two are next-door neighbors. Maybe Christopher was spared from the humiliation of having men and women in blue knock on his door, in front of the whole neighborhood to see, and tell him, in front of the whole neighborhood to hear, to stop his illegal activities. But being brought to the barangay hall to sign different waivers should have been enough to put him to shame.
But I doubt he has any. Shame, I mean. Otherwise, he would have stopped dealing drugs. Apparently, he never thought about what his actions might do to his family, especially his brother, who has been in the force for 25 years.
SPO3 Nestor has reportedly been on floating status after police found out about Christopher.
Still, my initial reaction to the discovery that Christopher has a brother who is a policeman was skepticism. So he just happened to operate under the radar throughout this time, that is until President Rodrigo Duterte, earlier this week, put on hold the police’s anti-drug campaign so the organization could tackle corruption among its ranks.
And lo and behold, days later, SPO3 Nestor’s sister-in-law is in custody and his brother is on the run.
I know it’s not fair to suggest that SPO3 Nestor was or is, in any way, involved in Christopher’s alleged illegal activities. But “fairness” was chucked out of the window a long time ago when the government waged a war of attrition against drug personalities.
The fact that the public majority choose to look the other way when suspects started dropping like flies during “legitimate” operations shows they want the drug menace to be eliminated once and for all. Wonder why only a few questioned that all of the killed suspects, and I mean “all,” were shot dead after they allegedly tried to pull out a gun and fire at authorities?
Still, I don’t envy SPO3 Nestor’s situation. He had no way of stopping Christopher if the latter insisted on doing whatever it was he was doing, short of neutralizing him. After all, Christopher is an adult with his own family, and SPO3 Nestor is not his brother’s keeper.
But I doubt the public would be so understanding. The name of the current game is, once you’ve been tagged as a drug personality or is known to have links to one, then you’re guilty by association.