Cock-and-bull story
When I read the newspaper headline that the habal-habal driver who alerted the authorities on the Abu Sayyaf presence in Clarin, Bohol feared for his safety, I thought that he was scared of retribution from the bandit group. It turned out that he’s more afraid of his neighbors than anyone else.
And why should he dread the members of his own community to the point that he has to be constantly on the move these days? Because they might kill him, he reportedly said, since they might have heard that he is now a millionaire.
I do not know whether I should laugh or get angry. The story is comical and a bad one, too. I’ve heard of people badgering a friend or neighbor or relative, who has come upon sudden good fortune for balato and yes, they could be such a pest, you want to avoid them. But run away from home because they might kill you? And in peace-loving Bohol yet? Come on, give me a break.
If there’s a point to this obviously cock-and-bull story, it is that the driver has not received the P1.1 million reward that he was supposed to get for tipping off the authorities that a smelly and apparently hungry stranger rode on his bike. He wants everyone to know that, including his neighbors in order to fend them off and, more importantly, whoever it is who is holding the money for him/them to pay him the balance or at least give him a good reason why he has been paid only P450,000.
The reward was supposed to be P1.1 million for the head of each of the eleven or so bandits who landed in Inabanga, P1 million promised by President Duterte and P100,000 coming from the province of Bohol. Four of them were killed in a gunfight in Clarin by lawmen who benefitted from the information provided by the habal-habal driver. That would have earned him a windfall of P4.4 million.
Instead, he got only P450,000. Apparently, only one kill was credited to his tip; the three others were considered the result of follow-up operations, hence nobody, not even the police or the military, who have their own incentives program, should get the reward.
Let us assume that this argument is correct and that the driver should be paid only for the “neutralization” of his rider, but why only P450,000? The military said that they had other informants. How many were they? And how was the P1.1 million apportioned among them? Was the bounty shared equally or did anyone receive a smaller share than the others? Why? Who made that determination?
These questions should be answered for the sake of transparency and for the driver to be able to convince his friends, neighbors and relatives to manage their expectations if they do not want him to continue lying that they’re out to harm him.