Clear conscience? Only you know you have it

Rama should seize this opportunity to pursue his bid to be dropped from the narco list even more vigorously

If it is true that 21-year-old John Angel Bantilo sold shabu online, then he should be jailed twice, one for drug dealing and the other for stupidity. The drug business is, by necessity, transacted privately. So for someone to advertise on Facebook that he is selling drugs (and at a discount yet!) is sheer inanity. In fact, when you consider the number of bodies with bullet holes turning up regularly anywhere since the President declared war against illegal drugs, it is a death wish.

Unless it is shown that Bantilo has a history of mental illness or is absolutely reckless, I am inclined to believe his claim that his jilted girlfriend was the one who posted the “notice of sale” on his Facebook account to set him up to the police because she knows that he does sell drugs, which he, of course, denies.

When the police announced that elective public officials in Talisay were involved in the illegal drugs business, they did not say all, only some. Because the “some” were not identified, the eyes of suspicion are trained on all of them even as they look at each other.

First Dist. Rep. SamSam Gullas, whose grandfather Eddie is the Talisay city mayor, rightly pointed out that the police announcement has put all of them under a cloud of suspicion. They cannot even find consolation in the knowledge that they have a clear conscience because as politicians, public perception is important to them and other than himself who else knows that someone enjoys a clear conscience?

SamSam asked the police to speed up their validation process. That’s the least that they can do for the officials and the people of Talisay under the circumstances.

Still on drugs, here’s good news for former Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama: an incumbent mayor and a former congressman in La Union have been cleared of involvement in the drugs trade. Their names appeared in the list of alleged narcopoliticians that President Duterte announced in 2016, the same one that included Rama and Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot.

Former Philippine National Police Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said that it was he who told the President that he has checked with the La Union provincial police as well as with the regional police and was informed that the results of their investigation on the mayor and the congressman were “negative.”

So it is not true that the President is too proud to drop anyone from the list because it would mean admitting that he was wrong. In the first place, the list was not drawn up by Duterte himself; it was the combined work of police and other Intelligence agencies.

Rama should seize this opportunity to pursue his bid to be dropped from the narco list even more vigorously. His previous efforts, including meeting with the president, have been unsuccessful but the case of the La Union officials is an opening that he should take advantage of.

The only downside here is that if the President would still not order the deletion of his name from the list, it will give the impression that the evidence against him is strong and convincing. Still, it is a gamble worth taking especially if, and here I repeat myself, Rama’s conscience is clear.

As heritage advocates and volunteer lay members of the Archdiocese, we plead with your office not to allow the demolition of the Patria de Cebu. ARCHITECT MELVA JAVA AND EILEEN MANGUBAT, IN A LETTER TO CEBU ARCHBISHOP JOSE PALMA