Making sense of things

Ineed to get my bearings. Things have been so out of whack lately I don’t know what to believe anymore. I mean, wasn’t it just last Saturday that President Rodrigo Duterte revealed that a Korean mafia was operating a drug and prostitution ring right here on our very shores. Apparently, he got the information straight from the horse’s mouth because he had no qualms dropping the bombshell.

Anyway, Duterte was seconded by PDEA 7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz, who told the public that he’d known about the problem since 2009.

Somehow, someone is trying to link this revelation to the kidnapping and slay of a Korean national inside Camp Crame, which, according to some whispers, took place while Police General Ronald dela Rosa was allegedly celebrating his birthday party inside the police national headquarters with no less than the President as guest of honor.

That murder was definitely a slap in the face of the Duterte administration’s war against drugs, prompting him to suspend the police’s anti-illegal drugs campaign so it could cleanse its own ranks. The NBI was not spared by the presidential outrage, although somehow PDEA remained unscathed and was instead appointed to pick up where the police and the NBI left off.

Meanwhile, the 25,000 or so Koreans living here in Cebu are probably still scratching their heads. They probably still have no idea how they got caught in the crossfire. After all, they’re here to learn English, conduct business, enjoy the weather, cavort with the natives, drink and basically embed themselves in island life.

Consul General Sung Yong Oh said they have yet to receive any evidence or data from the Philippine government to support the President’s pronouncement.

Oh, don’t worry. You’re not the only one. The rest of Cebu is also waiting. For proof, that is.

If the Duterte administration can substantiate the allegations, then it has nothing to fear because it won’t be alone in the endeavor. It will have the cooperation of the Korean government, the consul general assured.

“Nevertheless, we should not lose focus on the fact that Korean Jee Ick-joo was murdered by policemen inside Camp Crame. We trust that the perpetrators will be held fully responsible for it in order to give justice to the victim,” Oh said.

I think the consul general hit the nail on the head. And the Duterte government should take heed. It needs to solve the case immediately. There must be no whitewash. No smokescreen. The President must start walking the walk.

Make the men responsible pay. Now.

FYI, on this day, 67 years ago, US Sen. Joseph McCarthy had announced that 206 communists had made their way into the US State Department.