Rody not impressed with Manding’s act

THE act of 23-C barangay captain Amilbangsa T. Manding to paint the doors of his own residence red during the proactive drug eradication operation last week didn’t impress Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte at all.

To Duterte, what he wants Manding to do is to really personally lead the operation against illegal drugs and arrest suspected pushers.

In his television program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” yesterday morning, Duterte reiterated his call for Manding to resign if he cannot stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in his area.

“Gusto nako naa sya’y parahon. Parahon n’ya tanan (I want him to stop someone. He should stop them all),” Duterte said without elaborating.

The vice mayor said that as barangay captain Manding knows who are the people

involved in the illegal drugs trade in his area.

He said some of those who are into illegal drugs are even Manding’s relatives.

“I don’t believe that you did not know,” Duterte said.

“Wala lang gyud siya mihatag dayon ug action (He did not act) because he is hesitant. Maybe, knowing that most of the dealers or traffickers are his relatives,” he added.

The vice mayor also insisted that there’s nothing wrong in marking somenone else’s house with a letter “X.”

“That’s equivocal,” Duterte said, adding that marking an “X” could have different meanings.

“It’s just like a logo or a trademark associated with a person like the movies of Zorro and X-men, though there is no exact meaning to it,” Duterte said.

Letter “X”, he said, can be a sign for policemen’s operation that those houses marked where most of drug pushers live or do their transactions on the matter.

He added that it all depends on the beholder.

“Is the significance of X legal, or is it just a practice of the police, or a perception of all that it means more than just a letter in the alphabet? In fact it’s nothing. I don’t see any violation on that, except if you will be charged for malicious mischief because that harms others already, pero wala man (but it doesn’t),” Duterte explained.

Duterte said if that letter X expresses something good for the community then, he would rather continue the spray painting of houses of those suspected drug pushers even if he will be accosted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

“If badlungon man lang ko sa CHR (If CHR calls my attention), then they must tell me the reason why. As what I’ve said the letter X is only equivocal. Somebody should give meaning to it before they will react on the matter,” he said.