By Mortz C. Ortigoza
I met an old friend – a full pledged Police Colonel – and we exchanged notes. I reminisced with amusement the good and bad ole days how he was berated by a superior (now a retired Police General) in front of me and some police officers when he was a Lieutenant Colonel at an occasion in the cops’ camp.
He smarted on that incident and I felt he still had a grudge to the one -star ranked officer, an alumnus of the Philippines Military Academy, who loved to embarrass police officials who were mostly graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy – the cops’ version of the PMA.
The general was reputed not only to bad mouth in public his subordinates but was known to be greedy.
“Magkano ang share niya sa jueteng noong nilagay ka niyang hepe ng XYZ City?” I ribbed the officer who will be a one-star rank several years from now.
“Biente mil kada linggo ang binibigay ko sa kanya,” he deplored about the P80,000 a month “protection money” he shelled out from his pocket to the general as quid pro quo for his being a chief of police (COP).
Many Lieutenant Colonels who thought they deserved to be a COP in several illegal number rich towns and cities in this Luzon Region were dismayed when low profiled junior colonels were plucked away from their assignments in the regional office to be assigned as COP through the intercession of the General.
“Paano kayo naging Hepe dito? Sigurado maraming naiingit na mga kapwa niyo Lieutenant Colonels sa pagiging chief of police ninyo ,” I told the soft spoken junior colonel who was known as an active member of a Born Again Church.
A huge black hard covered Bible was prominently displayed at the top of his table in his office to show to all and sundry that He loves Jesus and Jesus loves him.
He told me he met the General when they were a regular jogger at the oval field of the regional office.
“You want to be the Chief of Police of XYZ City?” he quoted the General posing him a question.
The COP who probably guilt stricken because Jesus Christ would give an opprobrium to his acquiescence to the post in that notoriously jueteng rich city kept inviting reporter-friends to have some “Bacchanalian Feast’ with him.
“Nag iinvite na naman si Colonel ABC, nagpaluto siya ng bulalo. Sabi ko Colonel kabibigay niyo lang ng tig-P1,000 sa amin noong nakaraang linggo nakakahiya naman sa inyo babalik na naman kami ngayon,” a media man recalled the generosity of the officer who is a graduate of the PNPA.
“Hayaan ninyo na iyan, basta antayin ko kayo dito. Nagpabili rin ako ng ilang kilong letchon masarap ang balat magaling iyong nagluluto. Nandito na rin ang mga beer ninyo,” his respond to that reporter in a phone conversation.
Probably it was his way to get rid of those dirty monies he received weekly from the illegal number game's gofer and mitigate his sins to God the Father when Judgment Day comes.
“Colonel, hinde ka makakapasok dito sa Langit doon ka sa Impiyerno magbenta ka ng Ice Water doon dahil tumatanggap ka ng payola sa jueteng,” I humored some media men in an imagine meeting of the Born Again Colonel and the Lord at the gate of heaven.
“My Lord please papasukin ninyo na ako sa gate ng Langit kasi hinde ko naman binulsa iyong pera ng jueteng, binigay ko ang P80,000 kay General iyong iba pinambili ko ng bulalo, beer, lechon sa mga matatakaw na mga reporters na ayaw pa umuwi pag walang tig P1,000 o P500 na pabaon,” I concocted the probable answer of the Colonel as he begged with the Lord and Savior not to throw him to the Sea of Fire where he would be swimming in perpetuity.
During the height of Jueteng XYZ City Mayor received Five Million Pesos as payola from the "maintainer" of the illegal number game, according to a source, a bursar, who was a close pal of the Hizzoner the Top Executive of the local government unit.
Jueteng was the reason why police regional and provincial directors and chiefs of police lobby at the power – that – be in Imperial Manila to snatch the plum post.
A police director of a mammoth region, director of a gargantuan province, and a chief of police of a populated city could get a monthly payola every month of more or less P10 million, P1.5 million, and P600, 000,respectively, according to sources in the jueteng industry and the police.
Who says being a cop is a thankless job.
A one - star ranked police general receives more or less P150, 000 a month only as a salary from the government.
READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:
Jueteng Bag Man Outsmarts Lawyer-Mayor from U.P
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment