Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River

Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River: Hole of Justice Peter G. Jimenea   King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River   It surprised me to see King Arthur of the Kin...

Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River

Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River: Hole of Justice Peter G. Jimenea   King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River   It surprised me to see King Arthur of the Kin...

Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River

Hole of Justice: King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River: Hole of Justice Peter G. Jimenea   King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River   It surprised me to see King Arthur of the Kin...

King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River

Hole of Justice

Peter G. Jimenea
 

King Arthur of the Kingdom by the River

 

It surprised me to see King Arthur of the Kingdom by the Iloilo River so mad on television while being interviewed. I learned it was Kuan Yu who caused his bad sense and why he seems to run amuck. But is he really riled by that mess? Who is he kidding by the way?

King Arthur is not a political genius for nothing. For the information of new to this mess, Kuan Yu is the contractor awarded by government’s PSALM the job to clean up the bunker fuel spilled at the shoreline of Estancia, Iloilo, left behind by typhoon Yolanda.

Funny indeed, King Arthur decided to dance with the music but dances tango to the tune of Salsa. He is already in the pot but jumped into the fire. Why only air his suspicion now that Kuan Yu’s winning of the contract was a result of a rigged bidding? When the amount of P87M for the job was almost gone?

His managerial capacity is way beyond that of a king and chief occupant of the Kingdom by the Iloilo River. He had been USEC of DepEd, a PCGG Commissioner and certainly understands the protocol of government transactions. Is the king really innocent of Kuan Yu’s failure to accomplish the job? Baloney!

From the start, being a king of the kingdom he could have assigned somebody or a group to scrutinize the qualification and capability of Kuan Yu to perform the job of cleaning up the oil spill at Estancia’s shoreline. Does this company have previous record or experience of doing the same undertaking?

Is King Arthur unaware that Kuan Yu has no equipment for the job? Is the king blind to the fact that his constituents in Estancia and not the machines are the ones cleaning up the spilled bunker fuel at the shoreline? Did he inadvertently overlook this mess of Kuan Yu right on his very nose?

Deliberate or not, the silence of King Arthur to this issue of rigged bidding has created an impression without affirming the public suspicion that he has also shared a slice of the loot from the P87M contract bagged by Kuan Yu. But as the glaring failure of the contractor has surpassed its tolerable level, the king is now barking his innocence!

Only political animals, seasoned observers and real adversaries can fathom the depth of King Arthur’s expertise in politics. He is a lawyer and knows the game of the wise and the clever that he is now playing with. He also subscribed that cooperation is sometimes better than competition…as he did!

Unfortunately for the king, he cannot easily dispel the public misperception of his involvement in this mess. As noted, he draws his gun too late. What’s more, Court is guided by the jurisprudence borne from experience that perfect testimonies cannot be expected from imperfect senses. (Pp vs. Sahagun, 274 SCRA 208).

Had it not on the dereliction and irresoluteness of the king, we could have saved a big portion of the P87M that Kuan Yu et al, has pocketed. The mere fact that it has no proper equipment to perform the job can already justify the cancellation of the contract.

If the king cannot say no to the mastermind whose handiwork has resulted to this problem, at least he should know that; simplex commendation non obligar - a mere recommendation is not binding. But he just kept silent, thus, despite the residual imperfection, their will was done!

There is a saying among streets-smart that “the best criminal lawyers are found in Court, the best lawyer criminals are found among politicians.” Should we ask a person about the truth of the above saying and he says “I do not know,” there is already a grain of truth in that answer.

Now the main question is; “why did the king shout wolf only when the latter is about to finish eating the victim?” Well, if the King of the Kingdom by the Iloilo River should not be blamed alone for the misery suffered by constituents at the municipality of Estancia, it is because the mess is a handiwork of a syndicate we are now dealing with.

If honest people can only suspect that the king is among those involved in this syndicated mess we cannot blame them as they have no proof to support the guilt of the honorable man. They are only confined to suspicion because King Arthur plays his cards close to the chest! 

 

 

Hole of Justice: Most Organized Criminal Syndicates

Hole of Justice: Most Organized Criminal Syndicates: Hole of Justice By Peter G. Jimenea Most Organized Crime Syndicates The methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” has overtaken ...

Most Organized Criminal Syndicates

Hole of Justice

By Peter G. Jimenea

Most Organized Crime Syndicates

The methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” has overtaken marijuana in the world of local addicts. Even people using hallucinating tablets and cough syrups purchased from drugstores have changed habit. Street-children sniffing rugby are getting closer to shabu too.

In the book Warlord of Crime, investigative US journalist Gerard Fosner (the only writer allowed by 14K triad to visit their main headquarter in Hong Kong), claimed that Chinese triads is now the most organized crime syndicate that has  made the Sicilian Mafia looked like bunch of kids in school uniform.

As proof to this claim, in mid 80s, Chicago Mafia Boss Anthony Turano was killed by two Chinese teenagers at the front of his apartment for delayed in payment of drugs he took from the triads. Sad, but he was killed while his collection was on the way.

With the exception of the hardworking and honest majority of the Chinese who have my respect, this story has no intent to slight them. As a matter of fact, they deserved my praises as Chinese race and culture are at the forefront since the inception of written history.

Our topic here delves only on the unfortunate segment of the Chinese race- the Chinese Triads who once have the noble purpose but eventually transfigure into a systematic and vicious control of large illicit empires in the underworld from the East to the West. The organization’s backbone is - illegal drugs!

The Triads are virtually unknown until the mid 50s. Auguste Joseph Ricord, the Corsican mastermind of the French connection, was by then the king of heroin trade from Turkey to Marseilles and into New York until mid-70s. (After only a decade, he was seen turning to the Triads whenever he ran out of supply.)

Heroin addiction, however, declined at the entry of the Latin-American Cocaine Cowboys in underworld business. As reported by Posner, cocaine has made big profit for being cheaper than morphine.  Thus, shabu is now known in the world of addicts as the “poor man’s cocaine.”

But with the advent of the 80s, Hong Kong Triads took control of heroin trade in the US with their “China white” product from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia region. The place is a mountainous mist-shrouded area where hush-poppy plant (source of opium and morphine) fits for cultivation.

Golden Triangle is consists of the Northern provinces of Siam (now Thailand), the Eastern fringe of Laos, and the broad stretch of Northeast Burma (now Myanmar). The Chinese race is credited for the fast development of Hong Kong (British colony) into a third-largest financial center after New York and London.

It became the melting pot of world’s business with the world’s most profitable bank – the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The most dominant gang in Hong Kong before it was returned to Mainland China in July 1997 was the 14K Triads with over 30,000 members in the colony.

Hong Kong Police disclosed that Triads invented the organized crime. They are the best at it in making into big business, but they are absolutely ruthless. The sad part of triads’ exodus from Hong Kong to other countries like the Philippines - is they brought their wares with them!

Columbian and Mexican cartels, like the Chinese triads, make billions of dollars a year from organized crime – gambling, prostitution, extortion, loan sharking, protection rackets, guns-for-hire, political and civic corruption. But there is one thing that makes them all unique – illegal drugs!

The death of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar and this year’s arrest of rivals, brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejula has made headlines. This year capture of two most wanted Mexican capo, druglords Hector Beltran Leyva and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman gave Mexico and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) the fresh breath of their time.

Not for Chinese triads. A warrant of arrest served for a certain Ricky Chong is difficult for authorities to pursue because there are more than 50 people with the same Chinese name. This only alert drug lords to spend more for personal security, postpone the shipments and sacrificed some men, but to stop them – never!

Hole of Justice: This STL Makes My Day

Hole of Justice: This STL Makes My Day: Hole of Justice by Peter G. Jimenea   This STL Makes My Day! A common belief among street-smart; “it is better to be in comp...

This STL Makes My Day

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea
 

This STL Makes My Day!

A common belief among street-smart; “it is better to be in company of the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” This slogan reminds me of different stories about the small town lottery or STL operating in Iloilo City for years now.

The permit granted to STL operators to operate its numbers game is exclusively for the city of Iloilo only. It cannot operate farther from the city and beyond, to the turf of municipal mayors they cannot command.

But in business of the underworld, where there is money, there is competition. It is not a surprise if a “capo” or boss of different organizations will jump into the arena of illegal numbers game to join the dreamers of huge profit. In fact, a lot of life was lost in this kind of business. 

This illegal operation is called “bookies” on the ground that operators don’t pay business permit and income taxes. Operators based the future of their bettors to the raffle draw results of the STL operating legally in the city. Eventually, the bookies also become competitors of the STL operators.

Not only that, bookies can operate clandestinely in nearby municipalities where the legal STL operators cannot. Worse, they can even penetrate the city bettors that rightfully belong to the legal operations of the STL.

But in underworld business there is jealousy, double-cross, treachery, swindling, betrayal and the likes. Thus, other than spending more for personal security and bribe hey also resort to violence and intimidation. But in settlement of personal differences, death is the most logical solution to all judicial problems.

A commentator of a radio station in the city had been hitting a bookies operator every night in his program by branding him a drug lord. But even the publisher of a leading local daily hinted the man is no longer on drugs. But what made him a marked target of that radio commentator?

It is widely believed that STL bettors are becoming scarce due to the operations of bookies. Thus, STL “capos” want the Big-Man out of business. However, they cannot intimidated the Big Man by threats, so a radio commentator was hired to do the dirty job despite his hollow head you can easily pass a tricycle through it.

The paid hacks continued singing about illegal drugs against the Big-Man every night of his life for four consecutive months until nobody listens.  However, in Jaro district, the hang-outs of a bookies operator suspected to have linked with the STL “capos” was raided by authorities.

That raid created an impression without affirming the perception as cause of untimely death of another bookies-operator Jimmy Punsalan, inside his own restaurant in Mandurriao-District. It did not stop there. The worst happened when a good friend of the Big-Man named Jhey-R was shot on his way home after dropping him a visit.

The incident drove the Big-Man in malam partem – in bad sense! He suspects that his adversaries are out to get him too. So, the game begins, the hunter becomes the hunted. It was only a misfortune for his adversaries that they failed to get a background check on who is the Big-Man in the real sense of the world.

The Big-Man may lack academic proficiency but has the managerial capability to control/tame the wildest animal in his turf and beyond – to the crocodiles he cannot command. Now you see? Even in jail people with money have different treatment than you and me.  

When the “hatchet-man” of the “capos” was taken-care of by the Big-Man’s “boys” the “capos” visited the Big-Man one by one hoping for a compromise. They’ve realized that sometimes, cooperation is better than competition and learned too, that anything in excess is bad!

As to what future awaits the abusive radio commentator, nobody knows. I just hope to have made his day in this column. He asks for it. Unlike Dirty Harry and me who ask others to make our day!