I was just about half-way through with my Opinion Article for this week, and suddenly this early Tuesday morning flagrant shooting of long time acquaintance, Naga City Market Superintendent, Francisco ‘Paco’ Ojeda, knocks the daylights out of me! I knew ‘Nonoy’ (as he was fondly called by his close friends) had his own share of deadly ‘admirers’ but none desperate or angry enough to have him LIQUIDATED just like that! Well it really seems like that remaining ‘Maogmang Lugar’ tarpaulin board near the Plaza Kiosk must be taken down, in deference to Nonoy’s bloody murder, and in keeping with Butch Santos’ suggestion that we can no longer call this a ‘Maogma’ but instead a ‘Madugong’ Lugar! That tarpaulin board has, indeed, become a BIG, SICK JOKE! Nonoy’s premeditated killing was, no doubt, masterminded by someone close to or who had access to that ‘MURDER INC.’ syndicate which MUST’VE been operating here for quite some time now and getting away with all that blood in their hands! Just take a load of all these broad daylight shootings: that ‘Bombay’ who was shot in cold blood near their Basilica Road Mosque; that poor guy from Tigaon who was shot after he was robbed of the money he just withdrew from the Banks; that recent hold-up and shooting right in front of St. John’s Hospital; that Jollibee, Panganiban Drive, bloody hold-up, where a security guard was shot to death; and now this cowardly killing of an unarmed guy who was on his way to jog at the Basilica grounds, to obviously improve his health, and prolong his life!
I knew ‘Paco’ Ojeda way back during our ‘Bahala Na’ days. Even if he was older than me, my being my mother’s son (she was the City Vice-Mayor then) ‘allowed’ me to befriend almost everyone from all walks of life, and it’s really just my ‘luck’ to have been able to turn most of the Negative Incidents in my life (my being an almost perennial school ‘Kick-Out’) into Positive chances to get up close and personal with all the countless classmates and friends I met (during my ‘School Tour’), from Ilocos, Pangasinan, Batangas, and Manila up to Cebu, Davao, and Palawan! Now Paco, being also his father’s son (Victorino Ojeda, or Tio ‘Vitoy’, was one of, if not our earliest Naga City Mayor), was also able to befriend a lot of guys, but how he handled them was quite a different story from how I got along with mine. After passing through the ‘hell’ of my long record-breaking Medical Internship, I got re-acquainted with ‘Paco’ and was happy to see that he had already mellowed down a lot and I even got used to calling him by his ‘warm’ and ‘genial’ name, ‘Nonoy’.
That Nonoy was shot, in the early morning hours, just a stone’s throw away from the Basilica of our dear ‘INA’, just shows how much these ‘hired’ killers have been EMBOLDENED by Naga City’s worsening Peace and Order situation! I really won’t be surprised if the guys who did Nonoy in are part of one and the same group who have committed the above mentioned crimes and have remained SCOTT FREE up to now! That Basilica area has already claimed 3 lives (the other one was that of a well-known contractor) and it’s really sad that our good Mayor and City Councilors have not been able to come up with that suggested Police Outpost (manned by at least 2 armed policemen going on 8hrs duty, 24/7!) up to now! Or is Nonoy Ojeda’s ‘Assassination’ just another one of those ISOLATED CASES (similar to that ‘Analyn Santos and son Massacre’!)? ‘Sosmaryosep’! Mr. Ojeda was part of Jessie Robredo’s ‘All for One and One for All’ team! Of course he might have had some personal ‘quirks’ and ‘insensitivities’, but then who doesn’t? That a Robredo Team Member has been easily eliminated must have sent the message that Naga City is indeed one good paying and effortless ‘Hunting Ground’ for hired assassins! If ‘Nonoy’ was ‘rubbed out’ without difficulty, then Mayor Jessie’s ‘Ubos-Ubos’ gang might as well expect the unexpected in the days or months to come! Or else they can, together with the rest of City Hall, be as meek as Lambs and start following whatever ‘SIMON SAYS’ (whoever he or ‘they’ might be)!
Roadblocks especially in the Cararayan, Del Rosario, Magarao, and Pacol areas must’ve already been in place by now. Of course the perennial ‘alibi’: ‘Lack of Police Personnel’ will have to be taken into consideration; but until when will we hopelessly ‘allow’ these KILLERS to BATHE in our Citizens’ Blood?! Until when will we ‘play politics’ with Human Lives at stake? Let me direct these questions personally to my brave and good ‘Primo’, former Naga City Chief of Police, and now City Councilor, Jose ‘Jojo’ Tuazon, whose expertise in ‘security matters’ will put him in a much better position to deal with these Peace and Order ‘goof offs’!
Mayor Jessie, thank you for all the sustained Infrastructure Development all over the City; especially that asphalt overlay on our San Felipe road which I fervently hope will also cover our Pacol side, sooner than later. But given our gory Peace and Order condition, I desperately hope and pray YOU, of all people, will really start the wheels of Justice turning, FORCE the lackadaisical P.N.P. to really move their bones, and use all the resources at their disposal to really flush out these callous criminals, regardless of whoever is ‘protecting’ them! Please, our dear Mayor you have UNTIL 2010 to do this. Let’s forget the City Coliseum or whatever else; we need to feel SECURE in this City, first and foremost. We cannot continue to live in FEAR. We will be forever indebted to you once you and your Councilors really get to the bottom of this and hunt down the person or persons responsible for taking the ‘MAOGMA’ word away from our beloved City!
Meanwhile, I would also like to remind L.T.O. Regional Director Ramon ‘Mon’ Roco, about that ‘wishful’ proposal I wrote in this paper sometime ago (pls. see Archives) about requiring motorcycle licensees to have color coded LUMINOUS STICKERS placed at the back of their helmets with their Plate Numbers on it, together with some letters indicating the Regions and/or maybe, Cities, they registered in. Well, if the L.T.O. Head Office doesn’t yet buy the idea, then I guess with the help of our well-respected Mayor Jessie, and, most especially, our no-nonsense Presidential Son, Congressman Dato Arroyo, I don’t see why we cannot make Bicol a PILOT REGION for this idea which I’m pretty sure will discourage these motorcycle riding Agents of Death from plying their trade even, most especially, in the highly populated areas of this City!
We cannot wait for Superman or Batman or even a ‘new’ set of leaders to come to the rescue! We need to do our best NOW; time wasting bureaucratic, cosmetic ‘Investigations’ will not solve anything! Jessie Robredo, the ‘keeper’ of the Heart of Bicol must really lose his sleep until these hard-hearted killers are themselves CAUGHT OR ELIMINATED! Otherwise, Local and Foreign Investors will shun this place like the Plague, and you can just imagine how we will look after 2010! Let ‘Nonoy’ Ojeda Rest in Peace, but let’s make his death that much needed ‘wake-up call’! Let’s really hope and pray that his sudden death will be the LAST, and that it was not all in vain!
