MY very good friend, Gerie ‘Mr. Ube’ Chua, is inviting the public to join the “Free Webinar by TxTFIRE —‘Itanong Kay Doc” to be held at 2 p.m. today (March 17). For those interested, the link to the event is https://fb.me/e/4enxY24yw.
The said webinar will serve as a COVID-19 forum where Dr. Benjamin Co, Infectious Disease Chief of the UST Hospital, will answer questions about vaccines including the myths surrounding the jabs.
Chua said Dr. Co will entertain all questions in an effort to address the hesitancy with regard to vaccines. He thus appeals to the public to share the information on the webinar with their family and friends.
The webinar, he said, will give the public the opportunity to be informed properly and get the answers to the questons that have been bugging them and have been making them hesitant to get vaccinated. Kudos to Gerie for another public service. May your tribe increase!!!
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PB/Gen. Leo Francisco has proven to the entire Manila Police District (MPD) force that when it comes to fulfilling duties, he means serious business.
One after another in the past couple of months, he sacked the chief of the Sta. Ana Police and the Malate Police Station commander for failure to supervise their men. The head of the Remedios police community precinct was also relieved when Francisco himself saw just two men posted in an area ordered locked down by Mayor Isko Moreno due to high COVID-19 cases. But what interested me the most was when I learned just recently that sometime last month, Francisco booted out of office Lt. Col. Ariel Caramoan, erstwhile Commander of the MPD-Station 5 Ermita Police Station, under very shameful circumstances.
Some friends told me about the unceremonial sacking done by Francisco to Caramoan, knowing I previously wrote about how inutile the Remedios precinct cops are in putting a stop to the proliferation of ‘wiper boys’ cum drug addicts and who have been constantly harassing motorists along Roxas Boulevard, particularly those who would refuse to have their windshield soaped and wiped in exchange for money.
I personally lodged a formal complaint but instead of acting right there and then since it was a ‘tumbling’ away from the police station, the cops there made me wait for about 15 minutes only to be told that the cops who will attend to my complaint are yet to arrive. Not having the luxury of time, I left.
I received a call about an hour later, saying the subject of my complaint had been taken to the station. On my way there, I saw the addict wiper boy still in the same area. I no longer bothered to go to the station. It was totally useless and to think that I am from the media at that.
Anyway, I went searching over the internet to confirm the info about how Caramoan got relieved but found no story written about the matter, so that I had to get it from Gen. Francisco himself. My colleague and friend of long standing, Juliet de Loza, gave me his number and assured me that the MPD chief is gracious enough with the media and entertains questions even just through text. Indeed, Juliet was right. Gen. Francisco readily replied and told me that he got upset when, in the conduct or random inspection of police stations under his area of responsibility, he noticed the lack of policemen in the areas of the National Library on Kalaw, the Roxas Seaman’s Center and even along Roxas Boulevard.
Instead, Francisco said he found the policemen, numbering a staggering 40 more or less, right inside the airconditioned police station headed by Caramoan. At that very moment, Francisco had them deployed but not without first having them go on a formation and making them march going to T.M. Kalaw from their station in Luneta.
“Nasa loob kasi ng station ang more or less 40 PNP, tapos wala kang makikita sa labas…pinag-form ko sila at pinag- march ko going to Kalaw from Luneta para makita nila ang AOR (area of responsibility) nila that time na magulo at kakalat-kalat ang tao,” Francisco explained, apparently still irked over the matter.
As far as I know, Caramoan had it coming, actually. In September last year, then MPD Director Gen. Rolly Miranda relieved him for failure to maintain social distancing measures during the opening of the “white sand beach” at the Manila Bay, an issue that went viral. I’m not privy as to how Caramoan managed to still keep his post after that brouhaha and the previous one, where six policemen under his station were ‘detained’ inside the house of the alleged drug suspects they were supposed to arrest in San Andres Bukid, Manila. The operation took place in an area that does not fall under their area of jurisdiction and it took a SWAT team to extract them from the said house.
For these actions alone, I truly laud Gen. Francisco for a job well done!!
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Jokjok (from Maryjoy Alberto of Libertad, Pasay City)— Apo: Lolo, look at those boats. Aren’t they beautiful? /Lolo: Yes apo, but those are called yachts/Apo: Yachts? Lolo, how do you spell yachts?/ Lolo: Ha? Teka, I just realized. You’re right apo, those are boats.
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