It’s a case of ICYMI — in case you missed it. We ignored Davao City while a series of events on the national stage unfolded at a fast speed before our eyes (Quadcom, POGO Senate hearings, hearings on the questionable budget of Sara Duterte, etc.).
As our momentary attention was drawn elsewhere, the unthinkable happened in the very heart of the Duterte dynastic bailiwick. A string of Davao City local events could have been impossible to implement and pursue under six years of Rodrigo Duterte.
In late March this year, Baste Duterte openly declared his kill platform during the turnover ceremony for the new Davao city police chief: “Kung hindi kayo aalis, kung hindi kayo titigil, papatayin ko kayo.” (If you will not leave the city, if you will not stop, I will kill you.)
Such incriminating Duterte talk is not new. Exactly a day after, the first kill took place. A week later, seven lay dead in what local police claimed were all cases of “nanlaban” (the targets fought back armed).
Less than two months later, Baste’s new police chief Colonel Richard Bad-ang and 34 of his cops were relieved from their posts by the Region 11 director of the Philippine National Police. The Regional Internal Affairs Service of the PNP then began an investigation into the 7 extrajudicial deaths.
Never has anything like this happened under the two decades of Duterte dynastic rule in Davao City. Under any Duterte mayor, extrajudicial killings or EJKs by Davao City police were an untouchable matter. It was their Noli me Tangere. The father Duterte’s vindictive reaction to the Commission on Human Rights hearings of 2009 under Leila de Lima was the yardstick of vendetta.
Under Republic Act 6975 or the DILG Act of 1990 (Chapter III D. Participation of the Local Executives in the Administration of the PNP), city and municipal mayors have “operational supervision and control over the PNP units in their respective jurisdictions.” Only the president of the Philippines has the power to suspend the local chief executive’s power of supervision and control on four grounds, among which is abuse of authority.
After a new Davao City police chief was appointed by the regional PNP, Baste’s extrajudicial killings stopped. The new police chief was not his choice. That was the beginning of the wind of change never seen since 1988 when Rodrigo Duterte became city mayor.
The pliant city council of Davao city was of course prompt in its protestation. It passed a resolution questioning the relief of the cops and called for their reinstatement. The PNP insisted: this was part of due process. Such exchanges of power play had never been seen in Davao City in 36 years.
On July 11, Apollo Quiboloy co-accused Paulene Canada was arrested just within the city. A tipster had called the hotline of the PNP’s Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division. The tipster’s cue was a wanted poster with Canada’s photo accompanied by an announcement of a P1-million reward. Canada was big fish — she was Quiboloy’s chief financial officer.
Tipsters never thrived previously under the Dutertes whose control of the police was central to their rule. The Davao City public could never have been goaded to tip police because they knew Duterte had corrupted the police into killing criminals with wads of cash rewards using public money.
And then there was the PNP’s grand operation in Davao City that had seen no precedents under the Dutertes: the 15-day standoff at Quiboloy’s compound beside the Davao City airport. None of it was imaginably possible previously. But under a police regional director who was no Duterte lackey, it became possible.
With the help of the Dutertes, the cult members put up all possible roadblocks, including judicial means. Judge Mario Duaves ruled with a Temporary Protection Order in favor of the cult. Members of the legal community in Davao city pointed out to this writer Duaves’ Duterte connections. A week later, the Court of Appeals overruled the judge, nullifying his TPO.
Davao’s city hall under Baste also put up its own roadblock. It refused a request from the PNP for the Office of the City Building Official to provide them with the blueprint of the compound’s buildings. Was the OCBO acting alone? Under the Dutertes, no city hall department acts alone.
The arrest of Apollo Quiboloy was a symbol of how the dynasty had lost its effective control of Davao City. Quiboloy was a generous benefactor to their political careers. The Dutertes reciprocated by giving him protection and entitlement. Even his own hangar was allowed to have its own taxiway that led directly to the airport runway.
But even before the standoff, which began on August 24, there was a most unusual incident that escaped national notice. In his capacity as the appointed administrator of all of the cult’s properties since March 1, Rodrigo Duterte filed on July 20 complaints of malicious mischief, violation of domicile, grave misconduct, and grave abuse of authority against PNP chief Rommel Marbil and Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos. His complaint referred to the June 10 police operation to first implement the arrest warrant against Quiboloy et al.
The unusual turn of events after the complaint was filed was unexpected, if the Dutertes’ grip on power in Davao City was the predicate. On August 15, the Department of Justice directed all cases against Quiboloy to be handled by Manila. As a result, Davao city prosecutor Jhopee Avanceña had no choice but to beg off from handling the case, thus forwarding it to the DOJ central office.
Jhopee Avanceña is the part that made the DOJ move unusual. She is the first cousin of Honeylet Avanceña who knows no introduction. She was appointed head of Malacañang’s Internal House Affairs Office (IHAO).
In February 2018, when Rappler was banned from covering the Palace, it was Avanceña who was tasked to inform Pia Ranada, who was then an accredited Malacañang reporter. Avanceña told Ranada in a text message that she could no longer enter Malacañang “as per instructions of the president.”
And then just before Duterte bowed out of office, he appointed Avanceña as city prosecutor of Davao city. Some of the city’s lawyers scoffed at the appointment. “Lawyers and fiscals actually questioned in whispers her appointment because she has zero litigation experience,” said a lawyer. Before Malacañang, Avanceña was bureau head of city hall’s Business Bureau and then later was acting city assessor. “When Digong won, Honeylet brought her to Malacañang to help vet presidential appointees,” said another lawyer.
Still another lawyer volunteered the information that Avanceña never worked as a trial lawyer. “She has nothing to contribute to the prosecution process.” In addition, Avanceña stepped over several tenured and senior fiscals in Davao city. “She was very powerful during Duterte’s time that she was able to have a lot of her friends appointed to high places.” The lawyers agree: most likely the DOJ will dismiss Duterte’s complaints.
The flop that happened last September 21 was the final icing on the cake. The Dutertes’ “Maisug Pilipinas” scheduled “National Indignation Rallies” in Manila, Cebu, and Davao. The pretext was to “defend the flag and protect the Constitution.” But below that was the hashtag Marcos Resign. It was part of Duterte ideologue Leoncio Evasco’s plan to create a grassroots movement of people power to install Sara Duterte as president.
The Cebu rally was canceled. The one in Davao could have been the most forlorn. Rumors had spread around the city that rallyists will be paid, some speculating that it will be as high as P5,000 per attendee. The goal of the organizers was to have 100 attendees per barangay as the minimum. On the day of the rally, the minimum came – zero. No rally happened.
Rodrigo Duterte thought he had pulled all the stops. But the fortress has been breached. It no longer belongs to his family. – Rappler.com
