Scalawag C. de Oro lawmen warned

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Shape up or I’ll shoot you myself.

This was the warning Mayor Vicente Emano aired yesterday in his weekly press conference to local policemen engaged in the illegal drug trade as well as to lameduck police officials who tolerate their illegal activities.

While admitting that his administration has failed to protect Cagayanons from the effects of illegal drugs, a fiery Emano said he is not afraid to shoot it out with cops in the streets if they do not change their ways.

"Bahala nag kitay magpinusilay diha sa dalan. Dili ako maisog, pero di gyud mahitabo nga mahadlok ako kaninyo (I don’t care if we shoot it out in the streets. I’m not a brave person but I will never be afraid of you)," Emano said.

Emano’s warning came after this city’s police chief, Chief Inspector Antonio Montalba, admitted last week that the illegal drug problem here has worsened dramatically due to an increase in the number of drug pushers and users in all of the 80 barangays, including those in the hinterlands.

Emano disclosed that he knows that several city policemen are protecting drug peddlers as well as thieves and robbers.

He expressed dismay that police officials have not yet done anything to discipline these erring policemen or cleanse their ranks of scalawags.

"Some police officials here are good for nothing! They already know the wrongdoings of their men and yet they do nothing. Then they go to TV and radio interviews as if they’re very good," he said.