The rise and fall of a decorated cop

The higher they fly, the harder they fall. Last Nov., California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham thudded to jail after a high-flying eight terms in the US Congress. A decorated former Navy fighter pilot who shot down five MiGs in Vietnam, he was the model for the movie Top Gun. His career crashed, however, when he used his seat in the defense appropriations subcommittee to take bribes from contractors, with which he amassed a mansion, a Washington condo, a yacht, and a Rolls Royce.

The repute of bemedaled ex-police captain Reynaldo Jaylo similarly is hurtling to hard ground. His life story of daring crime shootouts and NBI drug busts had been made into a movie. Up to July last year, he headed a Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force. Today he is a fugitive, hunted by former police and NBI buddies on charges of serious illegal detention and qualified bribery, both of which carry no bail and can fetch life terms.

Many cannot fathom how Jaylo turned from cop to crook. As a Manila policeman, he earned standing among the best officers dubbed the Four Aces, along with recently deceased Sen. Robert Barbers, Sen. Fred Lim and Col. Lucio Margallo. When Lim became Manila mayor, he took Jaylo in as graft buster. Before that, Lim became NBI chief and Jaylo was his lead enforcer who shot dead an Army colonel and a major who were into drug trafficking. Upon retirement, Jaylo made good use of his time as president of the amateur judo association. In 2004 President Gloria Arroyo personally chose him to lead her drive against illegal recruiters and human traffickers.

It was in the latter position that Jaylo sizzled than ever. To the glee of victims, he nabbed dozens of illegal recruiters and made sure they got the maximum life sentence. But there were missteps. One time he arrested a foreign female airline exec for allowing undocumented workers to board a flight for Dubai. It was no fault of hers and she was released, but only after crying the night in jail. Other times, legit recruiters grumbled to the labor department against Jaylo’s team’s harassment of their dispatches.

Complaints mounted. The last straw was when Lim allegedly tipped off Malacañang that a couple of Chinese visitors, whom he had requested Jaylo’s men to secure, were mulcted of P200,000 cash. Ms Arroyo disbanded Jaylo’s crack unit. Instead of complying, word got around that he continued to make arrests at airports. The NBI was called in to probe the usurpation of authority. A raid at his old office yielded armed subordinates. Follow-ups at two safe houses unearthed 13 persons clapped behind bars – illegal recruiters and their victims who cried that they were being extorted of cash for freedom.

The case was assigned to Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, himself a multi-awarded officer. It pained Velasco to render a decision, for Jaylo not only is a brother-Mason but a pal as well of his dad, a former NBI chief. He nonetheless filed raps for capital offenses and appealed to Jaylo to submit himself to court. The latter instead called a press meeting to claim, though giving no names and details, that two Cabinet members who coddle illegal recruiters were behind the charges. And then he went into hiding.

On Dec. 29 Manila Judge Nina Valenzuela issued arrest warrants for Jaylo and four cohorts. Now all Velasco and the police-NBI hunters can say is that "Jaylo, as a former law enforcer, knows that no one is above the law."

* * *

Bienvenido Basco, manager of the port of Zamboanga, could not let the item pass. Sure, the Philippine Ports Authority had deployed five each of 30 baggage x-rays (P6.7 million apiece) and 30 walk-thru metal detectors (P716,000@) to the ports of Manila, Batangas, Puerto Princesa and Cagayan de Oro (Gotcha, 6 Jan. 2006). But Zamboanga too got its share of two x-rays and two metal detectors.

That doesn’t mean Basco is happy. For, he says, the units "were in full operation only for 28 days, Sept. 16-Oct. 14, 2005," a year after the central office bought the security gear. "Operation had to be stopped because the personnel manning the equipment did not possess licenses from the Dept. of Health and the Philippine National Police."

As remedy Basco is working to secure the permits. Too he dispatched safety engineer Aishar Hadjirul to Manila for training in radiation duty. Basco is anxious for speedy reuse of the security equipment, considering that his port is in a city where terrorists often explode bombs just to show they’re still around.

If only the PPA brass had had the foresight to run the training and get the licenses upon purchasing the units as far back as late 2004.

* * *

A sales exec of a publishing house also expounded on my item on kickbacks (Gotcha, 4 Jan. 2006) in Catholic schools. Requesting anonymity, she covers a large Luzon region where, "if public school officials are bad, sectarian school administrators are worse."

"We can give only up to 30 percent discount, but they demand as much as 60 percent, especially for multi-year agreements," she cries. "The discounts are deducted from my commissions. If I don’t give, they simply turn to any of our 30 or so competitors. And then they ask for ‘incentives’ (cell phones, plane fare, cash). We have to give to them all: supply officers, cashiers, librarians, subject coordinators, and even teachers. We even give to security guards and secretaries to get to them.

"The quality of textbooks and magazines is deteriorating. Yet the price is rising; this year alone, by 20 percent. Our usual excuse is ‘rising cost of paper’. But there is a bigger monster behind it. And I thought when I first took on this job that I would be dealing with righteous persons who guard our educational institutions and moral values."

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]