NO SACRED COW Pro-Duterte organizer booked for smoking

by Chito A. Fuentes

DAVAO CITY – There is no sacred cow in Davao.

No less than the prime mover and organizer of a group pushing for the presidential bid of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was arrested for smoking in a non-designated smoking area Saturday evening.

Jimmy Cabrera himself playfully posted the arrest of his photo on his Facebook page showing the responding policeman writing down the violation.

In the photo, an obviously amused Cabrera smiled at the camera while two other onlookers smiled approvingly.

The photo, first posted from the FB account of one Boy Viet Cong, carried the title “DDS – Disciplined Davaoeno Smokers”.

It carried the tagline “paying the price @ pryce plaza”.

“MAD organizer Jimmy Cabrera smiles and willingly submits himself as a police officer books him for violating Davao City’s anti-smoking ordinance in a vacant lot outside the venue during the Musicians & Artists for Duterte’s gig at the Reggae Grill. Jimmy and 5 other guests were in a place adjacent to the bar which they mistook as the smoking area. The cops thought otherwise,” the caption said.

It ended with the popular slogan “Ganito Kami Sa Dabaw!” followed by the hashtag “NoOneIsAboveTheLaw” and “DisiplinaSaDabaw”.

Cabrera is one of the prime-movers of the Musicians and Artists for Duterte (MAD for Change) along with Popong Landero and Peter Lavina.

MAD, which is one of the groups prodding Duterte to heed the growing clamor to run for president, launched its campaign last June 12 at the Matina Town Square (MTS).

The Independence Day jam was held simultaneously with another gig featuring artists from Davao del Sur at the Fire and Ice pub in Digos City.

MTS was full-packed with a highly-partisan crowd that spilled over to every available table at the height of the concert which paraded some of the biggest names in the local entertainment scene.

In between the songs, Lavina gave a briefer on federalism culminating in the call to push for Duterte’s candidacy.

The concert at the Reggae Grill inside the Pryce Business Complex in Bajada was MAD’s second activity and the first in the pub. Reggae Grill will host the second – the third for MAD - on June 19.

Davao’s anti-smoking ordinance is on its 13^th year and is considered the most successful in the country.

A few days earlier, media reported the arrest of a participant to the Philippine Councilors League national gab, just one of the many who have been fined for violating Ordinance No. 0367-12.

Like the other landmark legislations including the previously unthinkable firecracker ban and speed limits, no one is above the law in Davao.

Former Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, a daughter of the mayor, was once booked for exceeding the speed limit.

Duterte’s success in instilling discipline in the country’s biggest city has captured the imagination of a growing number of Filipinos who want him to duplicate this on the national stage.

Others would have resented the booking, but Cabrera does not mind paying the price for violating an ordinance in the middle of a concert asking Duterte to run.

Few people saw the implication but it was a glimpse of what the Philippines will be under a Duterte presidency.