SHORT and beer-bellied, Aldong Parojinog may not look like the chief executive of any city, even if it happens to be in a far corner of Mindanao. But Aldong, who in 1995 was the second most wanted man in the country, with a P500,000 price on his head, commands respect in Ozamiz, not in the least because of his determination to clean up the city in more ways than one.

	Top police officials led by Supt. Jewel Canson (extreme right) and beside him, Supt. Romeo Acop, were implicated in the 1995 killing of Kuratong members. [photo courtesy of Malaya]

Barely three weeks after he assumed office, Aldong launched a cleanliness campaign that resulted to the classification of the city as the fourth cleanest in Region 10, from a consistent record of being the dirtiest. He also convinced his supporters that it would be for Ozamiz's good if not one of them were taken in as city government employees, even as casuals. Aldong's flagship program is to trim the local government.

But the son of Kuratong Baleleng's founder also told journalist Merpu Roa in an interview, "I am committed to even use the whip if necessary as proof of my determination to curb the city's rising criminality and illegal drug trade."

Roa observed that petty crimes dipped to low levels after Mayor Aldong warned both offenders and their parents that they will be dealt with accordingly. The mayor issued stronger warnings to druglords and illegal drug peddlers. In an address after his election, Aldong vowed to even run after his relatives and friends if they were ever caught engaging in illegal activities.

Businessmen acknowledge that Aldong is gaining the support of the usually apathetic people of Ozamiz. Several surveys conducted by Freeman Mindanao, a regional daily newspaper, showed the people giving approval ratings to Reynaldo for focusing on the city's crime situation, illegal drug trade, garbage and drainage problems. Even the Roman Catholic Church has given the mayor a "breathing space" so he could "prove himself."

Aldong Parojinog now leads policemen in arresting suspected petty criminals. He believes his small victories would usher in a new era of peace and order and vowed an "all-out war" against criminals, the same phrase used by a political ally of Aldong, then President Joseph Estrada, in declaring war against Muslim insurgents in 2000.

POLITICS may not be the only thing linking the Ozamiz mayor with the ousted president, if Indian national Danny Devnani, manager of "Club 419" (later changed to Club IBC), is to be believed. In August 23, 2001, Devnani told the Senate that Estrada had links to Kuratong Baleleng, through Aldong's older brother, Nato.

Devnani was the manager of Club 419, an exclusive joint in Greenhills believed to be owned by Estrada. In a sworn statement, Devnani said he saw Renato, five or six times between 1996 and 2000 in the company of Estrada's close friend, Charlie 'Atong' Ang, and a certain Eddie Boy Villanueva. Devnani also said he had been pressured at the time by persons close to Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson, former National Police chief and PAOCTF head, to engage in kidnap-for-ransom activities so that he could pay off his gambling debts.

In a 15-page affidavit, Devnani said ex-basketball star Arnulfo Tuadles and Kuratong Baleleng member Joel Arnan told him Lacson had "ordered" the killing of 11 suspected Kuratong members in 1995. Devnani quoted Tuadles and Arnan as saying the group had "wanted to assassinate Estrada and Lacson because of the rubout," but subsequent negotiations between the group and Estrada's emissary, Villanueva, averted it. "The deal that was brokered was the Kuratong Baleleng would be allowed to commit kidnappings for ransom, and the group of Lacson and Ang would supply the victims," said Devnani.

Devnani said he tried to pass onto Estrada the same information. But when he was granted an audience in Malacañang on July 4, 1999, Devnani said Estrada "did not want to listen." Devnani said Estrada instead gave him a P3 million check dated July 2, 1999.

By then Tuadles and Arnan were dead. Tuadles was shot to death in Club 419 in 1996, while Arnan was arrested and killed in 1997. Nato, meanwhile, would get to live three more years, before being felled by assassins' bullets in 2002.

The Parojinogs blamed Nato's murder on local political feuds. But news reports at the time raised the possibility that before he was killed, Nato was about to reveal new information that would implicate Lacson as principal player in the 1995 killing of members of Soronda's group. Years earlier, the Ombudsman had downgraded the charges against Lacson in the Kuratong case, meaning he was no longer among the principals. But there was still a case against Lacson and other generals, and when Nato was killed, the Supreme Court was deliberating whether Lacson, who has declared his intentions to run for president in 2004, would have to stand trial.

Lacson has retorted that the attempt to link him to the Parojinog killing is "stupid and insensible." Nato's death and the Kuratong Baleleng case are not related, he said. "My fellow police officers and I have suffered enough," the senator added. "Some people are hell-bent on putting me away for good using this case and a series of other fabricated, (and) poorly executed cases."

In any case, a congressman from Mindanao says the number of people who attended the funeral of Nato is a good indicator that the Kuratong remains alive — and everywhere. He says, "People from everywhere, even from as far as Manila, were there. It was a show of force. The Kuratong Baleleng is an organized group, which has lot of connections with the police and the military."

The congressman says the Kuratong can be a force to reckon with in 2004 "depending on the political alignments in the national level." The lawmaker is himself counting on the support of the group. He says there are already several layers of Kuratong Baleleng "operators" up to the national level.

An Ozamiz-based journalist also says the Kuratong Baleleng "can deliver in 2004, but only in the local level." He says among the Parojinog brothers, only the late Nato had the ambition to run for a provincial position. "Aldong has ambitions only in the local level," says the journalist.

So far, Ozamiz residents say they are pleased with Mayor Aldong's performance, noting that he seems to be making good his pledge to rid the city of hoodlums. But there are those who say Kuratong has never stopped recruiting new members among local petty criminals in Ozamiz, and that the new recruits are trained in the city until they qualify for bigger and more sensitive assignments in other provinces.

Some Kuratong watchers say that these days, there are at least nine criminal gangs affiliated with the group: the Bana Gang, Bularon Gang, Daroy Gang, Francisco Gang, Ochagovia Gang, Solid Gang, Pagente Gang, Cenas Gang and Bronze Gang. A subgroup is said to have invested in commercial malls, computer stores, construction companies, hotels and restaurants, pubs and karaoke bars, but only so that these could serve as "fronts" for illegal operations.