Joint law enforcement surge operation up in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – As part of the joint public safety partnership with the City of San Francisco, today Governor Gavin Newsom announced he is directing the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to expand its operational footprint — doubling the number of officers deployed — and authorizing the CHP to conduct targeted surges with law enforcement partners to fight crime and further crackdown on the fentanyl crisis gripping San Francisco.

Personnel assigned to the expanded operation are expected to include some of the more than 100 new CHP officers slated to graduate from the CHP Academy this week, as well as active officers within the CHP’s Golden Gate Division, Newsom said.

“CHP’s recent results in San Francisco are nothing short of extraordinary — in just six weeks, the agency’s hardworking officers seized enough fentanyl to potentially kill the city nearly three times over, multiple firearms, and stolen goods,” Newsom said in a statement sent to Philippine News Today.

“ Today, I’m authorizing a 100% increase in personnel to bolster the impact of this proven operation, as well as authorizing targeted surges to crack down on crime in the city. Working alongside our local, state, and federal partners, we’re committed to cleaning up San Francisco’s streets,” he said.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said: “Over the last several weeks, we’ve welcomed the California Highway Patrol and National Guard working collaboratively along- side our local agencies to disrupt the drug trafficking and drug markets harming our neighborhoods. To be successful in the long term we need to sustain and expand this work at the local, state, and federal levels. I want to thank Governor Newsom for sending more support to our City and for his continued commitment to the safety of San Francisco.”

SFPD Chief Bill Scott said: “The San Francisco Police Department welcomes the assistance from our state partners in combatting this deadly drug crisis. Our residents, business owners, and visitors to our city deserve to feel safe, and we are making progress in disrupting the drug markets that are causing so much misery on our streets. Working collaboratively with the CHP, we’ve seized an unprecedented amount of fentanyl and other deadly narcotics in recent weeks, and I look forward to building on our success.”

In addition to doubling the number of uniformed officers assigned to this operation in the city, as part of today’s announcement the Governor has also authorized CHP to work with local law enforcement partners to conduct targeted counter-crime surges in key crime hotspots in the city.

The joint task force operations, which will be unannounced, are expected to target illicit drugs and weapons and lead to arrests of drug dealers and others engaging in various types of criminal activity. Additional details, including surge results, will be made available in the coming weeks.

Separately, the Governor has directed the California National Guard (CalGuard) to increase staffing in San Francisco to facilitate the development of the city’s strategic plan that will address challenges with open-air drug markets and the broader effects those markets have on San Francisco. Multiple strategists have been assigned to assist San Francisco with this effort.

Additionally, the Governor has directed CalGuard to identify ways to further increase staffing in San Francisco in support of the Northern California High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. Throughout the joint operation, CalGuard has provided critical analysis and technical support to law enforcement to shut down drug trafficking operations in the city and the surrounding region.

Since the joint public safety operation began on May 1, 2023, the CHP has seized 8.1 kilos of fentanyl and made 115 felony and misdemeanor arrests in the Tenderloin and the surrounding area. The operation in San Francisco serves as a collaborative effort between multiple agencies, including CHP, CalGuard, the California Department of Justice, the San Francisco Police Department, and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA).

The joint effort is focused on improving public safety, targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable. The operation builds on the Governor’s Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis, which includes an expansion of CalGuard-supported operations that last year led to a 594% increase in seized fentanyl and historic levels of funding — $1 billion statewide — to crack down on the crisis.

(From Page 13)

Offlinewith vast marketing experience.

Very incidentally, that silly Love the Philippines slogan or whatever you want to call it, along with the entire campaign, is said to have had the approval of this Cabinet secretary who is being billed as a creative whiz, when in fact he is little more than a so-so director with tight connections to the Marcos Jr. regime.

Between this “smart” boy and the incumbent Tourism sec, the country has a mediocre team-up of doubtful competence. So to expect them to come up with brilliant marketing strategies may be too much of a stretch.

Meanwhile, arguably the country’s top tourism attraction, Boracay, is fact heading in the wrong direction. It has become overdeveloped and is earning a reputation for being the wrong kind of party place. It’s trying to be a Bali, and in so doing is attracting the wrong kind of crowd. And yes, drugs is a problem there now.

My greatest fear is that the likes of Bohol or Puerto Galera may be headed in the same direction as Bora, and there is no cause to believe that the Tourism department knows what to do about the looming threat.

With bean counters being in charge, and no concept of forward planning, I have to say that the Philippine tourism industry is headed nowhere fast.

About the only saving grace of the tourism industry is the private sector, which continues to develop facilities all over the archipelago. In so doing, they are boosting local tourism while global pleasure seekers have not yet discovered or rediscovered the Philippines.

Incidentally, I have to recall what was a borderline brilliant campaign that Cebu once had to attract international tourists, crafted by then Governor Lito Osmena.

The Cebuano leader who once ran for president sold his province to the world as “Cebu – an island in the Pacific.”

This was done partly because the Philippines had a negative image to some, which remains true to this day. But faux nationalists blasted Mr. Promdi for turning the focus away from the country.

The country is not lacking in creative thinkers who know how to sell the Philippines (or parts thereof) to the rest of the world. The only problem is, none of them are connected with the pathetic Department of Tourism of the Marcos regime.

As I See It

(From Page 12)

Defense Ministry of Russia or even the presidency because he was the only one, analysts say, who can do that - going against Putin.

Prigozhin had shown that he is capable of leading and as an expert in using force to attain his goal. This is what is dangerous if he changes his mind to resume what he started to do – rebellion.

In addition to deploying Wagner troops to Ukraine, the Wagner Group has been active in Africa, where some nations have turned to the private army to fill security gaps or prop up dictatorial regimes.

Racz said: “In most cases, they provide training for local military forces, local security forces, but they are also engaged in VIP protection, also in guarding. And if necessary, they are able to conduct also high intensity operations, I mean real combat.”

Wagner not only operated in Ukraine but also in some countries, like the Central African Republic. Wagner exchanges services for almost unfettered access to natural resources. A CBS News investigation found that Russian cargo flights stopped in the country twice a week, possibly smuggling billions of dollars’ worth of gold back to Russia.

In addition to gold, CBS News also found Wagner was involved in illegal timber harvesting in CAR, another lucrative source of income.

His emergence as one of the only power centers in Russia able to challenge Vladimir Putin has led many to question whether he was after the top job himself.

After his success in the fast food world, Prigozhin went on to buy supermarkets and ran several restaurants and other businesses. In 1995 he opened a swanky restaurant called Old Customs House where Putin patronized. During the early years of his rule in the early 2000s, Putin often met foreign dignitaries in his home town St Petersburg and often took his guests to Old Customs House or one of Mr Prigozhin’s other restaurants, including New Island, a boat he transformed into a floating eatery. That’s how Putin and Prigozhin became close friends.

The group gained a reputation of doing the military’s dirty work when unleashed in Ukraine and as an arm of the Russian state in Africa – and is renowned for brutal violence, rapes and war crimes.

But tensions flared up repeatedly between Prigozhin and the Kremlin officials in charge of the war – defense minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces General Valery Gerasimov – who the Wagner chief accused of deliberately starving his group of supplies and using his men as cannon fodder.

Dr. Marina Miron, a researcher at King’s College London, suggested Prigozhin might have his sights set on the position of Russian Defense Minister, rather than the Presidency.

“Many are saying this is a military coup against Putin. But in reality, it’s against the Ministry of Defense,” she told i. “I think what Prigozhin might be aiming for is to be the next Defense Minister.

Miron added: “I don’t think that he would try to go after the king, so to speak. In his videos, all his criticism is directed towards the Ministry of Defense. He’s much more into kind of the military side of things. He’s not a politician.”

While the rebellion stopped, Wagner’s leader is still roaming around Belarus and may still be planning to attain his ambitions either as a Defense Minister or president of Russia!

The chef is still on the loose!

(Elpidio R. Estioko was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the Chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream, which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Xlibris Publishing. For feedbacks, comments, email author at estiokoelpidio@gmail. com).

Immigrants Help

(From Page 14)

Chris Caday Lozano, Esq. is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and San Francisco Trial Lawyers. He has practiced immigration law, bankruptcy, personal injury and income tax representation since June 1999. His contact phone is 1-877-456-9266, email: info@CCLlaw.net Website: www.crispinlozanolaw.com/ with offices in Hayward and Cerritos, California.

Health & Wealth

(From Page 12)

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a fr iend.

He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning … to the end

He noted that first came to date of her birth and spoke the following date tears.

But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth.

And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own , the cars… the house.. the cash.

What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real.

And always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more.

And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile.

Remembering this special dash might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash. . .

Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

Thank you Atsi Bernarda for your love and generosity. We’ll miss you!”

(ART GABOT MADLAING is accredited and commissioned Notary Public and licensed Real Estate Broker

(DRE#00635976) in California since1981. He is founder of MOBILE SIGNING SERVICES, FITNESS FOR HUMANITY (aka FITNESS FOR CHRIST) and ACAPINOY. Art is active Evangelist with the GOLDEN GATE CHURCH OF CHRIST in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at (650) 438-3531 or (415) 584-7095 or email:artmadlaing@ hotmail.com)

True or False

(From Page 12) ment Committee.

It was reported that Remolona was serious about his intent to give back to the country that he gave up his American citizenship with the help of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, said to be a colleague from their early days at the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines.

Remolona thus is now solely a Filipino citizen. Some jokingly say, he remains with dual citizenship as he, at 71, is also a senior citizen.

Diokno said Remolona believed that it was just right to give up his US citizenship before he took up the post as a member of the Monetary Board in 2022, on his way to eventually being appointed the governor of the BSP for the next six years.

(Editor’s Note: Claire Rivera Morales True is managing editor of Philippine News Today. She was formerly assistant managing director of Health Frontiers, a public relations firm serving multinational pharmaceutical companies. She also served as PR officer of then Pampanga Vice Governor Juan Miguel Arroyo, eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Chief of Staff of the Chairman of the Philippine Postal Corporation.)

Diliman Way

(From Page 12) the duty of the citizen to point out the error and suggest the correct way to do it.

I have done that to all the administrations in the past and present – through my writings and letters to public officials including Presidents. But in most cases, the suggestions were ignored. They have ears that cannot hear, eyes that cannot see and noses that cannot smell. They are a common breed in this country.

So read the following, in specifying terms, after a year of this BBM administration, just like the end of a school year:

Specific Subjects Grades on Performance

Prices of commodities 50 %

Prices of services 50%

Prices of gasoline & diesel 50%

Prices of electricity & water 50%

Foreign Investments 10%

Foreign Travels 100%

Unfulfilled Promises 90%

Words and more words 90%

Illegal Drugs 50%

Transportation fares 60%

Human rights 60%

Foreign policy 60%

Police 60%

Military 60%

Insurgency 60%

Vision 20%

Poverty Alleviation 20%

Killing of media persons 80%

Killing and jailing of activists 80%

Quality of Cabinet 60%

Hard look: From the above grades, it is obvious that the average rating can neither be incomplete or positive. To sum it up, the BBM performance at this point in time is at best a failure, at worst a disaster. So what are the possible solutions?

Solutions: When I was elected Provincial Governor of Misamis Oriental, one of two Opposition Governors under martial law in 1980, under my opposition party, MINDANAO ALLIANCE (MA), I articulated this political principle – Six years is too long for a bad Governor and just enough for a good one. I believe that this political principle is applicable to Presidents as well So what are the constitutional and legal principles than can be used in the present situation?

There are a number of options and they are –

1. Resignation of the President – this option is up to BBM.

2. Recall - requires a certain number of voters.

3. Impeachment – is up to the House of Representatives for indictment and the Senate for conviction.

4..Removal – by the people as it happened in Edsa I and Edsa 2, by the military or the police in a coup d’etat, by a group with sufficient armed force, by a foreign country

These are the solutions facing a sitting President like BBM. To avoid any of these contingencies is for BBM and his advisers to use their brains and to do what is right for our country and our people. It is interesting to know what BBM and his advisers will do next. To be or not be, as Hamlet would have it – that is the question.