It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
A nationwide gun ban will take effect as the Philippines’ colorful — and often violent — election season kicks off Sunday, 4 months ahead of the midterm polls.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will put up checkpoints to enforce a strict ban on “bearing, carrying or transporting of firearms and other deadly weapons.”
But they should be placed in well-lit areas, manned by policemen in uniform, and include names and contact information of the police and election officers in charge, spokesman James Jimenez told reporters Friday.
Motorists are “under no obligation” to open car windows or compartments, he said, noting that policemen were bound by the “plain-view doctrine.”
Often violent? The Philippines is always violent election season or not. Politician is a dangerous job in this country. Since they are instating a ban does that mean it's perfectly legal at other times to walk around with a gun in your waistband?
Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez explained that a panty is not so different from t-shirts or caps that are usually used as campaign giveaways.
“If you think about it, walang pinag-iba ang panty sa cap o sa t-shirt, right (the panty is no different from a t-shirt or cap, right)? It is an article of clothing,” Jimenez said in a press conference.
“Ultimately, as far as the law is concerned, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of fundamental reason for making it more unacceptable than say, a printed t-shirt,” he added.
Now that's what I call getting intimate with the voters!
"The PNP shall take a lead role in law enforcement against criminal syndicates and private armed groups with the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," PNP chief Oscar Albayalde said in a press conference earlier Thursday afternoon.
Albayalde and Armed Forces chief Benjamin Madrigal Jr. promised that while the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Units would assist in securing elections, they would not be used as private armies for any politician.
“We assure you that the CAFGUs are under the operational control of the AFP commanders, they are deployed locally, they are ably led by our cadre commanders,” Madrigal told reporters.
“And of course the commanders on the ground, we'll make sure if there are reports if there are CAFGU being utilized [by politicians], we'll make sure that they are properly punished,” he added.
Crazy that the PNP and AFP have to issue this assurance. Just shows how violent election season is.
Sinas said during a press briefing that they relieved all the personnel following the low performance of the Daanbantayan police.
“They have a very low performance,” said Sinas.
In one year, the Daanbantayan Police station conducted only 11 operations in their jurisdiction, Sinas added.
Although Daanbantayan is not the only station which has less than 10 operations, Sinas said they expected more from Daanbantayan.
Strange reason. Maybe there is not a lot of crime in this area? What do the higher ups expect? For the officers to waste resources on needless operations just for show?
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered the suspension of Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua for alleged abuse of authority.
In a statement on Saturday, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said that its regional office in Legazpi City served on Friday the suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon imposed a preventive suspension of six months against Cua pending an investigation on the charges against him for alleged abuse of authority, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, dishonesty and grave misconduct, Año noted.
Funny that an elected official can be suspended while charges are pending but those who have charges pending against them can run for office with no problem.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is facing yet another case as a local prosecutor charged the senator with grave threat from a complaint filed by Labor Undersecretary Jing Paras.
A state prosecutor found probable cause to indict Trillanes on violation of Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code. The Department of Labor and Employment official said that Trillanes, on May 29, 2018, threatened to kill him.
The information or charge sheet included the following quotes Trillanes allegedly told Paras at the sidelines of a Senate hearing:
“Ang lakas ng loob mo. Hindi magtatanggol ang amo mo. Matatapos din yan. Yayariin kita. Mersenaryo ka. Yayariin kita.”
(You’re gutsy. Your master won’t protect you. That will end. I will finish you. You are a mercenary. I will finish you.)
“Tatawa-tawa ka pa. May araw ka din. Yayariin kita.”
(Go on, laugh. You will have your end. I will end you.)
“Suwerte mo... mabait itong... secretary kun’di yayariin kita eh.”
(You’re lucky... this secretary is nice, if he was not, I will finish you.)
The purportedly statements of Trillanes “[created] fear and anxiety on the mind of [Paras] that the threats will be carried out,” read the document signed by Assistant City Prosecutor Janette Herras-Baggas.
Does that sound like a threat to kill? Sounds more like a threat to politically end someones career. But a state prosecutor thinks there is enough evidence to charge Trillanes with a crime.
President Rodrigo Duterte could now “directly” investigate or “assume jurisdiction” over cases being probed by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) against erring government officials.
This was contained in Executive Order No. 73 signed by Duterte on December 28 but released to the media only on Friday.
“[N]othing shall prevent the President, in the interest of the service, from directly investigating and/or hearing an administrative case against any presidential appointee or authorizing other offices under the Office of the President to do the same, as well as from assuming jurisdiction at any stage of the proceedings over cases being investigated by the Commission,” the EO stated.
Nothing expect the Supreme Court who should strike down this EO? Pretty sure nothing in this EO falls under the duties of the executive branch as spelled out in the constitution.
Duterte’s pay will go up from P298,083 to P399,739. He has repeatedly complained that his salary was not enough for his two families.
In contrast, the lowest-paid government worker is receiving a P1,000 salary increase, from P10,050 to P11,068. He will get a maximum of P11,732 depending on length of service.
However, the President and the rest of the more than one million officials and employees of the bureaucracy will not receive their pay hikes until the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 national budget is finally approved.
This year’s pay hike completes the fourth four-year salary upgrading program in the bureaucracy contained under Executive Order 201, which then president Benigno Aquino III signed on Feb. 19, 2016 because lawmakers failed to pass the proposed Salary Standardization Law 4.
President Aquino passed an EO in 2016 granting every government employee a pay raise. Does that fall under the purview of the president? What an abuse of power and a confusion of the legislative and executive branches. No way is this EO constitutional but who would challenge such an order?
President Rodrigo Duterte removed from office a police chief and four other officials of Bacolod, Negros Occidental over their alleged involvement in illegal drugs, according to Malacañang.
The Palace said Duterte identified Bacolod police chief Supt. Francis Ebreo as allegedly involved in illegal drugs in his speech in the city. He also said four officials who are now fired are protecting a drug ring.
“I’d like to know if the chief of police is here. If you are here kindly stand up because you are fired as of this moment," Duterte was quoted by the Palace.
“Then you have Superintendent Tayuan... And Superintendent Yatar... And there is Victor Paulino, police SI (Senior Inspector)... Macapagal,” the Palace continued quoting the president.
Duterte ordered the police officers to report to his office on Monday afternoon.
Unproven allegations but a judgement rendered anyway with no recourse to appeal. That is the Duterte way.
“As far as I am concerned, wala (none),” Albayalde said at a press briefing when asked if Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo is in their watchlist of police officers allegedly involved in narcotics.
From what he heard, Albayalde said Ebreo is a snappy police officer. But Albayalde said he is not discounting the possibility that Ebreo is involved in some illegal activities.
Albayalde also stressed that they have no right to question Duterte’s directive, adding the President has unlimited sources of information.
“If that is the wisdom of the President, we should implement the order,” Albayalde said.
Asked if the information on Ebreo’s supposed illegal activities came from them, he said: “I think a little part of it probably came from the PNP and most of it came from other sources of the President.”
If the PNP does not know about this man's drug activities but Duterte does know then that means the PNP is incompetent and many other people should also be sacked for not knowing and acting on this information. But if this is all fake information supplied by unknown informants or simply made-up by Duterte that is a whole other problem. Apparently Duterte has sources that either the PNP does not or he does not wish to share his information. Either way the sudden and immediate sacking of this man over unproven allegations is very problematic.
The driver of a candidate for mayor of the town of Buenavista jn Bohol was killed when the vehicle he was driving, with the mayoral bet on board, was ambushed in Getafe town this afternoon, January 14.
Election violence resulting in a collateral death.
One of the people caught for possession of a firearm was a security escort of Salimbangon, who was arrested in Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu.
Inspector William Homoc, the newly installed Daanbantayan police chief, identified the security escort as Richard Monsato, 31.
The security escort was caught in possession of a .45 caliber pistol loaded with seven live ammunitions after he was flagged down at a checkpoint along the Central Nautical Highway in Barangay Agujo at around 12:30 a.m.
Homoc said that Monsato was not carrying any Permit To Carry Firearms Outside of Residence or a Comelec permit to carry firearms.
Monsato will be facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and violation of the Comelec gun ban.
It's strange that the Comelec would prevent security guards from being able to carry guns as if a ban will mean assassins wont't target candidates. This guy should have acquired his permit though.
The Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) filed administrative charges against mayor of Daraga, Albay, tagged by police as the mastermind in the assassination of Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe and his security guard last December, a ranking police official disclosed Tuesday.
Administrative charges for “Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service” and “Graft and Corruption/ Violation of Republic Act 3019 or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act/ Serious Irregularities” were filed against Mayor Carlwyn Baldo, according to Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, PNP-CIDG director.
The complaints were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman last Friday, Corpus said.
He said the first complaint is the administrative aspect of the criminal charge filed against Baldo for two counts of murder and six counts of multiple frustrated murder.
The second complaint is for willfully allowing the disbursement of public funds for the salaries of the six-member hit squad serving as “ghost” employees at the Office of the Municipal Mayor.
This guy has been tagged as the mastermind of an assassination and has criminal charges of murder field against him. So why has he not been arrested?
Upon questioning by Sen. Panfilo Lacson during Senate plenary debates on the DOH budget, Sen. JV Ejercito, who was sponsoring and defending the budget as chair of the Senate health panel, said there had been no confirmed cases of Dengvaxia-caused deaths despite outcry from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).
“According to the DOH, no deaths are directly attributable to Dengvaxia. The cause of death is for dengue or other diseases” in the reported cases, Ejercito said on the plenary floor after conferring with the DOH officials led by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
The DOH should publicly state this and put an end to the hysteria surrounding the vaccine. This is not the kind of information that should be revealed only incidentally during a budget meeting.
Recovered from the suspects were two hand grenades, a .45 caliber pistol with 73 live ammunition and 5 magazines, a9mm pistol with 64 live ammunitions and 2 magazines, and a Caliber 30 M2 Carbine with 99 bullets along with five short magazines and a long magazine.
The headline is an understatement. They weren't sneaking guns, they were sneaking an arsenal!
In its urgent motion made public Thursday, Duterte’s counsels Rainier L. Madrid, Peter L. Danao and Alvin A. Carullo said Trillanes was already “guilty of flight” when he went abroad last month to attend to his speaking engagements in Amsterdam, Barcelona and London from Dec. 11, 2018 to Jan. 11, 2019.
“Apparently, accused flew out of Philippine jurisdiction without prior leave or permission from this court,” read the urgent motion.
“Having departed for abroad without court permission, accused is guilty of flight. He has stepped out of Philippine jurisdiction, hence beyond its reach,” the motion further stated.
“While he has self-servingly expressed no intention to evade these criminal charges, his actual flight belies it. Intent to flee is irrelevant, when in fact accused had been guilty of actual flight,” the urgent motion stated.
The Dutertes are trying every trick in the book just to get this man.
Now for the Philippine political scandal of the week.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is requiring some of those renewing their passports to bring their birth certificates as its previous outsourced passport maker “took away” all its applicants’ data, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said.
“We are rebuilding our files from scratch because previous outsourced passport maker took all the data when contract (was) terminated,” Locsin said in his personal Twitter account on Wednesday in response to queries of some netizens.
“Because previous contractor got pissed when terminated it made off with data. We did nothing about it or couldn’t because we were in the wrong. It won’t happen again. Passports pose national security issues and cannot be kept back by private entities. Data belongs to the state,” he said in another post.
Pretty unbelievable even by Filipino standards of incompetency. This constitutes a massive data breach of millions of Filipinos personal information. How was the contractor able to abscond with this data? Why was a private contractor used? What does the DFA Sec. mean the government was in the wrong and could do nothing about it?
The National Privacy Commission on Saturday said it will investigate the Department of Foreign Affairs’ claim that its previous outsourced passport maker “took away” all its applicants’ data when the contract was terminated.
“We will summon the DFA and concerned agencies including the alleged contractor to determine the facts surrounding the case,” Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro said in a statement.
“Any form of non-availability of personal data, infringement of the rights of data subjects, and harms from processing that include inconveniencing the public, must be adequately explained to the satisfaction of the law,” Liboro added.
This isa job for the Senate. They should subpoena everyone and get to the bottom of this breach of national security.
“Those behind the passport mess will launch a social media campaign against me. I will identify them,” Locsin said in a Twitter post.
“Apparently the mess crosses partisan lines,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary warned that he will "autopsy" the "yellow crowd" over the incident.
"I will autopsy the yellows who did the passport deal alive. This is called evisceration," he said.
Yellow is associated with the Liberal Party, led by Aquino, whose members are known critics of President Rodrigo Duterte.
but he has also turned it into a partisan issue!
He then took to Twitter to answer questions about the development, as he offered blistering takes on the incident.
The problem started under GMA’s DFA and got worse under PNoy’s DFA. IT WILL BE SOLVED BY PRRD’s DFA under licsin. The yellow crowd who perpetrated the passport fraud are in a panic because we are gonna autopsy their crooked deal. Period. — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 12, 2019
I just want it fixed and not repeated. Redundancy of data was promised by previous contractor but not fulfilled or just denied us. We have no knowledge whatsoever if it has been corrected. Like a cuckolded husband, we are always the last to know. https://t.co/fZtbv5rkKI — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 12, 2019
See how he makes this a political issue by blaming past administrations and asserting that Duterte will fix it. Why is he treating this so lightly? He should not want the problem merely fixed. He should be calling for the blood of the contractor who stole the data.
Former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. on Sunday admitted to knowing the alleged irregularities in the contract for the printing of passports but did not stop it immediately because it would worsen the passport application backlog.
In a Facebook post, Yasay said the DFA in October 2015 entered into a deal with APO Production Unit Incorporated (APUI), a company under the Presidential Communications Office, to produce a new e-passport system, provided that it would not subcontract to any company. This is despite the agency's existing contract with French firm Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare, which was producing passports in line with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines, Yasay, who led the DFA from June 2016 to March 2017, said APUI violated its agreement with the DFA when it tapped United Graphic Expression Corporation (UGEC) for the production of the new e-passports.
Yasay said he found the contract between DFA and APUI “grossly disadvantageous” when he reviewed it before assuming office. However, he did not cancel it immediately because it would worsen the delays in the issuance of passports.
He said ending the contract with APUI would have a dire impact on passport processing since the DFA would need at least six months to find a new passport printer.
According to him, even the passport appointment system would’ve been affected by the cancellation because it was controlled by UGEC.
"Because the contract was between the DFA and APO, I could not even hold UGEC— which was the actual printer and producer of passports and had control over the facility in Lima, Batangas and controlled the appointment and the data and personalized information," he said.
"I could not for the life of me understand why our DFA officials at that time in 2014, 2015, awarded the contract to APO knowing fully well that the facility, the equipment, the technological capability to undertake the contract that’s why they were forced to subcontract it in violation of the law," he added.
The DFA knowingly entered into a contract with a company to manufacture passports with the stipulation they do not subcontract the process which they immediately do because they do not have the capacity to manufacture passports. The new DFA Sec. Yasay is aware of this but does not stop it because doing so will make the backlog even worse. As a result the personal data of millions of people has been stolen. Or has it?
There is no data breach or leak in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), but only an apparent inability to access data from the previous contractor, according to former DFA secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr.
Speaking to The Chiefs last night on One News-Cignal TV, Yasay said he believed his plan to scrap the contract cost him his confirmation as DFA chief by the Commission on Appointments, where several opposition members had questioned his resistance to the deal.
In another interview yesterday, Yasay also described as “false” and “malicious” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s earlier statement that a contractor stole passport data.
In an interview on ANC’s Headstart, Yasay, DFA chief from June 2016 to March 2017, said Locsin was “misinformed” when he said the contractor “ran away and the DFA couldn’t do anything about it because the DFA was wrong.”
“I don’t believe and I say this very categorically,” Yasay said. “I’ll say he was misinformed.”
“When APO and UGEC came in Oberthur withdrew, after all it was just assisting the government in the management and operation of the system for free. It had already completed its contract,” Yasay said. “But to say now that Oberthur ran away with the data is completely false and malicious.”
Cybersecurity law expert Jose Jesus Disini Jr. agreed with Yasay’s statement that passport data could not have been stolen by a previous contractor because the BSP and DFA have copies of the data.
“The data has always been with the DFA,” Yasay told The Chiefs. “There was no running away (with the data).”
In his post on Twitter, Locsin said he was not misinformed about the mess.
“My predecessors seem to be panicking. I don’t know why. What do you think?” Locsin said as he urged his followers on Twitter to send him their opinions.
How quickly current DFA Secretary Locsin has transformed this fiasco into internet drama.
Days after saying a previous contractor "took all" passport data when its contract was terminated, Foreign Secretary Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin Jr on Tuesday, January 15, said there is no runaway of passport data after all.
"Data is not run-away-able but made inaccessible. Access denied," Locsin said in a tweet Tuesday morning.
Was he lying? Why is he changing stories? This is why politicians should not make pronouncements on Twitter!
This story will only continue to expand and who knows but this might be the scandal of year! And 2019 has just begun!
The stupidity of the Filipino politician knows no bounds. Locsin is clearly incompetent. Then again that makes him no different from any of his current or previous colleagues.
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