It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
Amid the series of attacks this month involving officials of the southern Cebu town of San Fernando, the latest of which was against the mayor, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the province today recommended that the town’s election hotspot status be raised from yellow to orange in relation to the elections in May.
“This is to deter further violence so most probably (if their classification will be elevated), there will be an augmentation of forces in the area,” Brillantes said.
Brilliantes said he was just waiting for the result of the investigation being conducted by the police on the ambush on San Fernando Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya in Talisay City on January 21, which resulted to the death of her husband, Councilor Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya Jr., and two others, before he would formalize his recommendations.
"The series of attacks this month." Oh it's just a regular election season. If he really thinks raising the alert level will stave off more violence then he should just do it and not wait for the result of an investigation which could take an indeterminate amount of time. He's also wrong if he thinks raising the level will have any effect as there is a gun ban in place and an assassination just happened in San Fernando!
President Rodrigo Duterte last year invited China to be the Philippines' third telecom provider that would transform the country's troubled telco sector that has long been dominated by PLDT and Globe.
Davao-based tycoon Dennis Uy, an old friend of Duterte, teamed up with state-run China Telecom to form the Mislatel Group — which the Philippine government had formally declared as the country’s third telco carrier after two rival bids were rejected and foreign players backed out.
Under the consortium’s structure, Uy’s Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. own 35 percent and 25 percent, respectively, while China Telecom holds a 40-percent stake. Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. will act as the franchise holder.
At a Senate hearing, Drilon said the franchise of Mislatel should be deemed void as the company has not operated since it was granted a franchise in April 1998.
Responding to the senator, Nicanor Escalante, Mislatel president and chief executive officer, said since new shareholders acquired Mislatel in 2015, there has been “no actual operation” of the company.
Escalante explained that the “peace and order situation” in Parang, Maguindanao — where Mislatel was given a provisional authority to operate — prevented the company from rolling out its plans.
But Drilon did not buy Escalante’s explanation, pointing out that Mislatel could have operated elsewhere.
Here is what has likely happened with Misatel: Duterte wants China to run the third telecom so a basically defunct telecom, Misatel, whose CEO is friends with Duterte conspired with China to use his business to provide the service in deference to the wishes of Duterte. But it turns out Misatel has never been in operation in the entirety of its existence! All of this information was likely easily verifiable had the DICT performed any due diligence and investigated before declaring Misatel the winner in the bid to be the Philippines 3rd telecom. Which means, more than likely, that declaring Misatel the winner was nothing but a underhanded ploy to let China into the telecom business in the Philippines! Couple that with China being allowed to run CCTV as well as major construction projects in the country and the wimpy stance on the WPS and it's more than apparent that Duterte really, really, really likes China. But why?
A congresswoman might have amused social media users with her unchanging photo on tarpaulins throughout the years but the displays appear to violate policies on announcing government projects and programs.
Riding on the #10YearChallenge meme, Facebook user Julius Ceasar Medes shared photos of tarpaulins bearing Manila 4th District Rep. Trisha Bonoan-David’s face that had been consecutively used from 2009 to 2018.
Vain and stupid. She has been using the same photo on her tarps for the past ten years. A testament to the beauty pageant mindset of Filipinas.
The Makati City government paid a total of P39.5 million to five of its partner cinemas for the benefit of senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in 2018.
Makati Mayor Abigail “Abby” Binay said that 82,035 senior citizens and 9,896 PWDs benefitted from the city’s free movie tickets program in 2018 alone.
“We have sustained this program since 1997 because of the joy it has given to thousands of senior Makatizens, which is priceless. Watching free movies has become a favorite hobby among them, keeping them in touch with friends and making them feel young at heart,” Binay said in a statement on Friday.
William Dayrit, Makati’s accounting department officer-in-charge, said in his report to Binay that the P36 million went to movie tickets of senior citizens, while the remaining P3.5 million went to the tickets of PWDs.
The program began in 1997 with the passage of City Ordinance No. 97-085, appropriating P500,000 as the 25-percent share of the city in cinema admission costs for the elderly.
What an incredible waste of money.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out regional offices of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for slow implementation of disaster-related projects and inefficient use of funds.
In its December 2017 audit report on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) funds, the COA said the DA’s Western Visayas field office spent some P2.23 million of Typhoon “Yolanda” funds on unrelated projects.
The audit office also called out the DA Eastern Visayas field office for failing to properly use P954 million in DRRM funds allocated to it.
Of the P954 million worth of DRRM funds, only P12.7 million was used, with the rest of the amount unspent.
In the same report, the COA questioned the DPWH’s Bicol office for low implementation rate of projects. Of 184 disaster-related projects in Bicol, only 83 had been implemented in 2016.
Typical. Underspending and misspending funds allotted for projects.
The Malacañang showed confidence on Sunday that the country would continue to increase its rank as one of the best countries in the world as reforms are consistently being instituted.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo issued this statement after the 2019 US News and World Report survey showed that the Philippines ranked 50th in the 2019 Overall Best Countries Ranking by the U.S. News and World Report.
“We are therefore confident that we would continue to improve our ranking as we remain committed to institute reforms for the betterment of the Philippines that we all love,” Panelo said.
It's funny because in 2016 the Philippines was ranked 33 and three years later the nation has dropped 17 places to number 50! So the ranking has not improved at all. It has worsened and will likely continue to worsen.
A group of children barely escaped tragedy after the roof of an elementary school’s court in this town collapsed just minutes after the students had gone back to their classrooms from a morning recess on Friday, Jan. 25.
Ramon Leotero, chair of Linangkayan village, said the court was a project of the provincial government worth P2.3 million and financed by the Special Education Funds. The project was awarded to contractor Dy Construction, Leotero said. It started in July 2018 and was supposed to be finished this month.
“From the start, I already questioned the project because the posts are too small,” Leotero said.
“I said ‘why are those posts small?’ The workers answered ‘that is in the plan,’” Leotero added.
“I said the engineer is crazy,” Leotero said in an interview.
Ric Gabe, public schools district supervisor of Naawan, said he would ask the municipal engineer’s office to investigate.
“We are not engineers so we really cannot tell if the materials the contractor used are fit for the kind of facility it built,” Gabe said.
Any questions about the plans for this project should have been run by the municipal engineer's office to ensure everything was safe and sound. Sounds like a typical government project though and a through investigation by the COA is in order.
Policemen have arrested a village councilor in Mt. Province for illegal possession of firearm.
Frederick Doot, a resident of Barangay Bananao Proper in Paracelis town, was supposed to pose as a witness to a search warrant that police carried out in the same village. But before policemen could serve the warrant against a certain Jovy Cailin, Doot was arrested for carrying a .38-caliber revolver, loaded with live ammunition, which was tucked in his waist.
Police said Monday that Doot had no permit to carry a firearm. Cailin was eventually arrested after authorities found six magazines for M16 rifle, live ammunition for M14 rifle and a shoulder holster for .45-caliber pistol inside his house.
A double whammy for the PNP as they arrest two men, one a village councillors for illegal possession of weapons. Doot was to be a witness as the cops searched another man's house but he showed up with a gun tucked in his waist band and no permit to carry it! Maybe he should change his name from Doot to Durrrrr!?
Lapeña "remains constitutionally presumed to be innocent," and thus still enjoys the President’s trust, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
"He knows him personally. He has worked with him and he trusts him," Panelo told reporters.
Presumed to be innocent and thus still has Duterte's trust? Tell that to the people Duterte has fired over mere allegations of corruption with no actual charges ever brought against them. Now the NBI has filed serious charges against Lapeña and it's all "presumption of innocence!"
It's not often that you get to hear Whitney Houston at the House of Representatives.
But Nueva Ecija 3rd District Rep. Ria Vergara used one on Monday, during deliberations on lowering the minimum age of responsibility to 12.
"As legislators, we propose laws that do not serve ourselves, but the next generation. Laws that will make our country, better, and stronger. And House Bill 8858 does not accomplish this task. Rather, it goes against the basic Filipino core value system," she said.
She cited the cases of India and China, whom she claims have 18 and 16 respectively as their countries' minimum age criminal liability.
Vergara then brought out her phone and blasted a 90s hit song, Houston's "Greatest Love of All," to explain her vote.
The song begins with the lines, "I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way."
Vergara also maintained that scientific studies have proven that children below 16 are not psychologically and mentally mature to distinguish right from wrong.
"Our focus should be on laws that will punish adults who knowingly take advantage of our children, to undertake illegal activities.These malevolent syndicates should be our target, not our children whom they abuse," she said.
"I believe the children are the future....." I also believe this is an 80's song not a 90's song, that Whitney Houston was a drug addict who OD'd in a hotel bathtub, and that any "scientific study" proving that children below 16 can't distinguish right from wrong is a whole lot of rubbish. Why didn't she quote any of those studies rather than play a Whitney Houston song? Which is more persuasive: a scientific study proving your claim or the lyrics of a pop song from 1985?
This lady is not alone in her scientific persuasion.
Several lawmakers on Monday cited the inability of 12 year old children to distinguish between what is legal and illegal as the primary reason behind their dissenting vote on the bill lowering of minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR).
It would be great if those on either side of this debate would use accurate scientific facts and actually quote them to back up their assertions. I offer this counterpoint:
What do all these politicians think about the age of sexual consent being 12? Are 12 year olds really able to handle sex at 12 but unable to understand the nature of crimes they may commit?
As of January 28, Masbate had the most number of villages in the watch list with 21; Camarines Sur with 17; Sorsogon with 14 and Albay with 11.
Calubaquib said parameters in identifying areas to be placed on the election watch list include intense political rivalry, the presence of armed groups, activities of criminal gangs, the proliferation of loose firearms, and activities of threat groups.
Violence abounds in the Philippines.
A police officer once assigned to the Parian Police Station is now in hot water after he was allegedly caught carrying a homemade gun, also known as a “paltik” in Cebuano, while the gun ban for the May 2019 elections is in effect.
Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO -7), said Saquilabon is under the Regional Holding Group of their office after he was arrested in an entrapment operation last March for accepting P20,000 marked money from a drug suspect who accused the police of extortion.
He added that Saquilabon was not able to present a license and a permit to carry for his gun.
Sinas said they are preparing to file cases against Saquilabon for violating the gun ban of the Commission on Election.
“His recent offense is also a ground for dismissal. Also his previous one. But both are still under investigation,” Sinas added.
The timeline here does not make sense. This officer has been in holding since March last year when he was arrested for extortion but now he was walking around with a homemade gun? Is it even possible to get a permit for a homemade gun? And shouldn't PNP officers be exempted from any gun ban?
The first month of 2019 is almost gone but the police have yet to end their investigations of the killings last year of three local government executives, a prominent businessman and an Islamic scholar in Central and northern Luzon.
While special task forces have been formed to go after the killers, the police can come up with two arrested suspects, as in the murder of former La Union Rep. Eufranio Eriguel on May 12, and Mayor Alexander Buquing of Sudipen town, La Union, on Oct. 1.
In the rest of these high-profile cases, the police have faced the proverbial “blank wall.”
Kind of funny how the PNP "solved" the assassination of Rep. Batocabe in only a matter of days and how the PNP Chief has demanded that his men solve the assassination attempt on a Mayor of Cebu in two weeks or else but all these other cases, and many more, are all left to languish in limbo and be forgotten.
A Mandaue City hall employee who is a person with disability (PWD) lodged a complaint against Mayor Luigi Gabriel Quisumbing before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas because of his reassignment.
Michael Pielago filed a complaint against the mayor for violating Republic Act 7277, or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, Oppression, and Republic Act 3019, or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
In his complaint, Pielago, who uses crutches to move around due to his condition, said that it is difficult for him to perform his duty since HUDO is located at the second floor of the Mandaue City Hall annex building.
A guy forced to use crutches is reassigned to a job on the second floor of a building and now he is suing! Do they not have elevators in this building? Can he not just talk it over with the Mayor or did he exhaust that option?
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will not investigate a controversial passport deal involving a government printer that allegedly subcontracted to a private company, said Foreign Secretary Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin Jr.
"Why will I do that?" Locsin told Rappler on Wednesday, January 30, when asked if he will have the passport deal investigated.
When asked about Yasay's call for an investigation, Locsin said in an interview after the House briefing, "He should investigate it."
"If he wants, he can. In fact why doesn't he investigate it, and then we'll let him bring it because he's made some very serious allegations about the integrity of Congress, and I vouch for the integrity of Congress. I don't vouch for his integrity, only the integrity of Congress," said Locsin, who was Makati 1st District representative from 2001 to 2010.
Locsin said on January 15 that "only a Senate investigation will assure the public that there was no breach or loss of data." He said that "until then, the department can give no assurances on the safety and security of some data."
Asked if he made a mistake when he first tweeted about this issue, Locsin said: "Absolutely not. I never make mistakes. Really. I think Maria Ressa knows that."
"They said I am misinformed. I said no, I was overinformed," he added, referring to Yasay saying that Locsin was "misinformed" about the issue.
Locsin caused a panic with his "overinformation" and now he wants to move on. He does not want to investigate irregular deals within his department. He says the accuser should do so or better yet the Senate. Only problem is a Senate investigation is not guaranteed! They won't even investigate the Marawi siege. So this is just another scandal which will get swept under the rug.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) set a deadline to have all posters and tarpaulins featuring images of those running in the midterm election.
Although the materials do not have the words "vote" or "vote for" printed on them, the poll body said it was clearly premature campaigning.
But Comelec said it can do little to prevent the practice as it is technically still allowed.
On Wednesday, however, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said these must be taken down by February 12, the official start of the campaign period for senatorial candidates, and no excuses will be accepted.
"The most common excuse, the most common dodge is to say is that someone put that up or my supporters put that up...but here's the thing, if those mats are still up after start of campaign period...then it can be presumed because the candidate remained them to be up..it is clear they are benefiting from their presence, that is a way to hold them liable," he said.
Jimenez added, "Every single bit of campaign propaganda right now is already in violation of campaign rules for senatorial candidates — they are too large and obviously they are not in common poster areas."
If the practice is technically allowed then there is no point in ordering candidates to take down the tarps. Goodness know its simply not going to happen. Is the Comelec seriously going to pull down all of Bong Go's ubiquitous large tarps? I don't think so!
According to an initial police report, Crisell "Beng" Beltran, village chief of Barangay Bagong Silangan, was shot to death along with her driver, Melchor Salita.
Police said they were aboard a white Ford Everest at around 11:30 a.m. when they were attacked by four unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants. Beltran and Salita were both declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Four other companions, including three minors, were injured, police said.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said the killing may be politically motivated, since Beltran was a candidate in the 2019 elections, hoping to represent the second legislative district of Quezon City.
Another politician seeking higher office assassinated.
An errand boy of a town mayor in Davao del Sur was shot to death by unidentified gunmen inside a resort at Barangay Aplaya here around 11:30 a,m. Thursday.
Lord Niel Mirafuentes, 46, younger brother of Magsaysay town’s Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) Edgardo Mirafuentes, the chair of the town’s Dalumay village, was tying the knot to roast a pig when an unidentified suspect shot him in the head, according to his brother Allan Mirafuentes.
Police suspect politics could be behind the crime.
Errand boy? More like an errand man! What errands has this man been running to warrant a shot to the head? Perhaps this is a warning to the mayor?
The Philippines should be “thankful” to China if it indeed built a maritime rescue center on the Philippine-claimed Kagitingan Reef in the West Philippine Sea, Malacañang said Thursday.
“Maybe we should be thankful,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
“I share the sentiment of Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that could help seamen in distress in that area. It can help everybody,” he added.
Panelo, who is also President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel, said the latest China structure in the Philippines-owned Kagitingan Reef would not affect our claims in the area.
“I don’t think so. It will not,” he said.
“Personally, I don’t think that establishing a distress center is bad,” he added.
Asked if the government was aware of the new structure, he said he has yet to confirm if China got the permission of the Philippine government.
“We don’t know that yet. We are just basing on the news,” he said, adding that he would let Foreign Secretary Teddyboy Locsin address the issue.
But does Malacañang believe China will only use it as a maritime rescue center?
Panelo answered: “We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”
It is reported that China routinely harasses Filipino fisherman in the WPS. Now the Duterte administration says China's new rescue centre is a good thing and could help distressed ships in the area as if China is acting altruistically. He also says the give China the benefit of the doubt about this new centre despite China's promises not to build any more structures, which promise Duterte said he hoped China would keep their word. Obviously they have not and they are not to be trusted!
The Office of the Ombudsman has urged the Sandiganbayan to compel former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla to pay P124.5 million in civil damages to the national treasury, despite his acquittal in a plunder case over the use of his pork barrel funds.
They noted that in its decision to acquit Revilla and convict his chief of staff Richard Cambe and pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles in the criminal case, the court took time to distinguish by name the three accused.
But in the court’s order for the payment of civil damages, it used the word “accused” without distinction, they said.
The prosecutors said they took this to mean that Revilla was included in the order to pay civil damages.
In its decision on the plunder case, the Sandiganbayan said the accused were “solidarily and jointly liable to return to the national treasury the amount of P124,500,000.”
“Had the court wanted to exclude Revilla, it could have simply and easily named Cambe and Napoles in the third paragraph, as it did in the first paragraph [of the decision]. It would not have used the collective term “accused” without exception and distinction,” the prosecution said.
“Courts can acquit an accused on reasonable doubt but still order payment of civil damages in the same case,” said the prosecutors, led by lawyer Manuel T. Soriano Jr.
Surely Revilla's lawyers will find a way to wiggle out of this.
One cop survived.
Another cop didn't.
What's the motive? Drugs? Grudge? Does it really matter?
A tale of two drug busts.
Both have the same ending.
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