It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
Over 10 local officials have been issued show cause orders by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) over violations on the prohibition of mass gatherings and parties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
DILG spokesman Jonathan Malaya said they have issued several show cause orders to officials of more than 10 local government units over alleged violations on quarantine protocols.
The latest chief executive to be issued the subpoena is Mayor Timoteo Villar of Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan who celebrated his birthday last week.
Photos of the festivities were posted on social media but were later deleted.
Why do people post their entire lives on Facebook? Especially when it shows they are committing a crime? Same thing happened with NCRPO Chief Sinas' birthday party. Now he is facing charges.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has filed criminal cases against Metro Manila police chief Major General Debold Sinas and 18 other cops for celebrating a birthday party and violating quarantine rules under a coronavirus lockdown.
The PNP filed the criminal case with the Taguig Prosecutor's Office on Friday afternoon, May 15, accusing them of violating Taguig City Ordinance No. 12-2020, which requires the wearing of face masks and the enforcement of physical distancing.
They were also accused of violating Republic Act No. 1132, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
Time will tell if he and his men are held accountable in any meaningful way.
A village chairperson here and 15 others who attended a birthday party amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will face charges.
In a radio interview on Saturday, Calasiao town chief of police Lt. Col. Joseph Fajardo identified the village chief as Severino Tuazon of Barangay Poblacion East.
He said they were able to trace the suspects when a netizen posted on Facebook a photo and tagged the village chief.
"Firstly, they violated the guidelines of the ECQ specifically the physical distancing, social gathering, and the liquor ban. Some were also not wearing face masks," he said.
Another birthday party caught on camera and uploaded to Facebook. Now charges for violating the ECQ as well as the liquor ban.
A factory worker was allegedly beaten black and blue by police officers in General Trias, Cavite on May 12.
Thirty-year old Ronald Campo was arrested for violating quarantine policies in Tropical Village, Barangay San Francisco.
Aside from bruises and wounds all over his body, Campo also sustained a fracture on his skull, his brother Rolando told CNN Philippines.
With the damages incurred, Rolando said his brother is still lucky to survive the alleged mauling of policemen to tell his own tale.
In his narrative, Ronald said he was arrested along with other curfew violators in Tropical Village night of May 12.
They were then brought to the General Trias town plaza where they were ordered to exercise as a form of penalty to their violation.
Ronald said he fell asleep at the plaza until a policeman woke him and another man up and were told that a high-ranking officer wants to talk to them. That's around midnight of May 13.
They were then brought to a dark area near the plaza where they were allegedly beaten up.
When asked about the incident, Cavite Police Chief Col. Marlon Santos denied the allegation of Campo.
[Translation: The alleged victim was not beaten up. The chief of police insisted that he was not beaten up. In his effort to escape, he went to the top of the roof and because he was drunk, he fell with his head first. He jumped into a swimming pool without water. He fell in the canal in his efforts to elude arrest.]
Authorities have filed quarantine violation charges against Ronald at the General Trias Prosecutors Office.
Cops are accused of beating a man nearly to death. They say that the man fell into an empty pool. The cops accused have been relieved pending an investigation.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian filed a resolution seeking a probe into the implementation of the Free Wi-Fi for All law, saying there is a backlog in having internet coverage in schools.
In Senate Resolution No. 392, the senator is seeking an inquiry into the implementation of Republic Act No. 10929 or the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act (FIAPPA) in elementary and secondary public schools, Alternative Learning System (ALS) centers, state universities and colleges (SUCs), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) technology institutions, and other community learning centers.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the lead implementing agency of the said law, has not met its targets.
The senator said in 2018, DICT's target was to add 5,308 sites in 1,500 cities. However, as of April 13, 2020, only 3,707 live sites for free Wi-Fi hotpots have been installed.
According to Education Undersecretary for Administration Alain Pascua, only 48% or 22,645 out of 47,013 public schools have internet connectivity. A total of 16.7 million students are enrolled in these schools.
Another project which has not been fully implemented and has fallen behind in meeting its goals.
Police are searching for a Balamban, Cebu barangay chairman who evaded arrest during a raid on an illegal cockfight amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Police said in a statement that Barangay Lamesa Chairman Wilfredo Alvarado, was the target of a joint-operation on Friday for secretly organizing the cockfight.
However, Alvarado was able to elude police after sensing the arrival of the operating team.
According to Balamban Police, they arrested the five people during the anti-illegal gambling operation.
Among evidence seized were two gaff spurs with scabbards, two fighting cocks, two cages, two motorcycles, and P3,420 cash used as betting money.
Another barangay official caught cockfighting during the ECQ.
Seven residents of Barangay Felisa in this city filed a complaint against their village chief and three barangay personnel on Friday for allegedly pocketing a portion of the PHP6,000 government cash aid they received in April.
“(They) willfully, unlawfully collected, and took back the amount of PHP4,000 from the (possession) of the (complainants) who received the amount of PHP6,000 from the social amelioration program (SAP) funds,” the complaint said.
More of the same. LGUs taking money from the SAP funds.
Seven people died, including the gunman, and two others were seriously wounded when an ex-soldier indiscriminately shot his neighbors and bystanders in Gadgaran village, Calbayog City, Samar late Tuesday afternoon.
The suspect, Glenn Balunan, who was drunk during the incident, also died in a shootout with responding members of the police mobile force battalion around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Philippine National Police said in a report sent to reporters on Wednesday.
What was he drinking??
Police officers arrested a village watchman from Taguig City and seized close to P1 million worth of shabu during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City.
Quezon City Police District Director (QCPD) Police Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo on Wednesday identified the suspect as Teng Macalbog, 47, a resident of Barangay Maharlika, Taguig City.
Police agents arrested a school teacher during a drug buy-bust operation in President Quirino town of Sultan Kudarat province, the regional police office reported Monday morning.
Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, the spokesperson of Police Regional Office-12, identified the arrested suspect as Edgar Allan L. Asug, 51, of neighboring Barangay Kalawag 2 in Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat.
“The suspect was caught in the act selling one medium-sized sachet of suspected shabu to a poseur-buyer at Barangay Poblacion in President Quirino town,” Capellan said.
Tanods and teachers are all a part of the government system.
A councilor of Amulung town in Cagayan province was arrested on Wednesday, along with an alleged accomplice, for gunning down four car dealers in Piat town, Cagayan province, police said.
Bargado and construction worker Joey Vergara allegedly killed Michael Eugine Romero, Christian Kaibigan, Joel Bolado, and Rommuel Quinan, said Colonel Ariel Quilang, Cagayan provincial police director.
Their bullet-riddled bodies were found inside an abandoned car in a public cemetery.
Investigators are looking into Bargado‘s alleged link to a stolen vehicle.
Murder charges had been filed against the councilor and the construction worker. Two other suspects are being hunted down.
For car dealers slain at the behest of a town council. And for what? Over a stolen vehicle?
"They [DOH authorities] can always come up with all sorts of reasons but in the end, we see a pattern of overpricing. If it’s only one item then probably it’s been overlooked or they can reason out a different supplier or manufacturer but it’s a pattern," Lacson told ANC in an interview.
"Every time they procure health products, when you compare it with the purchased price of private sector," he pointed out.
During a Senate hearing, Lacson quizzed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III why the government procured a costly laboratory equipment for COVID-19 testing when a different brand used by the private sector is available at a lower price.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday admitted that no mass testing has ever been conducted in the country from the time an outbreak of the coronavirus disease occurred.
At the House committee on health’s online meeting, Duque was asked if the national government ever implemented — or at least planned to implement — mass testing in the country, as government officials earlier promised.
“I do not recall that mass testing was ever done. I think the mass testing, the word ‘mass’ is generic. I understand that even rt-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) can be used under that terminology of mass testing as well as the rapid antibody testing kits,” Duque said.
Buying overpriced equipment, errors in their data, and no mass testing. Boy the DOH is sure doing a bang-up job battling the pandemic.
Despite the rains brought by Ambo, residents of Kasiglahan Village in Rodriguez, Rizal lined up for the cash aid under the government's social amelioration program.
According to Maki Pulido's report on "24 Oras," residents seeking aid also gathered anew in front of the municipal hall of Rodriguez, no official had faced them.
Editha Hernandez, 82 years old, was also among the residents asking for help. Her only companion at home is her sibling, who had suffered from a stroke.
The family relied on food given by their neighbors. However, due to the long lockdown, they were no longer able to give food to the family.
GMA News tried to reach out to Mayor Dennis Hernandez to ask regarding residents, including senior citizens, who were asking for aid.
However, the mayor was not present. Officials from the municipal social welfare and development were also not around and were said to be busy distributing aid.
Well where is the mayor and the other officials?
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