Retards in the Government 265

It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.

  

 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177486

The Sandiganbayan has convicted four Guiuan, Eastern Samar municipal officials to up to 8 years imprisonment for graft but cleared the mayor in connection with irregularities in the purchase of a fire truck worth PHP2.1 million without public bidding.

The June 22 decision convicted municipal budget officer Esperanza Cotin, planning development officer Ma. Nenita Ecleo, and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Felipe Padual and Danilo Colandog for their failure to comply with procurement laws which constitutes gross inexcusable negligence and resulted in unwarranted advantage to the private supplier.

Then-mayor Annaliza Gonzales-Kwan was acquitted for the prosecution’s failure to prove her guilt, along with the cases against BAC chair and municipal engineer Arsenio Salamida and member Gilberto Labicane, who had died.

The charges arose from the contract entered into by the municipality in 2007 for the purchase of a remanufactured fire truck without public bidding as required by Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

Among other things, the court said there had been no proof of an “emergency” which would have justified the negotiated procurement  of the fire truck without bidding, adding that “the possible occurrence of fire does not constitute a calamity that presents an imminent danger to the local government unit’s constituents.”

Four town executives have been convicted for irregularities in the purchase of a fire truck without public bidding. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177521

Three days after the slaying of a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chair here, another village official was killed by still unidentified assailants on Friday night.

Police said Florencio Cagas, the incumbent chief of Barangay Sto. Niño, was gunned down at around 7:10 p.m. in Purok 7 of the said village.

The victim succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on arrival at a private hospital here.

In a statement Saturday, the Liga ng mga Barangay (League of Villages) Butuan described the victim as good-natured.

“Hopefully, justice will be served soon,” the group said, while calling on authorities to fast-track the investigation.

A barangay captain has been assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons. 

https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/26/village-dad-in-quezon-carrying-out-civic-duty-shot-dead/

Police have launched a hot pursuit operation against a man who shot and killed a barangay councilor and wounded a barangay tanod (watchman) in Sitio Tangke, Barangay Masalukot III here Saturday, June 25.

Police Lt. Col. Arnulfo Silencio, Candelaria police chief, identified the fatality as Mario Mendoza, 59, a councilor of Barangay Masalukot III, and the wounded as Danilo Evangelista, 57, barangay tanod, of Sitio Ibaba, Barangay Masalukot III.

Investigation showed that the victims and residents of the barangay were conducting a cleanup activity in Sitio Tangke at around 9 a.m. when the unidentified suspect arrived.

He drew a handgun and shot Mendoza several times in the body while Evangelista was hit by stray bullets in both legs.

Another barnagay councilor assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons. 

https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/27/davao-de-oro-barangay-chairman-shot-dead/

Authorities have formed a special task force to look into the killing of a barangay chairman in Monkayo, Davao de Oro Sunday, June 26.

In a statement Monday, June 27, the Police Regional Office in Davao Region (PRO-11) said two unidentified gunmen attacked Barangay Mount Diwata chairman Pedro Samillano Jr. outside his home in Barangay Poblacion.

Samillano, 62, was about to get out of his car when two men on a motorcycle shot him at around 8:32 p.m.

“(The attackers) came riding a motorcycle and parked meters away from the victim’s vehicle and one of them got off the motorcycle, approached the victim, and shot him several times,” police said.

Samillano was brought to the Davao De Oro Provincial Hospital in Montevista but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

A barangay chairman was assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1617086/masbate-barangay-kagawad-shot-dead

A barangay kagawad or village councilor was shot and killed in Milagros, Masbate on Sunday night, authorities said.

The Masbate police said Edison Rosero, 55, a resident of Barangay (village) Capaculan, was shot by two assailants in the said area at around 8:30 p.m.

Based on the initial investigation, the victim was watching a basketball tournament at the village plaza when the suspects appeared from behind and shot the victim on the head. 

Rosero died on the spot.

Another barangay councilor has been assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177690

Law enforcers here have launched a manhunt against two men who shot dead a councilor of Barangay Labungan Monday afternoon.

Lt. Guiseppe Tamayo, municipal deputy police chief, said Tuesday local authorities are pursuing a lead that will hopefully result in the arrest of the perpetrators.

“The pursuit is ongoing,” Tamayo said, as he declined to comment further so as not to jeopardize their operation.  

Reports said Councilor Macmod Masiangal was walking toward the village hall when two men riding in tandem on a motorbike appeared from behind and shot him.

The crime scene is about two kilometers away from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

Masiangal was the first village official killed this year, and the second since October last year when a councilor of Pandag, Maguindanao was also killed in an ambush in this town.

Another village councilor assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/27/22/customs-da-officials-mayors-tagged-in-agri-smuggling

At least three ranking officials of the Department of Agriculture, five from the Bureau of Customs, and two local officials were among those named in a Senate report as the "alleged protectors and smugglers of agricultural products in the country."

The supposed report was forwarded to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on May 17, 2022, or more than a month after the Senate Committee of the Whole ended its investigation on the non-stop entry of smuggled agricultural products in the country.

The list also tagged a certain Toby Tiangco as "BFAR products, smuggling protector."

There was also one "Mayor Jun Diamante" followed by the words “all agri products playing in port of Davao, CDO, Cebu, Subic."

Ten government officials of varying levels have been accused of smuggling agricultural products in the country.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177620

The Sandiganbayan cleared former Bacolod City mayor Luzviminda Valdez of malversation, falsification and graft but was ordered to return excess reimbursement of expenses.

Court records showed that Valdez cases’ stemmed from alleged overpayments covered by alterations in disbursement vouchers (DVs) in 2004.

Sheila Portal and Mylene Romero of the Commission on Audit Region VI in Iloilo testified that the cash slips were altered/falsified to enable Valdez to claim/receive reimbursement from the government amounting to PHP279,150 instead of only PHP4,843, or an aggregate overclaim of PHP274,306.

In a decision dated June 24, the court noted that “there was no evidence presented by the prosecution to prove that the accused Valdez is the actual author of the falsification alleged, or that other persons altered or falsified the supporting documents under her instructions, to corroborate her claims for reimbursement”.

It said “even if Valdez is to be acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the court deems it proper to order her to reimburse the local government unit of Bacolod City of the amounts she secured as reimbursement in the DVs”.

The court said the prosecution failed to identify the actual forger and merely identified Valdez as the presumptive author simply because she benefitted from the reimbursements

The former mayor of Bacolod has been cleared of graft charges but is ordered to return the excessive reimbursements she received.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177926

The Sandiganbayan meted a fine to a former Abra town mayor over the unauthorized use of the town’s internal revenue allotment (IRA) meant for development projects to rehabilitate its municipal hall in 2011.

In a 31-page decision dated June 28 and written by Associate Justice Kevin Narce Vivero, the anti-graft court held former mayor Christopher Mallari Sr. of Licuan-Baay municipality liable for two counts of technical malversation and sentenced him to pay a fine of PHP160,000 in total for both charges.

“Everything considered, the Court finds that the prosecution sufficiently established all the elements of the crime charged. However, there being no proof of damage or embarrassment to the public service as a result of the misapplication of the subject funds, the Court rules that the accused should be sentenced to pay a fine equivalent to up to fifty percent of the sum misapplied,” the court ruled.

Under the Local Government Code, each local government unit (LGU) shall appropriate in its annual budget no less than 20 percent of its IRA for development projects “for desirable social, economic and environmental outcomes essential to the attainment of the constitutional objective of a quality of life for all.”

The court noted the accused’s decision to use the municipality’s development funds amounting to PHP1.2 million and PHP2 million for the years 2011 and 2012, respectively, to rehabilitate the town’s municipal hall is generally considered an administrative expense and not a development project.

In 2010, the Department of the Interior and Local Government issued a memorandum reiterating that the development fund under the IRA should not be instead used for other non-developmental expenses such as “to construct, repair and refinish” administrative offices of LGUs

An ex-mayor has been fined for misusing funds.