It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/23/sandigan-affirms-conviction-of-ex-mayor-3-others/ |
The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of former Mayor Laurencia S. Edma of San Fernando town in Bukidnon and three other persons in the irregular purchase of heavy equipment for P14 million in 2004.
Affirmed was Edma’s conviction in one graft charge and three falsification charges. Former municipal accountant Felipa A. Catanus was convicted of one graft charge, while state auditor Carlito S. Matias was convicted of three falsification charges. Private individual and Mindanao Philippine Sunday Journal proprietor Bernardita G. Basay was found guilty of two counts of falsification.
They were charged and convicted in the purchase of a brand-new soil compactor from Monark Equipment Corporation through direct contracting instead of public bidding, which was a violation of the Government Procurement Act.
Despite their claim that the purchased heavy equipment in question was delivered in good condition which belied the existence of any irregularity in the procurement, their motion to reconsider their conviction was denied by the anti-graft court.
The court ruled that there was no merit in their motion and reiterated that the prosecution was able to overturn the presumption of good faith and regularity of performance of official functions.
“The accused public officials of San Fernando deliberately resorted to the alternative mode of direct contracting, in disregard of the general requirement to hold public or competitive bidding of the heavy equipment in question,” the court’s resolution stated.
“The non-compliance with conducting public bidding thus produced a snowball effect, which accumulated further violations of law,” the court stressed.
The convictions of a former mayor and three others over irregular purchase of heavy equipment has been upheld by the Sandiganbayan.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1708885/quezon-village-chief-faces-raps-for-indiscriminate-gun-firing-on-christmas-eve |
Police are looking for a village chief in San Antonio town in Quezon province who escaped on Christmas Eve after firing a gun multiple times.
Quezon police reported on Sunday, Dec. 25, that a group was celebrating their Christmas party around 4:30 p.m. at the covered court in Barangay Balat Atis when the wife of chief Jose Ferdinand Castillo arrived and informed them that her husband was summoning them.
Rose Yen Carreon and seven other members of the group proceeded to the house of Castillo.
When the group was having a conversation with Catalina Castillo, the wife of the barangay chief, the village official fired his handgun several times as he shouted invectives and ordered his wife to drive the group away.
The police are conducting more investigation as formal complaints of alarms and scandal through illegal discharge of firearms are being prepared against Castillo.
Castillo, who left after the incident, remains at large, said the report.
A village chief is facing charges for firing his gun in the air on Christmas Eve.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/26/cop-fatally-shoots-wife-at-police-station-in-cebu-on-christmas-day/ |
A police officer fatally shot his wife inside a police station in the City of Naga, southern Cebu on Christmas Day.
Lt. Col. Junnel Caadlawon, chief of the City of Naga police, identified the victim as Heronia Mata, a 39-year-old teacher.
Heronia showed up at the police station to file a complaint against her husband, Staff Sgt. Fernando Mata, 35.
Police said Heronia was inside the Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) processing her complaint when Fernando barged in at 2:40 p.m. and repeatedly shot his wife with his service firearm.
Fernando did not resist arrest. His service firearm was found on top of a table inside the office.
The victim died on the way to the hospital.
Caadlawon said the couple had an argument in their home in Barangay Tuyan, City of Naga before the victim went to the police station to file a complaint against Fernando.
Heronia had previously filed a complaint against her husband after she was allegedly beaten several times. No charges were filed against the suspect after their differences were settled.
A charge for parricide will be filed against the suspect, Caadlawon said.
A cop who beat his wife but was never charged has been charged with her murder.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1709460/cop-arrested-for-illegal-firearm-discharge-in-batangas |
A police officer was arrested for indiscriminately firing his service firearm in Rosario, Batangas on Monday.
The Batangas police reported on Tuesday that Police Staff Master Sergeant Ronald Pamis, 36, assigned at Camp Crame’s Health Services Department, was nabbed by local police officers after residents of Barangay Bulihan complained of his alleged indiscriminate firing at around 8:30 p.m.
The responding police officer seized his loaded .9mm caliber pistol.
Pamis was placed under police custody and will be face an appropriate formal complaint.
A cop has been busted for indiscriminately charging his firearm.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1709691/sc-p83-m-philhealth-execs-benefits-illegal-irregular |
The Supreme Court has affirmed a Commission on Audit (COA) ruling that disallowed the granting by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) of P83.06 million in educational assistance and birthday gift benefits to its officials and employees in 2014, calling these “illegal and irregular.”
In a 21-page decision dated Sept. 27 that was made public only recently, the high tribunal dismissed PhilHealth’s petition, which challenged COA’s ruling issued in 2018 and affirmed in 2019.It also found the payees and officers who approved or certified the grant of the benefits liable for the disbursements and said they must refund the “corresponding amounts received in error.”
Citing a recent case involving PhilHealth and COA, the high court had categorically declared that the disbursements of various PhilHealth benefits, including the educational assistance allowance and birthday gift, lacked legal basis.
The beneficiaries were officials and employees in the PhilHealth head office, as well as those in the National Capital Region and Rizal regional offices. The COA, in its ruling, called PhilHealth’s arguments devoid of merit. The state health insurer had reiterated its fiscal autonomy as a government financial institution, saying the board had fixed its own compensation system while the benefits were a product of negotiations between management and employees.
But the high court reiterated its rejection of PhilHealth’s fiscal autonomy as justification for the payment of additional allowances and benefits as it cited several other previous disallowance cases against the agency. “However, it is already settled that PhilHealth does not have absolute discretion in determining the compensation of its officials,” it said in its ruling, citing a 2016 jurisprudence.
“That PhilHealth’s fiscal autonomy had been purportedly confirmed by the Chief Executive and the OGCC (Office of the Government Corporate Counsel), as PhilHealth argues, cannot undermine the consistent and unequivocal court pronouncements,” it added.
The high tribunal said that “at this point, there should no longer be any question that PhilHealth is not exempted from the application of the Salary Standardization Law.”
“Its power to fix personnel compensation is limited and must necessarily yield to the state policy of ‘equal pay for equal work.’ Thus, any disbursement of allowances and other forms of employee compensation must conform with prevailing rules and regulations issued by the President of the Philippines and/or the [Department of Budget and Management],” it added.
The disbursement of funds by PhilHealth in the guise of birthday gifts and educational assistance has been ruled illegal and irregular by the Supreme Court.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1709782/pampanga-barangay-captain-shot-dead |
A barangay captain was shot dead by a lone gunman in this city on Tuesday night .
Barangay Sto. Rosario captain Jesus Liang was walking across the newly renovated public market when the male gunman approached and shot him in the head at around 8:30 p.m. before fleeing on foot toward V. Tiomico St., Lieutenant Colonel Preston Bagangan, city police chief, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Liang, 63, was on his third and last term.
Bagangan said a team has been dispatched to gather footage from security cameras in the area while an investigation is underway.
A barnagay captain has been assassinated.
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| https://www.philstar.com/nation/2022/12/29/2234053/school-principal-killed-pigcawayan-ambush |
Unidentified attackers killed a public school principal in an ambush in Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province.
Police Maj. Andres Sumugat, Pigcawayan municipal police chief, told reporters Thursday that Regina Cortez, 46, died on the spot from bullet wounds.
Cortez was riding a motorcycle on her way home when she was shot by gunmen positioned along a stretch of the highway in Crossing Tubon area.
Her attackers escaped on a motorcycle.
Probers from the Pigcawayan Municipal Police Station are still trying to determine who killed Cortez and why.
A school principal has been assassinated.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1709971/negros-oriental-solon-bares-assassination-plot-against-him-family-members |
A congressman in Negros Oriental on Tuesday claimed he received an information that three active scout rangers were sent to the province to assassinate him and two other members of his family.
Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. of Negros Oriental’s third district said the targets include him; his brother and former Negros Oriental Gov. Henry Teves; and his son and former Board Member Kurt Matthew Teves.
Teves said he recorded a video message on his Facebook page to inform President Marcos, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. and Secretary Roman Felix of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs that he received an “A1 information” of the assassination plot.
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Army 3rd Infantry Division commander, said he had not received any information on Teves’ claims but will look into the matter.
Teves, in his video, said he was informed that the three scout rangers are in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, and their target are members of the Teves camp.
Their targets are likely the Teveses and their political allies, he said.
The information Teves received was that the three scout rangers received P250,000 each in down payment and “they were promised P40 million for the three heads.”
Teves also alleged that 50 M-16 rifles purchased by his political opponents were brought to Negros Oriental from Negros Occidental.
“They have also recruited a lot of people from the hinterlands,” he said.
Teves asked why the Army and police have not arrested the people behind the bringing in of the firearms and the conduct of the recruitment activities.
He said policemen reportedly escorted the transport of the firearms.
Teves also said his brother, Henry, was followed to a restaurant at Bonifacio Global City by five persons with Army cut hair.
The five men surrounded the area where his brother was and it was a good thing his men noticed their presence and he was able to escape.
A Congressman claims he has received word that there is an assassination plot against him and his family involving the military and the police as well as his political rivals.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1191655 |
The Supreme Court has suspended a former provincial governor from the practice of law for one year for interfering in the service of a warrant against a former barangay chairman on drug charges.
In a resolution published online Dec. 19, the high tribunal has ordered the suspension from the practice of law of former Siquijor governor Orlando A. Fua Jr. for interfering in the arrest of his childhood friend, James Largo, the former barangay captain of Tigbawan, Lazi town, who was included in the watch list of top drug personalities of the province.
The administrative complaint against Fua was filed by then chief of the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch (PIIB) of Siquijor Police Provincial Office, Reynaldo Valmoria, in connection with the implementation in 2010 of a search warrant issued by the Larena, Siquijor regional trial court (RTC Branch 46) against Largo.
According to the complaint, while the warrant was being served at Largo’s residence on Nov. 24, 2010, then governor Fua arrived and obstructed with the service of the warrant.
Fua, the complaint said, “shielded the suspect from arrest by vigorously trying to prevent and restrain the raiding team from taking him (Largo) into custody, insisting that the suspect should be left behind.
He was also accused of making unsavory remarks against some members of the arresting team.
Fua, for his part, claimed that he went to the house of his friend after he received a text message.
In 2013, the Ombudsman found Fua guilty of grave misconduct and ordered his dismissal from the service, and in 2017, the Sandiganbayan promulgated a decision finding Fua guilty of obstruction of justice and sentenced him to a fine of PHP6,000 and perpetual disqualification from holding any public office.
The SC noted that court records have shown that the search was implemented properly and in compliance with the rules.
“Interference in a legitimate police procedure was certainly not part of his duties as a provincial governor. Nor was it appropriate for him to act as a private lawyer to Largo since he was the incumbent provincial governor at that time,” said the SC as it found the lawyer guilty of having violated the lawyer’s oath and the code of professional responsibility.
Aside from the one-year suspension from the practice of law, the SC also “sternly warned” that a repetition of the same offense or similar acts will be dealt with more severely.
A former governor has been banned from practicing law because he violated the lawyers oath and the code of professional responsibility when, while as governor, he interfered with the arrest of a barangay captain who was his friend.
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