It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has relieved another personnel at the Clark International Airport due to alleged involvement in human trafficking activities, Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Friday.
In an interview on Unang Balita, Sandoval said the third personnel has links to the illegal recruitment of Filipinos to work as crypto-scammers in Cambodia.
(The name of another individual who is assigned at the Clark International Airport came up during a meeting with BI heads at the airport yesterday, so we are now investigating three people.)
(We’re still at the initial stages of the investigation right now so we can’t disclose too much about what we have seen, but we received information that they might be linked to some human trafficking activities.)
On Thursday, Sandoval said that the BI has relieved two personnel from their post due to alleged human trafficking activities. One was stationed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport while the other was assigned to Clark.
Another BI employee has been received pending an investigation into actives involving human trafficking.
Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have arrested two former cops who were implicated in the kidnapping and killing of a lady merchant in the province of Nueva Ecija.
CIDG chief, Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat, identified the suspects as ex-Staff Sergeant June Marcelo Mallillin of Palayan town, and ex-Master Sergeant Rowen Reyes Martin, both members of Cabanatuan City police station.
Caramat said the suspects were arrested on Thursday at the RTC-Branch 24, Old Capitol Compound in Cabanatuan City by virtue of the Joint Judgment dated Jan. 18, 2023, issued by Presiding Judge Ana Marie Joson-Viterbo, charging them for the crime of kidnapping for ransom with homicide under Art 267 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Republic Act No. 7659.
“Our personnel in Nueva Ecija received a call from the said court to inform that they will issue their verdict against the accused. Our staff went there immediately, got a copy of the Joint Judgment and made the arrest,” Caramat said in a statement on Friday.
The 36-page Joint Judgment disclosed that the accused and their other co-accused were “confederating and conspiring with one another, mutually aiding and abetting one another with the use of firearms, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously kidnap and threaten to kill Nadia Motalib Casar, for the purpose of extorting a PHP100,000 ransom from her and her family, then killed, burned and buried her body, to the damage and prejudice of her family.”
“Also according to the said Joint Judgment, Casar and Grab driver Mark Nua Batac were abducted by the said accused on July 20, 2021 in Santa Rosa town, Nueva Ecija. They were detained in an undisclosed location and the lady victim was instructed to call her family to send money in exchange for her freedom. The Grab driver was released, but unfortunately, the victim’s burned cadaver was located and recovered 13 days after,” said Caramat.
Mallillin and Martin are now under the custody of the CIDG Nueva Ecija office pending the issuance of a commitment order from the court.
Two PNP officers have been arrested for kidnapping and murder.
Two former cops who were implicated in the kidnapping of a master agent of online cockfighting in Laguna when they were still in the service, have surrendered to members of the Philippine National Police's (PNP) anti-scalawag unit, a police official said on Saturday.
Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon, chief of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG), identified the two former cops as Rigel Brosas and Daryl Paghangaan, who were convinced to surrender after a series of negotiations on Thursday.
“After (a) series of negotiations, our Team 4A (Calabarzon) have convinced these two former PNP personnel to surrender and stop putting the image of the PNP in a bad light,” de Leon said in a statement.
He said Brosas surrendered at the Rizal municipal police station at 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 19, while Paghangaan surrendered five hours later at the Liliw municipal police station in Laguna.
The two, along with then patrolman Roy Navarrete, were charged with robbery and kidnapping with serious illegal detention.
Brosas, then a patrolman, and Paghangaan, then a staff sergeant, were among those who allegedly pretended to be agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) when they took Ricardo Lasco from his house in San Pablo City in Laguna on Aug. 30, 2021.
They were also accused of taking cash and other valuable personal belongings inside Lasco's house.
The arrested suspects were two of the three subjects of a warrant of arrest dated Jan. 17, 2023, issued by Presiding Judge Luvida Padolina Roque of the Regional Trial Court Branch 29 in San Pablo City Laguna, for the crime of robbery (with recommended bail set at PHP400,000 each); and kidnapping and serious illegal detention (with no bail recommended).
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Brosas and Paghangaaan, as well as Navarrete, were dismissed from the service last year after they were linked to Lasco’s kidnapping.
Two former cops have been arrested for kidnapping.
The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former mayor of Cortes, Bohol to 48 years of imprisonment for falsifying documents to liquidate her expenses in 2010.
In a 39-page decision promulgated on January 20, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division sentenced Apolinaria Balistoy to six years and one month to eight years in prison for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The court perpetually disqualified her from holding public office.
She was also ordered to indemnify the Municipality of Cortes in the amount of P20,779, with interest of 6% per annum until fully paid.
For each count of falsification, the Sandiganbayan sentenced her to four years and two months to up to 10 years of imprisonment. This totals up to 40 years of imprisonment for four counts of falsification.
The court also ordered Balistoy to pay a fine of P10,000 for each count.
The case stemmed from Balistoy’s utilization of falsified Certificates of Appearance for her unauthorized travels in Cebu City.
The Certificates of Appearance dated January 5, 20, and 21 in 2010 and February 4 and 5 in 2010 included the signature of Dr. Loreno Canapi of the Civil Service Commission. However, the court said Canapi had already retired in 2009.
A former mayor has been given 48 years in prison for falsifying documents related to her travel expenses.
A member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) was shot dead by a village official in Calbayog City on Saturday, Jan. 21.
Reports reaching the regional Philippine National Police headquarters based in Palo town, Leyte disclosed that the victim, Crisanto Domayan, 57, was killed by Noli Sameniano in P-5 Barangay Himalandrog, a remote village in Calbayog City at about 6:40 a.m.
Based on the investigation, the victim armed with a bolo locally known as “sundang,” tucked in his waist and with a homemade shotgun locally known as “doble zero” roamed the village and challenged anyone to a fight.
He then proceeded to the house of Sameniano, who at that time, was attending to the wake of his wife.
Sameniano got an unknown firearm and shot the victim several times which caused his immediate death.
Police operatives are now conducting a manhunt operation against Sameniano who fled after the incident.
A village official is wanted for shooting and killing a CAFGU member who was roaming the streets looking for a fight.
The village chief of Santo Domingo in Piat town, Cagayan province was killed by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen on Monday evening, Jan. 23, police said.
Investigators identified the barangay chairman as Richard Biraquit, 57, who had bullet wounds in his head and body.
According to initial reports, Biraquit and his wife had just left their farm and were heading home aboard a Toyota Fortuner when they were shot by the assailants using .45-caliber pistols at around 6 p.m.
Biraquit’s wife took him to the Nuestra Señora De Piat District Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, police said.
Investigators were still trying to establish the motive behind the attack.
A barangay chief has been assassinated.
The government may have been duped — or allowed itself to be duped — by entering into a P6-billion contract with a private firm that was tapped to audit the earnings of state-sanctioned offshore gaming operations, senators said on Monday.
At a joint hearing of the Senate committees on ways and means and public order, the lawmakers concluded that Global ComRCI, the third-party auditor chosen by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to examine the revenues of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) was not suited to the task.
“Bottom line is based on the documents and all of that, the third-party auditor is not credible, not capable… not qualified,” said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate ways and means committee.
“They do not even have simple things like (office) address and business permit so how do you expect us, the Filipino people, to believe that what they are supplying to us in the form of information is accurate?” he said.
“Like I said, it’s either you were tricked or allowed yourselves to be tricked,” he added, addressing Pagcor officials.
By choosing Global, Pagcor may have violated the “strict qualifications” of Republic Act No. 11590 for the external auditor of POGOs, such as being “independent, reputable, internationally known and duly-accredited… by industry experts,” the senator said.
The company, according to Gatchalian, submitted spurious documents to prove its financial and technical capability, did not secure business permits from the local governments where they purportedly operated, and did not have a proper office.
The firm tapped with auditing POGOs is vastly unqualified for the task and Senator Gatchilan thinks PACGOR might have been willingly duped. Another scandal unfolding.
The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has seized P300,000 from jail guards who kept that cash equivalent in GCash transfers sent by relatives of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).
In an interview with reporters on Monday, BuCor officer in charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. said he had heard about allegations of prison guards taking a percentage of the amounts sent by relatives of PDLs through the mobile wallet app.
Since the inmates have no mobile phones, the GCash transfers intended for them are sent to the guards instead.
But rather than give the inmates the cash equivalent of the transfers, the guards get a share of those amounts and even oblige the inmates to take loans at high interest.
“I’ve spoken to some of the inmates and they said, ‘Sir, please tell those who lend us money not to become loan sharks,’” Catapang said.
“They said, ‘Can the deductions be reduced? If we get P1,000, they take P100,’” he added.
Catapang said the P300,000 was confiscated from the jail guards on Jan. 12.
“[But] we discovered that a lot of money is being hidden in the employees’ lockers. Those [amounts] belonged to PDLs and were being kept by the guards,” he said.
Charges would be filed against the prison guards, who could face summary dismissal if found guilty.
Prison guards have been taking money from prisoners.
A barangay chairman in Tondo, Manila was accused of punching an employee of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday.
Barangay 51 captain Rommel Bravo allegedly punched a member of the agency’s clearing operations team, MMDA Task Force Special Operations and Anti-Colorum Unit head Bong Nebrija said.
The MMDA team was clearing the Mabuhay Lane along Dagupan extension in Tondo when the encounter happened.
Bravo reportedly intervened and stopped the MMDA personnel from removing the water compressor of his “vendo-car wash” supposedly because it provides additional funding for the barangay.
Nebrija said Bravo allegedly threatened them with the words, “Sige, subukan niyo kunin ‘yan. Sa barangay ‘yan. Magkakasubukan tayo.”
Nebrija said he reported the incident to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
A barangay chairman punched and threatened an MMDA employee.
The Office of the Governor of Negros Occidental has affirmed its decision, dismissing four employees of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist for using a government vehicle beyond office hours.
On Tuesday, a copy of the resolution, which was served by the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) to the respondents on Monday afternoon, showed that Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson denied the motion for reconsideration dated Jan. 17 to contest the original decision dated Jan. 3.
Ordered dismissed for an administrative case of grave misconduct were German Abihay and Ramelo Letran, both Engineer III; Rezin Palacios, Engineer I; and Maria Luisa Abano, project development assistant.
"After the resolution and upon receipt (of the copy), they have 15 days to file their appeal if they want to. It's their right to file before the Civil Service Commission regional office," Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr., who sits as the hearing officer and the signatory of the resolution, told reporters.
Records showed that the respondents made the driver wait for them until 8 p.m., after their official meeting at the Victorias City Hall on July 15, 2022 ended at 4:45 p.m., but they claimed that the discussion was continued in a nearby restaurant.
However, the driver "saw them engaging in a drinking spree", which the respondents also denied in the motion.
In the resolution, Nellas said "no new evidence has been discovered and submitted by the respondents" that "would materially alter or affect" the decision dated Jan. 3.
He noted that in the motion, "the facts of the case at hand and the arguments therein have only been reiterated from the position paper dated Oct. 27, 2023."
"Even though the respondents insist that the meeting at the restaurant was part of the official business, still, nothing was submitted or presented to support the claim," Nellas said.
The Governor of Negros Occidental has affirmed the firing of four capital workers for using a government vehicle to go on a drinking spree after hours.
No special treatment will be accorded to Police Senior Master Sgt. Darwin Nolasco who was tagged as the primary suspect in the killing of a couple here.
This was the assurance Wednesday of Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II director of the Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region.
“Rest assured that no special treatment shall be given to PSMS Nolasco in the course of the investigation and if proven guilty, the full force of the law will be applied upon him to give justice to the lives lost and forever shattered,” Labra said in a statement.
The Butuan City Police Office (BCPO) said Charlie and Mary Anne Añasco were gunned down by Nolasco on Monday night upon arrival at their house in Barangay Villa Kananga.
Initial investigation showed that jealousy and personal grudge are possible motives behind the killing of the couple, said Col. Marco Archinue, the city police director.
“We are now preparing charges of multiple murder against PSMS Nolasco as we go through the depths of this investigation,” Archinue said, adding that the suspect is now under the custody of the BCPO Police Station 1.
PNP officer has been charged with murder.
A former regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) accused of being involved in illegal drugs surrendered on Wednesday to the Philippine National Police regional office here.
Tagged as a high-value target, Erwin Ogario, former PDEA-National Capital Region (NCR) head, showed up at the office of PNP regional director Brig. Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil after receiving death threats.
“He showed up since he has been getting death threats. We just found out that he has a warrant of arrest issued by a court in Quezon City. His voluntary surrender manifests his trust and confidence in our system and leadership,” Marbil told reporters.
Marbil handcuffed Ogario after the reading of his warrant of arrest. After booking procedures, he will be turned over to the Quezon City court.
Ogario is facing charges over the importation of dangerous drugs violating Section 4, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Judge Elvira Panganiban of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 227 issued an arrest warrant against Ogario on Jan. 3, 2019.
Ogario was the PDEA regional director of NCR when he was dismissed from service in 2017 as part of the agency’s internal cleansing efforts.
He was held liable for obstruction of justice for facilitating the release of an arrested drug importer after claiming a parcel containing 1,358 ecstasy tablets at a post office in Pasay on June 29, 2015, without filing any criminal charge against the suspect.
In 2021, former President Rodrigo Duterte tagged Ogario as one of the PDEA officials who accepted bribes from arrested drug personalities to facilitate their release from detention and the dismissal of cases filed against them.
A former PDEA director has been arrested for drugs.
The Sandiganbayan has convicted of graft former Hilongos, Leyte vice mayor Panfilo O. Go and six other former town officials for their refusal to recognize the appointment of a member of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) in 1999.
Also convicted were former SB members Lamberto Rainier L. Flanco, Manuel M. Gabisan, Epifania Q. Nerves, Lilia M. Sabando, Edwin F. Faller, and Rogelio V. Yan.
They were sentenced to a jail term ranging from six to 10 years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office. The anti-graft court also ordered that their retirement or gratuity benefits be revoked.
Their co-accused, former mayor Altagracia R. Villaflor, was acquitted of the graft charge.
In filing the graft charge, the prosecution said that on June 15, 1999, the accused officials refused to recognize the appointment of Trinidad C. Cabardo as SB member. Cabardo’s appointment was issued by former Leyte governor Remedios L. Petilla.
During trial, the accused told the court that they did not act with manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross negligence when they refused to recognize the appointment of Cabardo and ordered the withholding of her salary.
They insisted during the trial that they had a well-founded belief that her appointment was flawed and not in accordance with the law.
But the Sandiganbayan said: “Accused’s actions, taken together, show that their refusal is hinged heavily on Ms. Cabardo’s previous political affiliation.”
“In fact, accused Faller admitted that he believes that Ms. Cabardo is not qualified for the position simply because she is a former Liberal Party member and thus cannot be a member in good standing of the Lakas Party,” the court said.
It added that no other evidence was presented to show valid or justifiable grounds for their refusal to recognize Cabardo’s appointment.
Seven former Leyte officials have been convicted of graft for refusing to recognize the appoint of and withholding the salary of an SB member because of her party affiliation.
The Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) has recommended the dismissal from the service of a police sergeant who was arrested in an operation that yielded PHP6.7 billion worth of shabu in Manila in October last year.
IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo said they have submitted to the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management on Jan. 9 the recommendation to dismiss Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., a member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group Special Operations Unit in the National Capital Region.
"It is now upon the discretion of the Chief PNP (Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.), whether he will uphold or reverse the decision. We respect that," he said in a phone interview with reporters.
Triambulo said Mayo's benefits would be forfeited, his eligibility will be revoked and he will be perpetually disqualified from holding any other government posts once he is dismissed from the service.
Azurin, meanwhile, said he has yet to read the copy of the IAS' recommendation.
"For as long as they (IAS) have the recommendation, the result of the investigation is already for my approval. We will still have to check if the recommended punishment is appropriate for the supposed offense he (May) had committed," Azurin said on the sidelines of the National Day of Remembrance for the 44 PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) police commandos at Camp Crame.
Reacting to the report that Mayo did not submit a counter-affidavit during the IAS probe, Azurin said it was tantamount to waiving all his rights in the investigation.
"So we cannot fault whatever the recommendation of the IAS because they are investigating an administrative case. I think it is Sgt. Mayo's fault that he did not submit any counter-affidavit," he said.
He said the investigation as to who ordered the return of Mayo to PDEG is ongoing.
A cop arrested last year for drugs has been recommend for dismissal.
The special investigation task group (SITG) of the Police Regional Office in Davao Region (PRO-11) identified Wednesday a high-ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the mastermind in the killing of businesswoman Yvonette Plaza.
Brig. Gen. Benjamin Silo Jr., PRO-11 director, said they have sufficient evidence to charge Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, the Army's 1001st Infantry Brigade (1001IBde) commander, for murder and obstruction of justice in the killing of Plaza.
Plaza was shot at close range by motorcycle riding in tandem gunmen in front of her rented house at Green Meadow Subdivision in Tugbok District here on Dec. 28, 2022.
Based on the testimonies of two witnesses, Silo said Durante masterminded Plaza's killing because the victim was trying to blackmail the Army official with "sensitive information." He did not elaborate.
“These two extrajudicial confessions have interlocked, so I think we have a very strong case against the mastermind,” Silo said in a press briefing here.
Silo was referring to the testimonies of the gunman, Sgt. Delfin Sialsa Jr., and another unnamed witness.
Sialsa and five other soldiers under the 1001Bde have been charged with murder, along with a certain Noel Japitan, who was allegedly instructed to dismantle and change the color of the motorcycle used in Plaza's killing.
Police also charged with murder Col. Michael Licyayo, the deputy brigade commander of 1001IB, who allegedly instructed Sialsa and the other suspects to kill Plaza.
Silo said Licyayo also provided the logistics to carry out the murder.
The other suspects are identified as Staff Sgt. Gilbert Plaza, the alleged team leader, Cpl. Adrian Cachero, the motorcycle driver, Cpl. Rolly Cabal and Cpl. Romart Longakit who allegedly acted as lookouts, Alias Jr., and Alias Master Sergeant who allegedly modified the barrel of the caliber .45 used in the killing.
An army general has been tagged as the mastermind behind the murder of a businesswoman which was carried out by officers under his command.
Instead of the barangay hall, the 2 barangay members of Barangay 573, Zone 53 of Sampaloc, Manila will now stay in jail after being caught with illegal drugs last night.
According to P/SSGt. Carlo John Quijano of the SDEU-Sampaloc Police Station, one of the suspects is the target of their buy-bust operation.
After he transacted with the police who pretended to be a poseur buyer, the suspect brothers arrived and were handed a plastic sachet of suspected shabu.
Here the three suspects were arrested and eight grams of illegal drugs were confiscated from them.
After the suspects were caught, the barangay captain went to the police station to verify the report. It is said that he knows nothing about the work of his members.
The suspects will be charged with violation of R.A. 9165 or Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.
Two barangay councilors have been arrested for drugs.
After 22 years in hiding, a suspect in the double murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito has been arrested, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
The suspect, a former police officer, was identified as William Flores Reed, now 57 years old. He was arrested in Barangay Poblacion in Pulilan, Bulacan.
Reed has a pending arrest warrant dated May 25, 2001, and signed by Judge Rodolfo Ponferrada of Branch 41 of the Manila Regional Trial Court, the NCRPO said.
The double murder took place on Nov. 24, 2000, in Makati.
Flores is on the national list of Most Wanted Persons with a P250,000 reward on his head.
The suspect was served his warrant of arrest and is currently detained in the Regional Special Operations Group’s detention facility.
The Dacer-Corbito double murder case was highly controversial, as it implicated several persons in power, including then-President Joseph Estrada and former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was then chief of the Philippine National Police.
A former cop has been arrested for a murder which took place in 2000 and implicated high officials including the Chief of the PNP and the President.
The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its decision that convicted former Quezon City councilor and television host and actor Roderick M. Paulate and his driver and liaison officer, Vicente E. Bajamunde, in the hiring of “ghost” employees in 2010.
With the ruling, the anti-graft court denied the motions filed by Paulate and Bajamunde against the judgment of conviction handed down on Nov. 25, 2022.
The decision imposed on them a prison term ranging from six to eight years for graft. They were also ordered to indemnify, jointly and severally, the Quezon City government P1,109,000 which was used to hire the “ghost” employees.
Paulate was also convicted in nine falsification charges and ordered to pay a fine of P10,000 for each count. He was also sentenced to a prison term of six months and one day to six years and one day for each case of falsification of public documents.
Bajamunde, on the other hand, was acquitted of his falsification charges for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
In their motion for reconsideration, they argued that they had no knowledge that the job contractors were fictitious. They added that there was no attempt on the part of the prosecution to prove that they knew they (the job contractors) did not exist.
Paulate said that he saw people working. But he told the court he did not know the workers by their names and faces. He insisted that it was an “absurdity and impossibility” that he should have checked and verified each of the job contractors since he had no reason to believe they were fictitious.
However, the Sandiganbayan junked the allegations in a resolution issued last Jan. 23. “The court maintains its findings that the prosecution sufficiently established that it was accused who falsified or caused the falsification of the personal date sheets, job order contracts, and general payrolls.”
“In view of the foregoing, the court finds no cogent reason to warrant the reconsideration of the assailed decision,” the court ruled.
The conviction of an ex Quezon City councilor and his driver for graft concerning ghost employees has been upheld by the Sandiganbayan.
