This series posts on Friday and the weekend is usually slow but come Monday it's full blast and by Friday this space is once again full of the silliest things happening in Philippine politics.
THE Office of the Ombudsman Visayas has suspended for six months without pay two public officials in Asturias, Cebu for helping their relatives secure sand, gravel and quarry permits.
“Respondents violated Sec. 7(a) of RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees). They have a material interest in the quarry business which required the approval (of the town council),” read Callao’s 11-page decision.
It's a major conflict of interest when you have the town invest in a business which will benefit you or your relatives. A very common scam here in the Philippines.
What a drama queen!
A phone conversation gave her away, President Duterte said on Friday referring to Filipino-American businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis’ allegedly conspiring with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have him prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
In a press briefing at the Matina Enclaves Residences here, Duterte claimed he had prior knowledge of the ICC initiative as early as Tuesday, based on the transcript of a phone conversation between Lewis and an unnamed individual.
“I was already listening to the tapes of their conversation. It was provided to me by another country but the conversation was in Philippines and New York,” the President said at Friday’s press conference.
“Loida (Lewis) was one of them. And there was this, ‘See you in the headquarters when the case is filed.’ Blah blah blah blah blah blah,” Duterte added. “From the looks of it, it’s all politics,” he pointed out, referring to the ICC initiative.
This story is problematic on many levels. First of all Duterte does not tell what the plot is. Allegedly he has a transcript of a conversation between Loida Lewis and an unnamed person where they say "See you at headquarters." Headquarters? Is that the secret NYC office Loida operates from or is that the ICC building or is that somewhere else? Secondly these charges before the ICC were filed months ago and Duterte welcomed them.
Thirdly, if this true, Duterte is admitting that a foreign power, likely China, is monitoring telecommunications in the Philippines. That is extremely disturbing and if Duterte was really handed a transcript of a private phone call from a foreign power and willingly accepted it rather than excoriate and expose said nation for spying then he is complicit in spying on the Filipino people.
The case arose from the discrepancies in the registration of the deeds of sale for six parcels of land bought from November 1996 to July 1997, defrauding the government of the corresponding capital gains taxes.
This is a cut and dry instance of land fraud. The interesting thing is the case is 22 years old!
During her tenure as Governor of Cebu this lady purchased a property and then contracted some of it out. Apparently the contract was not above board and she had no authority to enter into the contract. Now it's up to the Speaker of the House to implement the dismissal order.
Uh-oh!
"While we respect the findings of the Ombudsman based on the merits of the case, only Congress may suspend or remove its members based on the former's anti-graft and corruption rulings," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.
In a press briefing, he said he considers Garcia his "best friend forever" and he cannot be impartial.
Roque also said the House would have to get a vote of two-thirds to expel her.
LOL! This lady isn't going anywhere soon.
Andy Bautista has been MIA since November 2017. Rumour has it that he left he country and will never return. He's definitely in hiding somewhere doing the best he can to avoid answering for his alleged ill-gotten wealth.
Why not just shoot them (female NPA rebels) in the head? It would be much more effective.
“I want voters to think that the odds are against me. I have the element of surprise on my side. I want to be underestimated. This type of situation appeals to me,” explained Osmeña when asked about her run against Rep. Jackie Speier.
“I am actually running now as an immigrant. That will be one of my attributes. I am an immigrant and a political refugee. It is front and center in how I am describing myself, which is absolutely true. Republicans adore the Founding Fathers and the flag and freedom. These ideas don’t have a skin color. That’s why I am their candidate here—me, a little brown immigrant woman.”
American politics is already messed up without adding Filipinos to the mix. Just read that second paragraph again and again. Vote for me the little brown immigrant woman. It also turns out that one of her clansmen has been implicated in a murder plot.
Remember the brouhaha over the PCSO's Christmas party last year? Well Duterte has said everything was fine and above board. What a relief for Balutan, eh?
Duterte did not elaborate what case he would file against Licuanan. To date, his administration is yet to file a case against officials he sacked for corruption.
It's always interesting how the details keep coming on certain scandals. Just when you think all has been revealed....wait! there's more! If this lady really was corrupt then a case should have been filed against her. So much for Duterte being serious against corruption if he simply let's people get away with corruption.
Superintendent Gilbert Gorero, spokesperson of PRO-6, said on Sunday that police officers should double their efforts to provide much better services to the people as they are now well-compensated following their recent salary increase.
“They know that sleeping and being lazy in their work are not allowed or else they’ll be penalized,” he added.
Last Wednesday, four station commanders and their 14 men were caught either sleeping or having a drinking session while on duty, during the surprise inspection of National Capital Region Police Office director Oscar Albayalde in several police stations in Pasay, Makati and Muntinlupa.
Really blows my mind that anyone thinks increasing the pay of corrupt and lazy cops is going to decrease corruption and laziness.
A worthless program which will absolutely not stop desperate and degenerate parents from selling their children online. A complete waste of time. Virtue signaling at it's finest.
The Philippines remains the number 1 global source of online child pornography.
The Davao City Council declared opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV "persona non grata" after the lawmaker called President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown the most dangerous city in the Philippines.
Trillanes said Davao City was number one in terms of murder and rape cases when Duterte served as mayor, and that residents there were "so brainwashed into believing" that the city was among the safest places to live in the world.
Al-ag said Trillanes' statement was "an insult to the 1.6 million Dabawenyos who are working hard every day to make our city safe."
Poor Sen. Trillanes. Not only has the ombudsman scrapped the investigation into Duterte's wealth but now he is persona non grata in Davao. Will the Davao City Council also be declaring the PNP persona non grata?
No they won't because apparently the PNP has disavowed their very own statistics.
Not only is Duterte a drama queen but now he is spewing blasphemous oaths!
This lady has been travelling a lot and bringing useless companions like her make-up artist, driver, and office helpers to "conduct inventory of DOT foreign offices." Can she not apply her own make-up? Why are there DOT offices in other countries and why can't the employees of those offices do inventory themselves? Are they that busy or just that useless? What are they inventorying exactly? Office supplies? Will we be seeing those documents? A lot of questions to be asked here and it all stinks but don't count on this lady being removed from her office.
Is Duterte really going to withdraw from the GSP+ preferential trade program which abolishes tariffs on 60% of imported goods to the EU and is a boon to Filipino businesses? Is he really going to put a burden on Filipino businesses just because of his pride? I have said before that he should withdraw from this program because otherwise he is massive hypocrite and I stand by those words.
The answer of course is yes.
The Philippines is so corrupt that the Ombudsman had to suspend all 4 executives of the ERC but then the CA and to halt the suspension because there was no one to run the ERC since no one has been appointed to replace them! That is a catch-22.
They will never root out corruption from the PNP.
HAHA! Don't they get it yet? China doesn't care what the Philippines thinks.
First the Palace objects then they say don't worry about it because siopao. It's way too early for April fool's day.
Every time there is a tragedy be it earthquake, terrorist attack, or plane crash the DFA has to issue an alert letting us all know that no Filipino's were harmed. Why? What's the point? Why not just be quiet about it unless Filipinos actually were harmed? Really it just goes to show that Filipinos are EVERYWHERE!
