Murdered village officials, crooked cops, politicians charged with graft, politicians charged with drug offences. It's just a regular week in the political life of the Philippines.
Actor and Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate Friday posted a bail bond of P246,000 for criminal charges over his alleged hiring of ghost employees in 2010.
It was in January 2016, when the ombudsman ordered Paulate's dismissal from service for administrative offenses of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct over the alleged hiring of ghost contractors.
In December 2016, however, the Court of Appeals granted Paulate's petition for review and overturned the ombudsman's ruling.
Interesting that he was dismissed from service for misconduct related to the hiring of ghost contractors, had his dismissal overturned and was reinstated back into office, and is now being charged for graft and fraud over hiring ghost contractors.
Venturina is the third village official to be killed on the run up to the May 14 village polls.
More political violence.
Delos Santos said the four suspects were arrested during the serving of warrants of arrest against 15 persons, including the village chair for kidnapping for ransom, murder and frustrated homicide because they yielded firearms.
The village chair and the other targets had eluded arrest during the raid.
The village chairman wanted for kidnapping and murder! He got away this time but perhaps he is going to negotiate for his surrender like what happened last week with a village chief in Bukidnon.
The Mayor fell into the water with Negros Occidental Representative Albee Benitez, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat, and other local officials.
In an interview on CNN Philippines Balitaan, Climaco said what happened to them was not the only mishap in the housing area.
"A few minutes later, another bridge fell in that same site," she explained.
Climaco said she does not want these to happen to recipients of the units.
"We became ourselves, first-hand victims of the utilization of substandard materials and building projects," she said.
Substandard materials in building projects? Say it ain't so! It's always a scam in the Philippines!
82 cities, towns, and villages, and potential hotspots of political violence in the Philippines!
The police should never sleep or enter the hotels and other business establishments even if they had been invited by the owners, Albayalde said on Thursday.
“They can instead sleep on the beach … to avoid any [malicious speculations],” the PNP chief said, adding that the police might even be blamed should anything go missing in the establishments.
Senior Supt. Jesus Cambay Jr., commander of the Metro Boracay Police Task Force, said several establishments had offered to house the additional police force but that the PNP had opted to decline the offers.
“The police might be staying in establishments that would turn out to be violating environmental rules and regulations,” Cambay told the Inquirer.
Policemen assigned on the island before the closure order are already staying in boarding houses and in police quarters, including those beside the Boracay substation, Cambay said.
The additional policemen are staying in the elementary schools of Balabag and Yapak villages, and in the Manoc-Manoc village multipurpose complex, he added.
At least 630 policemen, including members of elite units and antiriot teams, are deployed in Boracay, posted in 16 entry points along the main road and shoreline of the island and other strategic areas.
You would think the PNP would have sleeping arraignments all figured out before they deployed extra police to Boracay. If the closure lasts 4-6 months where will these cops be staying when school starts once more?
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Asis was the latest in 11 cases of election-related violence nationwide since April 14.
The killing of Asis was the first in Western Visayas, officials said.
“As of now, we are treating the case as a suspected ERVI (election related violent incidence),” regional police spokesperson Chief Insp. Joem Malong said.
Asis was on a motorcycle driven by his nephew Joselito Casila when two people riding another motorcycle drove alongside and shot the victim at close range.
“The possibility is slim that it’s due to politics,” he said.
Even Asis’ sibling claimed the victim had intimated about a problem but he refused to reveal it.
Sources, however, revealed Asis was involved in an illegal gambling operation in Roxas City.
Asis was allegedly running a bookies operation with someone financing the illicit activity.
When the Small Town Lottery (STL) came into operation, Asis was offered to join. This apparently gained the ire of his financier. It was then that he began receiving threats, sources said.
A local politician involved in illegal gambling is murdered by motorcycle gunmen during election season. What a tangled web of corruption and crime.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is no longer a “son of bitch” as far as President Rodrigo Duterte was concerned.
Unlike in 2017 when he also branded the North Korean leader as a “maniac” who could destroy Asia, Duterte on Sunday said Kim was now his idol and even wanted to meet him someday.
“You know what, he became my idol,” he said.
The context here is that the Koreas have agreed to end the war. But that doesn't make this statement any more clear or less stupid.
Revisers last week found ballots that appeared to have been soaked in liquid chemical as well as jumbled election documents during the fourth week of the ongoing recount, according to an insider.
The source, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak for the tribunal and due to the gag order issue on the case, revealed that more wet ballots were found in towns in Camarines Sur.
But this time around, revisers took note of several damaged ballots that had a chemical smell – particularly from Canaman and Garchitorena towns.
“Those ballots were powdery and no longer readable as the prints were erased. That would have not been the case if they were soaked only in water,” the source explained.
It was also found that the PET only managed to retrieve 16 of the 36 ballot boxes from Canaman for still unknown reasons. Of those 16 ballot boxes, 11 had wet contents. There were also ballots that were placed inside a plastic bag in the town.
Also last week, revisers found voter’s receipts that were mixed up with other clustered precincts.
Many people will take this as evidence that Leni Robredo cheated. How exactly do mixed up ballots and ballots soaked in chemicals prove Leni cheated and stole votes? They decline to say because they cannot say. They are merely leaping to conclusions they have already assumed. It could be that a Bong Bong supporter destroyed ballots that show Leni really did get the vote. What these Leni haters forget is that Filipino government officials are usually incompetent and corrupt. Whichever way you slice it, destroyed and improperly stored ballots are more proof of gross negligence and incompetence amongst government officials.
The Quezon City police arrested on Saturday a man who had posed as a soldier and brazenly operated a car rental scam right inside Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, that enabled him to steal two vehicles.
Marvin Harry Pasion, 38, used a fake name, Charm Alcantara, on social media, to scout for victims. He introduced himself as a soldier who was looking for vehicles to rent, according to the police.
Pasion’s modus operandi, which began in October 2017, allowed him to steal a black Toyota Avanza (ABO 4851) and an orange Toyota Vios (ABT 7477) on Oct. 17, 2017 and April 1, 2018, respectively.
Pretty stupid. Who would lend their personal vehicles to a stranger? The story seems incomplete. Was he able to access Camp Aguinaldo? Did he actually meet people inside AFP headquarters and then steal their cars twice?? I don't know if this story really merits being in this feature but I will include it anyway because it involves some really dumb military men who stupidly lent their car to a stranger. Stupidity starts small. Next thing you know you are ordering and paying for faulty weapons you did not inspect.
It's a shake up at the DOJ. Will he really clean up the Department of Justice? Will there finally be justice for all not justice for just-us?
Kraft said the CALABARZON police has formed a special task group to investigate the case.
In a much more orderly society when a murder happens a detective or detectives would take the case and investigate it thoroughly until the perpetrator has been caught and sentenced. In the Philippines every murder gets its own special task force.
Año said the barangay executives failed to organize their respective Barangay Anti-illegal Drug Council (Badac).
“We want to send a strong message to the barangay on their important role in the anti-illegal drug campaign,” Año said in a press briefing at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) headquarters in Quezon City.
Does the DILG really think these councils will make a difference? Will they reduce or eliminate drug use?
I rest my case! How will a drug council curb drugs when every week more local government officials charged with drug offences?
The survey also revealed that optimism on whether there will be more jobs decreased by four points from 53 percent in December of last year to 49 percent in this latest survey.
On the other hand, pessimism that there will be fewer jobs was still at 12 percent while those who believed that there will be no change in job availability increase from 24 percent to 25 percent.
What's all this now? I thought Dutertenomics will fix everything. Build, Build, Build will give everyone a job right?
Representative Joey Salceda said Monday, April 30, that the Philippines is considering importing skilled construction workers from China and Burma once the so-called 'golden age of infrastructure program' of the Duterte administration orBuild Build Build gets into in full swing.
“We need 3.9 skilled labor force which we cannot supply. The Philippines is considering of importing skilled labor force in China and Burma. We are facing labor constraints as the growing demand for laborers like welders, carpentry, masonry and related skilled work construction could not be provided due to lack of training,” the Albay lawmaker said.
He said the construction industry needs more workers for the government’s infrastructure program and the demand could not be addressed by the K to 12 graduates unless they undergo Tesda training.
“We need construction workers which could not be provided by K to 12 graduates. That’s why those K to 12 graduates who want to work now need to undergo Tesda training to meet and fit the need of construction industry,” the lawmaker said.
To address the country's skilled labor shortage, Salceda said that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) must remodel and train the country’s labor force. He said the demand of the construction industry will start this year until 2022.
Oh no looks like the current batch of unemployed
aren't skilled enough. Where
are all those skilled workers willing to work for devalued Philippine pesos?
They are all overseas!
Authorities have recovered various high-powered firearms, including two anti-tank rockets, during a raid in the closed businesses of Ozamiz City Councilor Ricardo "Ardot" Parojinog on Sunday evening.
Ozamiz City Police head Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido said the raid at the Dottie's Inn hotel and the MROP Security Agency in Barangay Banadero area was conducted by virtue of an arrest warrant.
Aside from the anti-tank rockets, Espenido said the raiding team recovered two rocket-propelled grenades, three rifle grenades, 15 12-gauge shotguns, 18 9mm firearms, eight .38 revolvers, and an M16 rifle.
Police also seized 148 live ammunition for the 9mm, 73 bullets for the revolvers, and 17 magazines for M16 rifle.
President Rodrigo Duterte had offered a P5-million bounty for the arrest of the councilor Parojinog, whose family has been linked to illegal drug operations.
Ozamiz City Councillor Parojnog has been hiding since his brother the mayor was killed last year in a police raid. Now the police have found a large weapons cache at the business establishments owned by Parojinog. But will they ever find him?
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde has ordered the relief of three policemen-brothers who were caught on camera confronting a man after a traffic altercation.
The policemen were identified as Police Officer (PO) 3 Ralph Soriano of Northern Police District; PO1 Reniel Soriano of the Drug Enforcement Group in Camp Crame; and PO1 Rendel Soriano of Caloocan Police Station.
The Soriano brothers are the subject of a set of viral videos showing them confronting a man, identified as Ricardo Malaya, at his residence.
The videos show the brothers in civilian clothes tucked with guns on their waists.
One of these officers was from Caloocan. That is the same station which had its enter force sacked last year for corruption and then reinstated after retraining!
POLICEMEN responding to a call for assistance over a tricycle driver being mauled just outside the Regional Police Office (PRO) at Camp Quintin Merecido in Buhangin, Davao City, last April 30, shot and killed their colleague, who was said to be the aggressor in the mauling incident.
A PNP office, off-duty and in plainclothes I assume, beats up a tricycle driver and fires on PNP officers who respond to the incident. The responding officers return fire and now he is dead.
Here is a scandal that has been slowly brewing. Just simmering in the crockpot for about a week and its just about ready to eat.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo on Monday denied there was conflict of interest in her agency's placement of P60 million worth of ads in her siblings' television program, which state auditors questioned last week.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) last year tapped government station PTV-4 to air the ads.
The network, in turn, released P60 million to the show "Kilos Pronto," produced and hosted by Teo's brothers Ben and Erwin Tulfo, despite the lack of a memorandum of agreement or contract, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.
Teo said there is no conflict of interest because DOT entered the contract with PTV-4, not Kilos Pronto's producer.
She said it was PTV's own decision to place the ads in her brothers' show due to its high ratings.
Allegedly the DOT paid PTV 60 million pesos worth of ads during the show "Kilos Pronto" which is produced and hosted by DOT Secretary Teo's brothers. Teo denied this allegation but now the COA has proof that she lied and that PTV was told specifically to air the ads during that show.
In its audit findings, COA noted that there is a memorandum of agreement on file between the tourism department and the government-owned station "specifically requiring PTNI to air a 6-minute segment buy in PTVs Daily News-type magazine segment, Kilos Pronto, plus a 3-minute DOT spot within the program."
"There were no provisions for the airtime rates per segment/spot and such other terms and conditions of the commercial advertisement specifically as regards the manner of payment," the 2017 COA report showed.
The DOT had an MOA to specifically air commercials during and within the program hosted and produced by DOT Sec. Teo's brothers. But there was no MOA concerning rates or payment. Yet they were paid P60 million. And now the matter has reached the President.
Do you think he will throw out DOT Sec. Teo after catching wind of this awful whiff of corruption?
Place your bets!
DOT Sec. Teo is not the first DOT Sec. to come under suspicion for financial irregularities.
A graft case has been filed against former Tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez over the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” ad campaign of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
It's More Corrupt in the Philippines! No details yet on this case but they will be likely forthcoming. This is not the first case against former DOT Jimenez either.
Senate President Franklin Drilon was named respondent in the case, together with Jimenez. The complainant, Manuel Mejorada, former provincial administrator of Iloilo, alleged that Drilon used his pork barrel funds to have the ICC constructed at an overprice.
Overcharging for building and then pocketing the rest is a common scam. This case is apparently still trucking its way slowly through the system which means we will not have a resolution for at least five more years.
Atayde and Levite were allegedly demanding money from drivers picking up passengers at the Terminal 2.
Look at these "few bad eggs." Two down and --- to go!
The police were investigating if PO3 Christopher Delfin, PO2 Ruben Badongen and PO1 Mico Serrano violated protocols for allowing civilians in the surveillance van.
The vehicle, which did not carry a license plate, also contained game roosters.
The civilians were relatives of Delfin, a member of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion based in Camp Olivas, the Central Luzon police headquarters in Pampanga.
“They hitched a ride with Delfin’s group because their tricycle broke down somewhere in Cuyapo town,” said Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, Central Luzon police director.
The PNP were in the middle of a sting operation in an unmarked van being used as a surveillance vehicle. One of the officer's relative's tricycle broke down so they hitched a ride in the surveillance van which also contained game roosters for some reason. All of a sudden gunmen in two cars and motorcycle attacked the van and four people ended up dead. No word on the fate of the gamecocks.
The PDEA has released a list naming 207 barangay executives as involved with drugs. But they might have missed a few.
“We don’t dispute the PDEA record, but this is what we have in the region. We have a policeman in practically all corners of the region talking to villagers,” he said.
So who's list is the public supposed to trust?
Now for a more intimate look at a recent ruling from the Sandiganbayan.
Prosecutors said the three military officers gave the go-ahead for the payment on the purchase 75 MK-9 sub-machine guns from FIC for P20,000 on each firearm or a total contract price of P1.5 million, even if field testing showed major defects in the firearms design and operability.
In 1997 two AFP officers purchased machine guns without inspecting them. Needless to say they were defective. After many years working its way through court a resolution was reached on April 27th.
Not guilty! But how is it that they are not guilty? They clearly purchased weapons without inspecting them which turned out to be faulty. Is this not gross inexcusable negligence?
Undeniably! Then what's the problem?
Because while the government did suffer inconvenience from the situation the weapons' supplier, FIC, refitted and redelivered the weapons back to the AFP at no cost! According to case law this means no injury occurred. In the case they cite as precedent a mayor was accused of withholding salaries which were eventually paid. Because they were paid this means no undue injuries were suffered. You can go read the decision at the link above and marvel at this legal brilliance.
Was this negligence and overreach on the part of the prosecution? The defendants were not being charged with mere negligence but with causing undue injury to the government for the bad purchase and for giving a private party, the weapons' manufacturer, an undue benefit. The court says the prosecutors could not prove an undue injury or benefit occurred. These men will therefore not be held accountable for what the court itself calls an undeniable instance of "manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence."
And now for the continuation of the big diplomatic kerfuffle with Kuwait. I will just post the headlines with no commentary. They tell the story so far.
Lemme comment here for a minute. Many of the OFWs who would be returning from Kuwait are MAIDS! Not the skilled workers. Maids. That means they are unqualified for a position with the PNP. So this offer is pointless!
Too late! Silence is golden but this brass tongued president has already spoken way too much.
Really? Not claiming anyone? Funny because YOU, DFA Sec. Cayetano, are the one to blame. The buck stops with your office.
And now for the final word this week a comedienne aptly surnamed Booba.
Why the need to video and upload in FB the rescue of OFWs in Kuwait? Not all things have to be posted online, like what happened when I had my video scandal. Yes, it trended and got so many views but it only brought shame. Charot!
Wow so insightful. Don't upload compromising videos of yourself to the internet.
