The numbers this week: 0 threats to Duterte's life, 4 dead government officials, 13 year low for the peso, and 1 whole city PNP squad, 65 officers, relived of their duty over corruption allegations
“Although there is no direct threat to his life, as Secretary Lorenzana (had) mentioned, the defense and security sectors, including the Presidential Security Group, take all threats to the life of the President seriously,” Roque said.
If there is no threat to the President's life then there is nothing to take seriously because the threat does not exist. A statement form Roque denying any threat on Duterte's life is exactly how last weeks edition started. Funny that we are back to square one! Funny how they have to keep contradicting Duterte. Funny how these statements make those who claim an attempt was made on Duterte's life, Bong Go and Lorraine Badoy, liars.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to purchase about 70,000 ballot boxes for the May 2019 midterm polls because the boxes used in the 2016 elections are either involved in pending electoral protests or covered by the precautionary protective order (PPO) issued by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).
The poll body’s Bids and Awards Committee has released an invitation to bid for suppliers of 72,519 ballot boxes, which has a total approved budget P173,755,524, or P2,396 per box
An unintended consequence of the long drawn out VP recount. More money wasted. What will they do when it's all over and they have a surplus of boxes?
In a complaint filed at the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas, Senior Supt. Royina Garma, director of the CCPO, asked the anti-graft office to conduct an investigation against Osmeña for facilitating the release of three detainees who were arrested for selling butane canisters refilled with liquefied petroleum gas at the T. Padilla Public Market last August 24.
The city police chief asked the Ombudsman to hold Osmeña liable for obstruction of justice, grave abuse of authority, misconduct, a violation of the ethical standards for government employees and/or any other pertinent violations of the law.
Something is funny here. How was the mayor able to release these men on his own? Apparently he walked in the PNP station and told them to go home and the PNP officers did nothing but allowed them to walk. So why aren't these officers also being held liable? It seems they did not hold to protocol and allowed these men to get away.
"They said that Davao had many rape cases. For as long as there are many beautiful women, there are plenty of rape cases as well," he said in Bisaya.
The President said that women rarely agree to any sexual advances "on the first try."
"Who agrees to do it on the first request anyway? Will the woman allow it? No. 'Don’t, no, ahhh.' Nobody agrees to do it on the first try. That is rape," he said, as the audience laughed.
"Even when they’re inside the cinema, she will push him away. 'No, don’t.' There are so many beautiful women. But if you happen to sit beside someone toothless, would you still want to do that?" he said in jest.
“I don’t think we should give too much weight on what the President says by way of a joke,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
Duterte keeps making rape jokes and his people keep apologising for him and brushing it off. Why does Duterte continue to make these kind of jokes? What kind of sick man jokes about.....Oh hey it's one of those many beautiful women from Davao, Kitty Duterte!
Now what was I saying again?
A local political from Mindanao nabbed for drugs. Ex-politican but they still count. Her husband is also an ex-politican but he was not taken in because he was not there. I expect he will be caught soon enough.
Gonzales was the fifth barangay chairman killed in central Negros, including two in Isabela, Negros Occidental, and two others in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, since June 12 this year, police and military records show.
The dead bodies keep piling up all thanks to the NPA. This is almost certainly a politically motivated murder.
Initial police investigation disclosed that sometime in February this year, alleged NPA members entered the house of Gonzales and purportedly warned him to not seek re-election because they were fielding their own candidate, said Jabar.
“Ang ilang alegasyon karon niadtong iyang anak kay murag taga pikas lang gihapon nga mihulga sa iyang papa nga dili na padalaganon pagka kapitan tungod kay naa silay gusto nga padaogon nga kapitan (The son alleged that it was still the “other side” who warned the victim not to seek re-election as barangay captain because they had somebody else whom they wanted to win),” Jabar said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1046503
Not only do politicians have to pay a monetary tax to the NPA but many pay with their life.
She further stated that a local study showed that many rape cases were incestuous in nature and that the problem is being addressed by the city government.
"In 2017, this fact has been taken up in the Davao City Peace and Order Council (DCPO), where it was discovered that many of these cases where incestuous rape or rape by someone who has a close relationship with the victim such as a neighbor or a friend," she said in a statement issued by Davao City government Information Officer Jefry Tupas.
She added that the Davao City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) has been tasked to do a research and to implement programs to address the rising incidence of rape.
"There have been several interventions conducted by the City Government and its partner agencies. One of these interventions, and the most effective of which, targeted communities where children are taught about sexuality and sexual abuse, including when a touch by a family member is no longer appropriate and acceptable," said Duterte-Carpio.
"This positive effect of government action should not be lost in the repertoire of the President and the attacks by those who hate his guts and humor. I can truthfully say that there was action and positive effect," said Duterte-Carpio.
"And I pose this question to all who seemingly want to see Davao City fail — what have you done to help?" she added.
Sara starts off quite well by detailing the nature of the problem, incestuous rape and sexual assault, but then she ends badly by asking the non-sequitur, "What have you done to help?" What exactly CAN anyone do to stop incestuous rape? Whatever measly efforts one can do, making jokes like her father did will not help in the slightest. Does she really find her father's rape joke humorous? There is nothing humorous about rape.
“(The visit) is for President Duterte to look for an alternative market for… weapons for our armed forces as well as for the police,” Henelito Sevilla, an international relations expert at University of the Philippines, told AFP.
Israel is among the world’s top arms dealers, with nearly 60 percent of its defense exports going to the Asia Pacific region, according to Israeli defense ministry data.
The Philippines emerged as a significant new customer in 2017 for Israel, with sales of radar and anti-tank equipment worth $21 million.
Interesting. What will all those Muslims in Mindanao think about Duterte cozying up to Israel and buying weapon from them? This could be a major propaganda point for ISIS-Philippines. Remember in May when Israel said
Hamas was establishing a presence in the Philippines?
Yet Israel’s Government Press Office has said most of the visit will be closed to the media, an apparent precaution against faux pas by a President whose two-fisted crime-fighting tactics and rhetoric have raised hackles at home and abroad.
Some Israeli pundits have recoiled at his planned attendance at Holocaust commemorations.
Mr. Duterte is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and attend an event of the Filipino community in Israel during his four-day visit that begins on Sunday.
“We assign great importance to this visit, which symbolizes the strong, warm ties between our two peoples, as well as the enormous potential for developing and strengthening the relations. Cooperation between the two countries is thriving,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Too bad that most of the visit will
be closed to the media. What are they afraid
of? Who would have thought that words matter and that all the things that you say and do will come back to you in their sweet time?
Duterte stressed that legalizing smuggling would result to disorder.
“No. Smuggling itself? No, of course not. It is destructive to the economy. We can lose but not allow rice smuggling in the country… that would promote disorder in this country,” Duterte said during his departure ceremony before he embarked on a back-to-back official state visit to Israel and Jordan at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2 in Pasay City.
The area currently suffering rice shortage was relying on rice smuggling—particularly from Malaysia, but was stopped after Duterte’s meeting with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in July, Piñol earlier claimed.
“Kasi traditional sa kanila ‘yung umasa ng bigas sa kabila (It’s their tradition to rely on others for rice). So, sabi ko (I said), rather than allow smuggling, an illegal activity, to continue, we might as well legalize it,” Piñol said.
“So my proposal is for the establishment of a rice trading center in Tawi-Tawi, where government would now take full control. You come in, you bring in your rice, you pay a little tariff, never mind if it’s just a token, for as long as we’re able to control the volume of rice coming in,” he added.
A sensible reply from Duterte. But what's this from Piñol? It's their tradition to rely on others for rice?? Finally an official admission that relying on handouts is a Filipino tradition!
An officer of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) was shot dead by an unidentified gunman aboard a motorcycle on Sunday afternoon.
Revenge from a former or current inmate who put out a hit? A drug related killing? Bato said he would clean up NBP. How is that going?
Director Guillermo Eleazar, National Capital Region Police Office chief, said he received reports that the victim had been involved in making deals with inmates at the national penitentiary in exchange for money.
This made it possible that Reyes’ killing was an “inside job” caused by a transaction gone wrong.
In a radio interview on Monday, Bureau of Corrections Director General Ronald dela Rosa said that Reyes, who also lived inside the NBP complex, had been under investigation.
This was based on reports that he had asked inmates for money in exchange for letting them see their visitors.
Looks like it's going as well as anyone could have expected!
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday morning apologized to former United States President Barack Obama for cursing him and even calling him a “s*n of a b*tch” for criticizing his administration’s war on drugs.
“I’ am sorry for uttering those words. I am forgiving you,” Duterte said in a speech before thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) at the Ramada Hotel here.
That's not how apologies work!
While Mindanao and Manila are on heightened alert for the duration of martial law PNP officers in Legazpi City are fighting crime and corruption by going on a fun-bike ride.
Rep. Tonyboy Floirendo Jr. is promising to go after his estranged buddy and fellow Davao del Norte congressman Pantaleon Alvarez, especially now that he is no longer speaker of the House of Representatives.
“I want Alvarez punished for desecrating the memory of my father, Don Antonio Floirendo Sr. and for maliciously maligning the entire Floirendo family as land-grabbers,” Floirendo said in a statement, confident that the seven libel suits he filed would eventually result in indictments.
The banana tycoon disclosed that he “helped fund (Alvarez’s) political campaigns over the years,” but that he filed charges against the latter – including a P15-million damage suit – “not for money but for principle.”
Seven libel suits one for P15-million! In the a nation where everyone is only too happy to file a frivolous lawsuit just to waste your time seven is the perfect number of libels suits to file against one man.
The President of the Philippines versus the Mayor of Cebu in a pointless show of words and bravado.
Some are saying this case proves that the Philippine justice system is working and that the ICC's moves to launch a preliminary investigation into alleged human rights abuses concerning the dug war is just a way to delegitimise the Duterte administration. However those people miss the point of this story. The real story here is that the PNP are engaging in fake drug deals and lying about men shooting back at them. The real story is that the PNP remains corrupt. But now what happens? Will these officers be charged with a crime? That is doubtful and if it does not happen goes to show that the Philippine justice system is in fact not working at all.
February 8, 2018
September 3rd, 2018
It seems the Philippines is caught in some kind of time loop as the same events keep repeating.
"Inanunsyo na ng Presidente. Sinabi sa 'kin ng Presidente, tumakbo ako. Eh di tatakbo ako (The President has announced it. The President told me to run, so I will run [for senator])," Dela Rosa said.
Bato Dela Rosa is a most faithful little doggie who does everything Duterte tells him to do.
Another local politician assassinated by motorcycle riding gunmen.
“Malala ang problema sa drugas dinhi sa Talisay naa say mga kagaguhan nga nahitabo diri (The drug problem here is worse and foolishness was happening here). It only proves naa tay problema (there is really a problem). Effective (on Sunday), all of you will be relieved,” Sinas told the Dalisay Police force on Sunday morning.
The relieved cops from Talisay were sent to the RMFB-7 headquarters in Sibonga town to undergo a boot camp of sorts, or a “retraining” for six months.
Sinas ordered the relief of Talisay policemen following the announcement of President Rodrigo Duterte that most of the city policemen are involved in the illegal drug trade.
“There are two reasons (why we relieved the personnel). One, because of the pronouncement of President Duterte, which he emphasized (that most of the police in Talisay are involved in illegal drugs) during his visits here in Cebu last month,” said Sinas.
“Second, the problem on drugs (in Talisay); we have to address it,” added Sinas.
He said eight of the relieved officers admitted stealing some sachets of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) seized during a drug bust in Barangay Tangke, Talisay City.
Sinas added these personnel are now under investigation as stealing evidence is a grave offense.
The level of corruption within the PNP continues to remain nothing short of astonishing. How did only one officer test positive for drugs if eight admitted they stole drugs from the evidence locker? Because they are selling drugs!
Bam Aquino is wrong. A change of leadership won't solve anything because the NFA has been doing the same thing for years! What must change is the Philippines' rice policy not the personnel.
For Duterte, the visit may be most significant for his drive to seek weapons deals outside of the US.
According to the Kan state broadcaster, Duterte is bringing with him a delegation of 400, including top army and police officials, some of whom are expected to visit Israeli army bases.
Duterte has been very open about his proclivity for Israeli arms, having said publicly that he prefers them over the weapons manufactured in other countries.
“On the matter of arms, I said, do not buy from anyone except from Israel,” he said in 2016.
“The total number of official delegates and accompanying delegates consists of 46 pax [persons] total. That’s in the official list. I do know there’s a substantial business delegation of at least 150 who are all traveling on their own accounts,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters.
That still leave 204 people unaccounted for unless Israeli State Television is lying. Are the Jews lying about Duterte now in order to discredit him? When will there be protests from OFWs at their headquarters like the protests at the NY Times?
National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jason Aquino on Monday admitted that the agency used nearly all of P7 billion in state subsidy for the purchase of palay (unhusked rice) from farmers this year to service its debts without approval from the agency’s policy-making body.
Speaking calmly, Aquino disclosed that the NFA did not seek permission from the council, a body composed of 11 state agencies, since it had been the practice of previous NFA officials.
How refreshing for a Philippine government official to admit to his crime. See how the problem is not the people who compose the NFA but the policies that guide the NFA? Replace this guy without changing the policy and the next one will do the same thing because that is how it has been done.
Mayor Rolen Paulino stepped down on Monday to serve a six-month suspension imposed by the Office of the Ombudsman for a bidding error in leasing a city property to a shopping mall giant.
The Ombudsman ruled that the mayor and the city officials were guilty of simple misconduct for violating bidding procedures when they awarded the Olongapo City Civic Center, also known as the KBG Complex, to a mall developer.
At least they didn't steal billions of pesos.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday said she had authorized the release of a “special cash allowance” amounting to P35,000 for each of the regular and contractual workers of the 292-member legislature.
That is P10,220,000!! Is that part of the budget? Perhaps the COA should investigate.
Unidentified men shot dead Mayor Mariano Blanco of Ronda town, around 82 km southwest of Cebu City, past 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
SPO1 Dionisio Tagupa, investigator of the Ronda Police Station, said Blanco was sleeping inside the mayor’s office at the municipal hall when the assailants shot him.
Based on the report by two job order watchmen, four unidentified persons suddenly appeared on board a white van, pointed their guns at them and instructed them to drop on the ground.
“After a second, a burst of fire was heard from the mayor’s office and then after, the unidentified persons left,” said Tagupa.
He said the employees then went to the mayor’s office and found the bloodied body of Blanco.
His killing came seven months after his nephew, Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab, was gunned down by unknown assailants outside Cebu City’s courthouse in February 2018.
Ungab, a lawyer, served as legal counsel to self-confessed drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa.
Blanco had been changing his routine, including sleeping in his office, after he was publicly named by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 as among the alleged narco-politicians.
In an earlier interview, Blanco said he was worried about his safety after his name was dragged in the illegal drugs trade.
“I’m afraid I might be assassinated. I just hope that they will understand that I am never involved in illegal drugs,” the 58-year-old mayor said.
Wow.
Blanco, 59, was the fifth to be slain among mayors the President had publicly linked to the illegal drug trade.
Killed were Mayors Antonio Halili of Tanauan City, Batangas province, on July 3; Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, in October 2016; Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte province, in November 2016; and Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. of Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental province, in July 2017.
The two policemen manning a police station, four meters away from the municipal hall, did not hear the gunfire because of the rain, and failed to quickly respond to the shooting, Tagopa said.
The rest of the lawmen were out to serve an arrest warrant against a crime suspect, he said.
“It just happened that many of our policemen were not here,” Tagopa said.
That sure is a lot of coincidences. The Mayor was on Duterte's drug list and the police just happened to not be there at the time of the shooting. What are the chances?
The Philippine peso fell to a fresh 12-year low on Wednesday, as inflation accelerated to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent.
The local currency lost 1.5 centavos to close at P53.55:$1 from P53.535 Tuesday, its weakest since closing at P53.575:$1 on June 28, 2006.
“Higher inflation led to weaker peso today,” Michael Ricafort, economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier on Wednesday reported inflation at 6.4 percent, the fastest in nine years since registering at 6.6 percent in March 2009.
“Higher inflation fundamentally reduces the purchasing power of the peso, thereby increasing the appeal of the US dollar, assuming all other factors are the same,” Ricafort said.
Don't believe the naysayers. Weaker peso means higher value of remittances from abroad and higher inflation is expected and manageable. It's not a crisis and everything is just fine.
Looks like these impeachment complaints will be causing a headache for the Supreme Court soon enough.
Bladen Skyler Abatayo, 4, was hit by a stray bullet during the operation conducted by the police at Sitio Bato in Barangay Ermita, Carbon town.
He said one of the policemen grappled with a suspect who was about to point his gun. Escober said the bullet that killed Bladen Skyler came from the gun of one of the suspects.
However, evidence gathered by NBI agents, including witnesses’ accounts, footage from a security camera and results of the crime scene reconstruction by a forensic team, refuted the police version.
“It was established that the police had made up a story to hide the truth of what really transpired that fateful day,” said the complaint.
PNP officers lying to cover their butts? Say it ain't so!
A hearing on detained Senator Leila de Lima’s drug trading case came to an abrupt end on Tuesday after the prosecution failed to present its first witness, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) head, Director Benjamin Magalong.
Boni Tacardon, De Lima’s lawyer, said that Judge Lorna Navarro-Domingo of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court’s Branch 206 got angry at prosecutors for “wasting the time of the court.” Earlier, they wanted to change their first witness to Engelberto Durano, a former policeman convicted for murder and kidnapping.
Will the government's case against de Lima fall apart? After two years of preparation will it all just wash down the drain due to utter incompetence? And if it does will Duterte demand they do it all over again just like with Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa?
In COA's disaster risk reduction management audit, the state auditors said Phivolcs only distributed 34 percent, or a total of 261,307 copies, of printed IEC materials nationwide for 2016 and 2017, thus leaving the rest of the nearly 700,000 copies idle.
In response, Phivolcs management said the dissemination of IEC materials is only done after a written request by stakeholders, during the conduct of trainings, and upon request of walk-in citizens, but only after the filling out of an evaluation form.
The agency said it maintains this practice to avoid wastage and ensure stakeholders will read and retain the information. It said a face-to-face interaction with Phivolcs staff is encouraged for stakeholders to better understand the IEC materials handed to them.
The COA recommended that Phivolcs collaborate with local government units, national government agencies, and private organizations instead for a larger distribution of its IEC materials to vulnerable communities.
They print out almost a million copies of information materials and most of it stays idle because in order to distribute the material a written request must be filed in person? Makes a lot of sense. People living in disaster prone areas are wholly responsible for their lives after all. They should just walk into the Phivolcs office and fill out the proper forms to get the information needed.
In a speech delivered before Israeli businessmen in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Duterte said he has dealt with communist and Moro rebels and the drug scourge, but “the most problematic also is the Filipinos itself.”
“There’s --- you cannot do good. It’s always wrong. And so we will just have to navigate where democracy allows us space to work and produce results,” Duterte added.
The President did not expound on what he meant by his statement, but throughout his speech he lamented how some Filipinos, especially the rich, would get “offended by my behavior.”
“They are not my enemies but I do not like --- I do not mix with rich people. And they are the ones who are almost offended by my behavior,” he said.
Apart from his war on drugs, the President has earned criticism for his brash language, but the chief executive said he does not pay attention to this.
“And so I have a bad mouth. I curse, I throw epithets a lot when I'm angry. They say that, "you know this Duterte is not a statesman. He should not be going to anywhere, he will put us to shame. He talks like a gangster and he curses everybody.’ Correct. Because I never studied to be a statesman, there's no course of a statesman,” he said.
All those problematic rich Filipinos upset by Duterte's boorish behaviour which includes cursing, threats, and rape jokes. It's true he never did study to be a statesmen. That makes his boorish behaviour completely acceptable. How soon before we hear him reciting George Carlin's seven dirty words all in the name of "freedom of expression?"
What a lot of rubbish! P1820 is only worth $33 not $700! This money changer is ripping himself off.
