It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1166695/pdea-identifies-6-ninja-cops-linked-to-drug-queen |
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has identified six “ninja cops” linked to the so-called “drug queen,” a politician whose network is said to be selling at least P13.6 million of “shabu” in two streets of Manila in just a week.
He said the PDEA also identified 17 distributors of illegal drugs from the high-profile drug trader, but refused to disclose their names or the identities of the police officers.
(Just to show how large the operation of this drug queen is, she disposes two to three kilograms of “shabu” in just a week in two streets in Manila. That’s how big her network is. That’s just for two streets.)
During the press briefing, Aquino also revealed that the PDEA will soon launch another operation against the Manila-based drug trader in the next weeks or months, after two failed attempts of the agency and the National Bureau of Investigation to operate against her. He said the target area is being protected by the ninja cops.
According to Aquino, there were 15 original ninja cops from the Western Police District — now the Manila Police District — who have been reassigned to other districts in Metro Manila and in other provinces.
“They were reassigned to QCPD (Quezon City Police District) and other police districts. Nanganak nang nanganak (It spread out),” he said.
As for the drug queen, Aquino said she has a lot of connections and a relative who is a police officer.
“She’s so powerful that she knows a lot of politicians,” he said.
He revealed the PDEA is preparing to send a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte giving him information on the drug queen and her allies in the police.
How about instead of giving press conferences about impending PDEA operations they go out and take these people down? It sounds like they know exactly who this drug queen and her allies are. So go get them! And stop reassigning cops involved in criminal activities!
Is it 6, 22, 53, or 87 ninja cops??
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1168178/war-on-drugs-pnp-closely-monitoring-22-ninja-cops |
Albayalde said those on the list of the PNP are three commissioned officers, or those with the ranks of Police Lieutenant to General, and 19 non-commissioned officers, or those with the ranks of Patrolman or Patrolwoman to Police Executive Master Sergeant.
He said the highest-ranked officer on the list is a Major, the third-highest rank for commissioned officers.
“All of these policemen are under strict monitoring. Meron kaming (We have) IMEG (Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group) dito (here). That’s the very reason kung bakit tayo nagtayo ng (That’s the reason why we built) IMEG, to monitor these people and of course to reinforce ‘yung ating (the) counter-intelligence effort being done by our Intelligence Group,” he said in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City, referring to the police unit tasked to run after police scalawags.
But he also clarified that what the PNP holds is only a watchlist that still needs to be verified.
“Just to be professional about it, it’s a watchlist that needs to be validated. We are not saying that these people are already guilty of the information being lodged against them. That’s the very reason [why] napaka-importante po dito na magkalap ng ebidensya or probably we can operate on them (it is very important to gather evidence or probably operate against them),” he said.You know having these press conferences where the PNP airs their dirty laundry really makes them look bad. And then they wonder why no one trusts them. How about they validate the list and then go get them? How hard is that?
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169748/pdea-chief-tags-53-active-ninja-cops |
(This is consolidated. We initially came up with a list of ninja cops, we found out that more or less, about 50, to be exact, 53 are existing ninja cops who are involved in recycling),” Aquino said in an interview on dzMM.
Aquino explained that from the initial list of 87 ninja cops, only 22 are active police officers, according to PNP data.
Is it 6, 22, 53, or 87 ninja cops??
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/259108/retired-cop-shot-dead-in-argao-cebu |
A retired police officer was shot dead by one of two men riding on a motorcycle along the National Highway in Barangay Balisong, Argao town, some 75 kilometers south of Cebu City, at around 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, September 19, 2019.
Retired Police Senior Master Sergeant Jesus Rudston Villahermosa, 56, was rushed to the Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital in Argao but was declared dead on arrival (DOA) by an attending physician.
Villahermosa was assigned at the intelligence division of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) prior to his retirement, according to information gathered by the Argao police.
Another retired cop shot dead. Why? Drugs? Revenge? Happens often.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1167167/lanao-del-sur-village-exec-dies-in-drug-bust-shootout |
A village councilman in Wao, Lanao del Sur was killed in a drug buy-bust operation by anti-narcotics agents Friday, Sept. 20.
Director Juvenal Azurin of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Bangsamoro region, identified the slain suspect as Larry Masid, councilman of Barangay Muslim Village.
Azurin told reporters here that Masid pulled out a cal. 45 pistol from his waist when he sensed that the person he was selling illegal drugs to is an undercover agent
A shootout between him and the law enforcers ensued.
Azurin said that Masid has long been under the agency’s surveillance for his illegal drug activities until Friday’s chance for an entrapment operation.
Another LGU killed in a buy-bust shoot out.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/259203/active-pnp-exec-is-protecting-cops-involved-in-drug-trade-drilon |
An active ranking official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) appeared to have been protecting his subordinates involved in the alleged illegal drug trade.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that this was disclosed by former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong during an executive session held by the Senate justice and human-rights committee on Thursday.
The executive session was held upon the request of Magalong, who told the Senate panel about the so-called “Agaw Bato” scheme involving rogue police officers who would peddle illegal drugs that were seized in legitimate operations.
“May high-ranking active police official whose fault was not punishing, and appeared to be protecting, his men who are involved in the drug trade,” Drilon said in an interview with dzMM on Friday when asked what Magalong had told the senators during the executive session.
“Yan po ang kanyang [Magalong] deklarasyon that there is an active high police official who did not impose discipline or penalty on his people who are reported to be involved in the drug trade,” he further said.
Do they know the name of this person? Do they have any plans of removing him from his post? Filing criminal charges?
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1167157/pnp-suspends-hunt-for-gcta-freed-convicts |
The Philippine National Police (PNP) suspended on Friday its crackdown on convicts believed to have been erroneously released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) spotted errors in the list of convicts for rearrest submitted by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
“On hold. We are just monitoring. Our local police were advised to closely monitor [the convicts] in their areas of responsibility,” PNP deputy spokesperson Lt. Col. Kimberly Molitas said in a press conference when asked about the status of the tracker teams from the police.
She said the PNP will wait for the “sanitized” list from the BuCor before reactivating its tracker teams which were deployed on Friday, a day after the 15-day grace period given for freed heinous crime convicts to surrender has lapsed.
The DOJ said a total of 1,950 convicts who were released based on good conduct credits have surrendered to the PNP and the BuCor before the September 19 deadline. This number includes freed convicts of non-heinous crimes who still chose to surrender to authorities.
What a mess. A list full of errors. People not even rewired to turn themselves in turning themselves in because they are afraid of Duterte's shoot-to-kill order. Some of those men could probably have remained free. This whole GCTA debacle reaches not just to issues of corruption but to issues of freedom and human rights.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division has found former San Isidro, Bohol, Mayor Requillo Samuya guilty of graft for his involvement in the irregular purchase of several kilograms of soil activator.
The purchases did not undergo public bidding, the antigraft court found.
The antigraft court sentenced Samuya to a prison term of six years and one month as minimum, and up to 10 years as maximum.
Another LGU thrown into prison because of an irregular purchase of fertiliser which did not go through the correct biding process. Unbelievable how common this scheme is.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Cabal said the enforcers made it appear that officers of the Alburquerque Municipal Police Office violated traffic laws when they parked a patrol car on the roadside near the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in this city at 9:30 a.m. last Monday, Sept.16.
Cabal said the police officers took Samuel Caldino and his wife, Olympia, from Oslob town in Cebu to the hospital after they were found floating for two days in the waters off Alburquerque following an accident.
“The clamping was done in a bad light, making the police violators of traffic rules despite assisting the injured,” Cabal said.
He pointed out that the officers didn’t intend to violate the law or abuse their authority.
“They were only performing one of their regular functions at that time, and that is to ensure that the needs of the rescued couple are being met. Lest we forget, the PNP [Philippine National Police] is here not only to protect but also to serve,” Cabal said.
The Tagbilaran City administrator, Cathelyn Torremocha, explained that the traffic officers were just implementing a city ordinance against roadside parking.
“It was not our intention to inconvenience the police officers,” she said in a letter addressed to Cabal on Sept. 20.
She said the traffic enforcers were not informed of the situation despite efforts to locate the driver of the patrol car.
Torremocha said, however, that the city would refund the clamping fee.
The police say they did not intend to violate the law but they did. Traffic enforcers say the did not intend to inconvenience the police but they did. But really why the clamp which is for major offenders who have not paid their fines not a regular parking violation. Everything is overkill in the Philippines.
“Those who perceive that a declaration of martial law is anti-democratic is oblivious of the fact that its application is precisely the very tool to save the exercise of democracy. It is only when it is clothed with abuse by its enforcers that it becomes obnoxious,” Panelo said in a statement.
I do believe these people do not know the difference between an autocracy, a democracy, and a republic. The very idea that an autocracy can save a democracy when the Philippines is actually a republic is stupid.
The allocation based on so-called “bottom-up budgeting,” unless exorbitant, may not be considered “pork,” Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said on Tuesday.
Sotto said this following Senator Panfilo Lacson’s latest revelation of an alleged plan to give congressmen P700 million allocation each and P1.5 billion each to 22 deputy speakers of the House of Representatives.
If the plan pushes through, Lacson said the total amount of “pork” for House members alone would reach P54 billion.
(If it comes from what we call “bottom-up” budgeting, it’s in the NEP, submitted to the House, and if the budget per legislative district is not too exorbitant, it cannot be considered as pork)
(But if you shuffle it, you move something, and you have lump sums allotted for various areas, then you may call it pork, we can’t avoid that)
According to Senate President Sotto pork is fine if it's not too exorbitant and obvious.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1168677/manila-drug-queen-a-sampaloc-barangay-official-says-ncrpo |
The so-called drug queen based in the City of Manila is an incumbent barangay official in Sampaloc and is now reportedly out of the country, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar revealed on Tuesday.
Without naming the alleged drug queen, Eleazar made the revelation during a meeting with all chiefs of 44 drug enforcement units within the NCRPO at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Eleazar said the husband of the drug queen, who allegedly buys illegal drugs from “ninja cops,” or police officers who recycle drugs seized in operations, is also a former barangay official.
I wonder why the drug queen is now out of the country. Could it be because the PDEA and PNP have been tipping her off by talking about her in press conferences for the past month?Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino earlier revealed that the so-called drug queen, was said to be selling at least P13.6 million worth of “shabu” weekly in two streets alone in Manila.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1168387/bantag-i-wont-shave-my-beard-until-bucor-issues-addressed |
Newly-appointed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag on Monday said he would not shave his beard until issues within the bureau had been addressed.
More silly drama. Why not just do the job without all these theatrics?“For me, my beard serves as a mark that as long as it is there, problems within BuCor have not been addressed. Once it’s gone, it’s already OK,” Bantag, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview with AM radio station DZMM.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169108/philrice-exec-found-dead-in-car-in-nueva-ecija |
Roger Barroga, head of PhilRice Information System Division, was found dead around 9:30 a.m. in his car, which was parked in Barangay La Torre in Talavera, according to Col. Leon Victor Rosete, chief of the Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office.
“A co-worker found him [at the backseat] of his [car],” Rosete said on Tuesday evening.Barroga, who was in his 50s, led the information technology tasks of PhilRice, from its main headquarters in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
“There were no signs of [him] struggling,” Rosete said in a phone interview. He said this meant police not find any physical marks or wounds on the victim.
Nevertheless, Rosete said Barroga’s remains would be investigated by the Scene of the Crime Operation as requested by his family.
A colleague of Barroga’s, who declined to be named in this report, said his family and co-workers last contacted him “between 3 and 4 p.m.” on Monday.
This is a very strange story even if no foul play was involved. Barroga was found at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning in the backseat of his car but his family had not heard from him since the previous afternoon. Did they not contact anyone to find out where the man was? Why was he in the backseat of the car. Maybe he had a heart attack but in this country where bureaucrats are routinely gunned down one can never be sure.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169101/pacc-releasing-info-on-ninja-cops-may-impede-probe |
Making public the information shared during a Senate executive session on the so-called ninja cops — officers allegedly involved in the recycling of illegal drugs — impede ongoing operations, Commissioner Manuelito Luna of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said on Tuesday night.
Duh! No kidding! The PNP and PDEA go around blabbing about alleged schemes and crooked cops thus tipping everyone off and ruining any investigations and operations against "ninja cops."Luna issued that statement after the Senate agreed to authorize the Committee on Justice to disclose the contents of its executive session on police officers allegedly involved in the so-called agaw-bato scheme — which involves police officers selling illegal drugs seized in operations.
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| https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/240959-bato-dela-rosa-outbreaks-created-vaccines-make-money |
Health and demography committee chair Senator Bong Go was just about to wrap up a two-hour hearing on immunization when Dela Rosa signaled he wanted to add something.
It was Dela Rosa’s first and only time to speak in the hearing.
(This isn’t related to your budget, but I watch movies. I would just like to ask, is it possible, as seen in the movies, that vaccine producers are also the ones who create outbreaks so that their vaccines would sell? I just watch movies. Can that happen?)
“Pasagot mo kay Lito Lapid ‘yan mamaya (Ask Senator Lito Lapid later),” Go told Dela Rosa, prompting laughter in the room.
While Dela Rosa appeared to be half kidding, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) said they had policies in place to prevent that from happening.
More silliness from Bato and another politician taking cues from Hollywood films.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday issued a threat to so-called “ninja cops” — or policemen involved in the sale of illegal drugs.
Duterte tore into officers who think that they are “lords of the country” whenever they get away with crime.
“But there are some people, like policemen, you have to beg then they arrest. At it again, and they sell drugs and they go scot-free and they think that they are the lords of this country,” he said before a group of Chinese businessmen in Parañaque City.
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you, everybody dies in this world but you will go ahead first. Remember that.”
The President made the statement after police official-turned-Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong told lawmakers that a "high-ranking" police official was allegedly protecting subordinates engaged in illegal-narcotics activities.
Duterte has punished a number of erring policemen, sending some of them to far-flung towns. He has also raised bounties on policemen involved in the illegal-drugs trade.
More stupid drama. They know the names of these cops and their protectors. So why do they keep broadcasting about the situation tipping off everyone involved? It's either total ignorance of how to do police work or its complaisance because they too are getting part of the take. If they really wanted to get these cops they would do it and the punishment would be prison not being sent to "far-flung towns."
What a relief. A good thing this cop with drug links is not a ninja cop but only a regular cop. Good thing they suspended him for 41 days instead of filling criminal charges and putting him in jail for his previous crimes.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1168155/hazing-is-a-matter-of-perception-pnp-chief-albayalde-says |
“You know, hazing is a matter of personal perception, parang (just like) accusation. These are all matters of personal perception on how you will accept it as a person and how you will accept it as a cadet,” he said in a press conference at Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Albayalde, a member of the PMA Sinagtala Class of 1986, even admitted being subjected to hazing during his time as a cadet.
“I will be lying in front of you kung sabihin ko na hindi ako na-haze (if I will say that I was not subjected to hazing),” he said, adding that he has nothing against his squad leader who initiated the hazing.
He explained that he is even thankful to his squad leader at the PMA, a former Major General, for helping in molding him for who he is now.The way the PMA hazing incident has been handled is a complete 180 from the way the Ateneo hazing incident was handled. With Ateneo there was a Senate investigation and condemnation from all sides. With the PMA there is deference to the culture of the PMA and Sen. Lacson, himself a former PNP Chief, has said there is no need for a Senate investigation. When the head of the PMA resigned Sen. Bato lamented that it was "another good officer's career wasted" and that he just happened to be "there at the right time at the wrong incident." There is also a law against hazing so it's not just a matter of perception especially when the man being hazed ends up dead.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169941/marawi-city-cop-exec-nabbed-for-hot-car |
Captain Santos Libres Monares, deputy commander of Marawi City police station, was arrested in Marawi on Tuesday after failing to present the official receipt and certificate of registration in relation to his possession of a white Ford Everest vehicle.
The vehicle was also seized from his possession.
Major Jemar delos Santos, information officer of the Bangsamoro Police Regional Office, told the Inquirer by phone that Monares even failed to present his driver’s license when quizzed by police operatives.
Delos Santos said absent the basic ownership documents, the vehicle seized from the possession of Monares is a “hot car,” which means it could have been stolen from its true owners.
Delos Santos disclosed that Monares told police operatives that he bought the car, with temporary plate number IK 3400, from a fellow police officer, Captain Ramces Cartajena, who is assigned at Police Regional Office 10.
According to Delos Santos, the vehicle’s registered owner is from Sta. Ana, Manila, upon verification with the Land Transportation Office.This cop bought a stolen car from a fellow officer and apparently does not even have a driver's license.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169954/cop-nabbed-for-drugs-in-muntinlupa-not-a-ninja-cop-albayalde |
The rogue policeman arrested for alleged drug links in Muntinlupa on Wednesday is not a “ninja cop,” Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said Thursday.
“Kahapon may nagtutulak na pulis pero ito hindi natin nakikita na ito ay sindikato (Yesterday, a police was caught pushing drugs but we don’t see this as a syndicate). When you say ninja cops it is more of a syndicate,” Albayalde told reporters in Camp Crame when asked about the rogue policemen.
Records showed that the NCRPO ordered Justo suspended for 41 days from August 30, 2019, to October 9, 2019.
What a relief. A good thing this cop with drug links is not a ninja cop but only a regular cop. Good thing they suspended him for 41 days instead of filling criminal charges and putting him in jail for his previous crimes.
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| https://globalnation.inquirer.net/180262/tolentino-wants-all-filipino-songs-aired-near-west-philippine-sea |
I would want — this is supposed to be a secret — we should play all Filipino songs at night in our radio station in Palawan.
It should reach the stations of you-know-who occupying the West Philippines Sea. Those claiming the nine-dash line.
Our opponents should hear all Filipino songs so they would know they are in Philippine territory.
This is hands down the best solution to reclaiming the islands in the WPS.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169901/shabu-worth-over-p300k-seized-from-ex-cop-turned-drug-pusher |
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Bicol said Thursday that anti-narcotics operatives seized P340,000 worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) from the former policeman arrested in a drug sting on Wednesday afternoon in Daraga town in Albay province.
Zandro Oscillada, 47, a former policeman with the rank of Police Officer 1 (currently Patrolman) when he went on absence without leave (AWOL) in 2002, was arrested around 4:45 p.m. in Barangay San Roque while selling shabu to an undercover agent of PDEA, Christian Frivaldo, PDEA acting regional director, said in a report.
After he went on AWOL in 2002, Oscillada was dismissed from the service in 2005.
Amazing how these dismissed ex-cops continue to be drug dealers. It's like they have contacts on the force who sell them drugs seized in operations.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169958/arrest-of-stl-operator-pits-governor-vs-police-chief-in-south-cotabato |
The bid to resume small town lottery (STL) operations in South Cotabato province triggered a rift on Wednesday, Sept. 26, between Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. and Col. Joel Limson, the provincial police commander.
Tamayo and Limson traded barbs over the arrest of Walter Ozaeta, a small town lottery (STL) operator known by his alias Mike Macalindong who happened to be facing charges of kidnapping in Batangas province.
The governor ordered Ozaeta’s arrest following their Sept. 19 meeting at the governor’s satellite office in Tupi, the governor’s hometown, after Tamayo learned about Ozaeta’s case from a local official in Batangas.
Tamayo accused the police chief, Limson, of “not doing his homework.”
“He should have conducted a background check,” said the governor. “This guy has a warrant of arrest for kidnapping,” Tamayo said in Filipino.
Ozaeta, 35, resident of San Jose town, Batangas province, had been endorsed to Tamayo by Limson, paving the way for a discussion on Ozaeta’s plan to revive STL operations in South Cotabato.
Limson denied Tamayo’s accusation that the police chief planned to turn Ozaeta into a “milking cow.”
It seems the police chief of South Cotabato was going to use this guy wanted for kidnapping to operate the STL and skim from the profits. That is the most likely explanation anyway.
Philippine political scandal of the week? No. This is just pure idiocy. Let us follow the trail of this story of the memo to shun aid fiefdom countries who voted for the UNHRC recosltuin to investigate EJKs in the Phio as it unfolded in the media.
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| https://business.inquirer.net/279344/duterte-order-shuns-all-loans-grants-aid-from-18-countries-in-favor-of-probe-of-ph-killings |
The 18 countries that voted in the affirmative were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uruguay.
Signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, acting on behalf of Duterte, the memo suspended all new talks and deals for foreign loans and grants from the 18 countries. It was distributed to all Cabinet secretaries and heads of agencies, government-owned or controlled corporations and government financial institutions.
Such a ban will probably not affect the finances of the Philippines but is a diplomatic middle finger to many otherwise friendly countries such as the UK and Australia who have given quite a bit to the Philippines.
“Experience showed the same countries that voted for the Iceland resolution never gave or lent us anything worthwhile or offered with conditions more onerous than the loans we’d have to pay back,” Locsin said in a tweet.Locsin is nuts! The UK and Australia have given quite a lot of money to the Philippines and the AFP regularly trains with Australian military forces.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1167394/palace-no-duterte-order-suspending-loans-grants-from-18-countries-backing-ph-killings-probe |
“The President has not issued any memorandum suspending loans and negotiations involving 18 countries that voted in favor of the Iceland resolution,” Duterte spokesman and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters in a text message.Oh wait I guess this memo does not exist.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/23/19/palace-confirms-shunning-foreign-aid-cites-duterte-lapse-of-memory-for-initial-denial |
"A memo was issued by Executive Secretary [Salvador] Medialdea on the matter," Panelo told ANC.
"The question asked to me by the media was whether or not the President issued a memorandum... When I asked him, he said 'No, I did not.' He might have forgotten momentarily. When I asked him again, he said, 'Yes, I remember calling the Secretary about it,'" he added.
Asked if the mix-up was due to ignorance of protocol, the official said, "No, that's more of lapse of memory."
Last week Panelo said Duterte cannot speak Tagalog now he says Duterte has a faulty memory!
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1169143/defense-chief-seeks-loan-ban-exemption |
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is considering seeking an exemption from President Duterte’s order to suspend loan and grant deals with 18 countries that backed a resolution for a probe in the Philippine government’s alleged human rights abuses.
Lorenzana initially broached the idea at an interview on Monday during the blessing of the Marine Corps’ new amphibious assault vehicles where he assured reporters he would comply with the directive.
But he pointed out that he might seek an exemption for loans pertaining to defense contracts.
At a forum of the Association for Philippine-China Understanding in Mandaluyong City on Tuesday, the defense secretary reiterated his position to abide by Mr. Duterte’s directive.
“Maybe we are going to request for exemptions because we really need to transact business with another country,” Lorenzana said.
He raised the possibility that purchases would not be covered by the President’s order, as he pointed out that the Department of National Defense is in the process of talking with Australia for the acquisition of six new offshore patrol vessels.
Duterte's loan ban has real world consequences contrary to DFA Secretary Locsin saying that none of those 18 countries every gave anything of any value. The AFP is very much in partnership with the Australians and other countries.
