It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2021/2/26/zamboanga-sibugay-town-vice-mayor-shot-dead.html |
Vice Mayor Restituto Calonge of Mabuhay town, Zamboanga Sibugay and another individual were shot dead by an unidentified gunman, local police said on Friday.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. near the municipal hall in the town's Barangay Poblacion. Police said another individual was shot and rushed to the hospital.
The vice mayor was near the Mabuhay Municipal Hall having a conversation with the two other victims when the assailant approached and fired at them.
The gunman later fled on a motorcycle described by witnesses as a black Honda XRM125. Hot pursuit operations are ongoing, and nearby police stations were directed to monitor checkpoints.
The PNP is eyeing a gun-for-hire group as being the perpetrators of this act.
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| https://www.bulatlat.com/2021/02/28/capiz-village-head-shot-dead/ |
A village head who protested the arrest of four of her constituents last year was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assailants in Iloilo province this morning, February 28.
Village chairperson Julie Catamin of barangay Roosevelt, Tapaz town in Capiz was headed home and was driving a motorcycle in barangay Malitbog, Calinog town in Iloilo province when she was attacked.
Earlier, her village mates reported that several men who identified themselves as members of the CIDG were looking for Catamin.
On February 25, Catamin was summoned to the military detachment in Haycon, Calinog by a certain Lt. Estrada who warned Catamin that her constituents should stop asking help from Bayan Muna and the church, or the same thing that happened last December 30 will happen to them.
Catamin had protested the arrest of her four village mates on December 30 last year, as she attested that they were innocent and that the weapons and ammunitions found in their houses were planted by the CIDG.
In a statement, Panay-based peasant group Pamanggas denounced the killing which they believed was government-perpetrated.
This lady complained that four people in her village were set up by the CIDG. She is then assassinated by unknown gun men and some of the villagers claim that members of the CIDG were looking for her. It's no wonder that a peasant group thinks this is a government sponsored murder.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132185 |
The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court has found a former Mountain Province mayor and other officials guilty of graft in connection with anomalous government contracts in 2009.
The anti-graft court's Third Division, in a decision penned by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno dated February 26 and recently made available online, sentenced the accused to up to eight years of imprisonment for each of the two charges.
Convicted were ex-Barlig mayor Magdalena Lupoyon and Albert Marafo, municipal treasurer.
Likewise found guilty for the second charge were Edmundo Challiis Sidchayao, then the vice mayor; former Sangguniang Bayan members Clark Chatongna Ngaya and Fernando Yacam-ma Cablog; and Danilo Lucas, municipal engineer.
The charges arose from two contracts awarded without public bidding for the repair of a pathway leading to Mount Amuyao worth PHP50,000 and for the construction of a gymnasium in the town that cost PHP2.5 million.
State auditors first sensed irregularities after a donation to the town was found to have been deposited to another bank account, seen as a deliberate attempt not to subject the money to government accounting and auditing rules.
Contracts awarded without public bidding and regular deposits have landed all these men a conviction likely with prison time.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/01/2081313/ex-envoy-brazil-who-maltreated-house-helper-dismissed-service |
The country's former ambassador to Brazil, who was caught on video maltreating her Filipino house helper, has been dismissed from service, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.
Marichu Mauro was recalled in late October of last year in the wake of the incident that had gone viral on social media.
She was charged on November 9, but no news of whether she was out or staying in her post came until Duterte confirmed this in his weekly public address tonight.
The dismissal order, the president said, comes with penalties such as the cancellation of her retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from ever holding public office.
Mauro will also no longer be allowed to take civil service examinations.
Now we know the fate of this lady. Hopefully she went through the proper process and the charges against her were verified.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132368 |
A former police officer who has outstanding cases for car theft and highway robbery and has been in hiding since 2011 was arrested in an operation in Paco, Manila, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Gen. Debold Sinas, said on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as former Police Officer 2 Jhovani Chua, was arrested at the Peninsula Garden Midtown Homes in Paco on Tuesday afternoon.
Chua, accused of violating Republic Act 6539 (Anti-Carnapping Law) and Presidential Decree 532 (Anti-Highway Robbery Law), had a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Editha Miña-Aguba of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100.
He was formerly assigned to the Regional Headquarters Support Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office and was dismissed from the service in 2011.
Police record shows that in March 2011, Chua and Amiel Arceo hijacked a cargo truck carrying PHP600,000 worth of canned juice in Dagat-Dagatan, Caloocan City, and killed its driver and helper.
In June that year, Chua was involved in another hijacking of a van loaded with bathroom products worth PHP380,000 in Barangay NS Amoranto, Quezon City.
A former cop who was dismissed in 2011 for criminal activities was arrested after being on the run for almost ten years.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132370 |
A non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is facing dismissal after testing positive for shabu during a random drug test, PNP Chief, Gen. Debold Sinas, said Wednesday.
Lawyer Efren Garcia II, chief of the Legal Affairs Division of Regional Internal Affairs Service 3, failed the drug test on February 24.
Garcia will undergo pre-charge investigation and summary dismissal proceedings for alleged grave misconduct after his urine specimen yielded a positive result for the presence of methamphetamine during screening and confirmatory drug testing.
PNP lawyer tests positive for shabu and has now been dismissed.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132256 |
A village chairperson who was identified as a supporter of the New People's Army (NPA) was arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in Dueñas, Iloilo on Tuesday.
The house of Barangay Calang chair Joewinny Giganto was searched by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Western Visayas (CIDG 6), Regional Mobile Force Battalion, and Dueñas Municipal Police Station in the presence of barangay council officers at around 5:30 a.m. by virtue of a search warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 69’s Judge Domingo L. Casiple, Jr.
Confiscated from his possession were one unit of fragmentation hand grenade, one .45-caliber pistol, a magazine, and seven pieces of live ammunition, CIDG 6 special operations group chief, Major Jess Baylon, said in a phone interview.
“The subject is under the custody of the CIDG and he is due for inquest proceedings,” he said.
The Police Regional Office-6, in a statement, said Giganto was identified as an NPA supporter and leader of a new armed group involved in the “proliferation of loose firearms and gun-running activities in the province of Iloilo and nearby provinces”.
Associate Provincial Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, chair of legal cooperation cluster of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF ELCAC) confirmed that the suspect is the brother of Ismael “Ka Bob” Giganto, a leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) faction that led an ambush in Barangay Daan Sur, Tapaz, Iloilo on February 2003.
A village leader who is the brother of an NPA leader who lead an ambush on a town back in 2003 and who is also an NPA support as well as the leader of an armed group has been arrested.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1402600/2-village-chiefs-motorcycle-driver-slain-in-samar |
Two village chiefs and a motorcycle-for-hire driver were killed when unidentified men shot them in Barangay Balugo, Tarangnan town, Samar province at 8:40 a.m. Wednesday.
Captain Constantino Jabonete, chief of the Tarangnan Police Office, said killed were Chairman Bonifacio Babon of Barangay Marabut; Chairwoman Amelita Helbularyo of Barangay Awang; and motorcycle driver Elpedio Babon.
Jabonete said in a telephone interview that the victims were on board a motorcycle coming from their barangays on their way to the town proper to attend the Liga ng mga Barangay and Municipal Development Planning Office meetings.
The perpetrators, he said, went near the body of chairman Babon and shot him several times.
Two village chairmen were assassinated by unknown gunmen for unknown reasons. Apparently some really wanted Bonifacio Babon dead!
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/04/21/senate-panel-to-recommend-graft-corruption-raps-vs-lto-over-delayed-motorcycle-plates |
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will recommend the filing of graft and corruption charges against Transportation officials involved in the delayed release of motorcycle plate numbers, the panel's head said Thursday.
Earlier this week, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair Richard Gordon scolded Land Transportation Office (LTO) officials for "swindling" motorcycle owners who applied but never received their license plates for nearly 8 years.
(You paid several times already but they still don't release your plate... This will really lead to graft and corruption.)
In 2013, the LTO opened a public bidding for the supplier of motorcycle plates, but the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the process, saying it was illegal as there was no budgetary allocation for the production of license plates at that time.
The Supreme Court eventually allowed the production of the license plates to resume provided those involved in the questionable bidding would be held accountable, Gordon said.
(What's happening is they are trying to address the 2-3 years of backlog even if they have plate factories inside the LTO.)
(There are so many anomalies that we shrug off so less fortunate and helpless people have no choice but to try to get by.)
- Since 2013 the LTO has been taking people's money but not providing the required license plates. The Senate now wants to charge them with graft.
