It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
Two police non-commissioned officers (PNCOs) assigned with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are now facing charges for their alleged involvement in extortion activities.
In a statement Monday, Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) chief Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon said charges of robbery extortion and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were filed against Staff Sgt. Mark Anthony Palma and Pat. Gerald Tucas.
“With the implementation of Oplan Bansay or Bantay sa Pagsasanay, our Training Internal Cleansing program, we were able to gather information on the alleged extortion activity perpetrated by these two active PNCOs who were supposed to be the role models of the trainees being their trainers and mentors while undergoing the Basic Internal Security Operations Course (BISOC),” de Leon said in a statement.
Based on the information report received by the IMEG-Mindanao Field Unit, an alleged extortion activity transpired involving BISOC trainees at the BAR's Regional Special Training Unit (RSTU).
Palma and Tucas allegedly demanded PHP60,000 from the BISOC trainees in exchange for a more lenient treatment accorded to their class during the course of the training.
The BISOC battalion commander and the class treasurer eventually gave in to the demands of their trainers and the said amount was withdrawn from the class fund and was later given separately to the two police officers, where each of them received PHP30,000 last Aug. 27 inside Palma’s car parked at the mall Cotabato City.
After a series of validation and eventual case buildup, the charges were filed against the two suspects on Sept. 5 before the City Prosecutor's Office of Cotabato City for preliminary investigation.
De Leon said an administrative complaint for grave misconduct and two counts of conduct unbecoming of a police officer defined under National Police Commission (Napolcom) Memorandum Circular No. 2016-002 was referred to the Regional Internal Affairs Service- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (RIAS-BAR) for pre-charge investigation.
Two cops are facing charges for extortion.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has pointed to alleged lack of records and monitoring for the low collection of Annual Tonnage Fees (ATF) by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) from water transport utilities and other maritime enterprises in 2019 and prior fiscal years.
In MARINA’s central office, COA in its audit report said the total ATF collections in calendar years 2020 and 2021 amounted to P48,457,124.02. It said that of the amount, P2,982,857.75 or 6.16 percent was for ATF for years 2010 to 2017.
COA said that although the collections were supported with the required authority to accept payment (ATAP), the “verification of the propriety and correctness of the amounts collected could not be done due to lack of records.”
These records should include the schedules of receivables and Masterlist of Registered Domestic Vessels detailing the names of operators or companies, number of registered units, and the corresponding gross tonnages.
COA said it discovered that P4,288,164 or 8.85 percent of the total amount collected were from operators of domestic vessels that were not among those listed in the submitted masterlists for fiscal years 2018 to 2020.
It also said there were vessels that are non-operational but are still included in the masterlists maintained by MARINA. They could not be deleted from the registry yet until an application for deletion is filed, it noted.
The COA has called out the MARINA for lack of proper record keeping.
The Supreme Court has convicted a former provincial agrarian reform adjudicator for extorting cash and tuna fish from litigants 15 years ago.
In its 21-page decision made available online on Monday, the SC affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s 2019 decision convicting Henry Gelacio of the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (Darab) Region XII based in Kidapawan City, Cotabato for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and sentenced him to up to eight years behind bars.
He was acquitted of a second charge of violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Gelacio was found guilty of soliciting and accepting a total of PHP120,000 and a whole tuna fish for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a case in 2007.
“There is nothing that will justify the acts of accused-appellant in accepting monetary and non-monetary considerations in exchange of a favorable action in the administrative case he was officially presiding,” the SC said in affirming Gelacio’s conviction.
The case involved a group of farmers, including the complainants led by the late Eduardo Garbo, who had pending cases between August and November 2007.
Gelacio’s demand was made through the farmers' lawyer, who said the former Darab exec asked for money in exchange for a TRO.
Garbo gave PHP20,000 to Gelacio himself on two occasions in exchange for a draft of the TRO.
The accused also asked for a whole tuna fish, which was also delivered to him.
The other litigants pooled money to meet the PHP120,000 demand.
Garbo and his fellow litigants said the extortion adversely affected the livelihood of the farmers because they had to sell their farm animals and equipment, thus forcing their children to stop attending school.
A former DA executive has had his graft conviction upheld by the Sandiganbayan.
The Sandiganbayan has convicted a former Maguindanao town mayor and two others on graft charges and sentenced them up to seven years in prison for their part in irregularities in a PHP5- million municipal water project in 2011.
The anti-graft court 5th Division, in its decision dated Sept. 9, found former Northern Kabuntalan municipality mayor Datu Umbra Bayam Dilangalem, municipal accountant Rahima A. Ali, and municipal treasurer Kabiba A. Mael guilty of giving unwarranted benefits to a private firm, FFJJ Construction, in a contract for the town’s Small Water Impounding Project.
Prosecutors questioned why the accused authorized full contract price payment of the project even before the construction started as under government procurement rules no time should full payment be made prior to the completion of a project.
Dilangalen claims the charges were instigated by his political rivals and admitted that the contractor did not ask for full payment after the signing of the contract. He likewise denied that he allowed the full payment on account of familiarity with the contractor.
The project was subsequently completed in March 2012.
The court, in sentencing the three to imprisonment of six to seven years in prison, said it is “unconvinced” by the mayor’s claim that he did not know the rules governing the disbursement of public funds.
A town mayor has been convicted of graft and sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with a municipal water contract.
Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) arrested in Davao City Saturday afternoon an incumbent Maguindanao mayor for two counts of murder allegedly committed 12 years ago.
Nabbed was Khaddafe “Toy” Mangudadatu, 44, mayor of the municipality of Pandag in Maguindanao, according to the CIDG Regional Field Unit in the BARMM. He was nabbed 4:15 p.m. at the Royal Mandaya Hotel along Palma Street here.
Mangudadatu was brought to the Davao Doctors Hospital for immediate medical attention due to chest pain and shortness of breath, according to the CIDG.
The CIDG said the case stemmed from the case filed against the accused for the killing of spouses Abdulah Kanapia Ligawan and Lala S. Ligawan on October 7, 2010 at Purok 6, Brgy. Sinakulay in the municipality of President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat province.
Mangudadatu was arrested by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Samina Sampaco Macabando-Usman, of the Regional Trial Court Branch 20 of Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat dated Sept. 9.
The judge said the case is “not bailable.”
A mayor has been arrested for a murder he committed 12 years ago.
The Court of Appeals (CA) upheld the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman imposing a six-month suspension against a human resource management officer of the Aurora provincial government for enforcing policies that caused undue delay in the processing of employees' loan applications.
In a decision dated Sept. 7, the appellate court turned down the petition filed by Jude Carmelo Q. Fulgar questioning the Ombudsman's Feb. 21, 2018 decision against him.
The Ombudsman found Fulgar guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service when he unilaterally imposed the additional requirement of securing clearances from the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) before processing loans applications of employees with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Landbank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
The Ombudsman, however, dismissed other administrative charges against Fulgar for grave abuse of authority or oppression, gross neglect of duty, and inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of public functions.
In junking Fulgar's petition, the court said he "ought to know the bounds of his duties yet he unilaterally imposed a requirement not sanctioned by law".
Fulgar's actions, the CA said, have put "undue physical and financial burden" on loan applicants who out of need, "had no choice but to travel from Aurora to Manila and vice versa to secure unnecessary clearances from the Ombudsman and the CSC".
"Greater damage comes with the public's perception of corruption and/or incompetence in the government. Such perception becomes more acute when a public officer delays or imposes undue burdens and requirements on the availment of benefits and privileges available to ordinary citizens as a lifeline in times of gravely pressing need," the CA added.
The sixth month suspension of a provincial government employee who enforced polices that "caused undue delay in the processing of employees' loan applications" has been upheld.
Former North Cotabato Rep. Gregorio Ipong and two officials of the defunct Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) were convicted of graft and malversation for a second time for channeling P4.9 million of his “pork barrel,” or his share of the discontinued Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), into a bogus foundation in 2007.
In a 52-page decision made public on Sept. 13, the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division found Ipong, former TLRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan and former TLRC chief accountant Marivic Jover guilty of the charges and sentenced them each to between 16 and 27 years of imprisonment.
The three were also ordered to individually pay P4.9 million, equal to the amount they misused, the Sandiganbayan said.
This was on top of their civil liability, as the court also ordered them to “jointly and severally indemnify the Republic of the Philippines, through the Bureau of Treasury” the same amount of P4.9 million, with interest of 6 percent per year until fully paid.
The three were also banned from holding any government position.
The charges originated from the fraudulent transfer of Ipong’s PDAF allocation to Aaron Foundation Philippines Inc. (Afpi), which the court described as a “bogus and nonexistent” nongovernment organization (NGO).
A former Congressman has been convicted of funneling millions in PDAF money to fraudulent NGOs.
Police have launched a manhunt against two men riding tandem on a motorbike who shot and wounded an off-duty police officer in Pikit, North Cotabato.
Major Maxim Peralta, Pikit police chief, identified the victim as Patrolman Brian Singco, a resident of Barangay Poblacion and a member of the Pikit municipal police station.
“This is work-related, Patrolman Singco is a police officer who has been religiously performing his job as a law enforcer,” Peralta said in an interview Thursday, Sept. 15.
He added several “persons of interest” are being considered to have carried out the attack.
Singco, 33, was off duty Wednesday, Sept. 14, and working on the fence of his residence on Crossing Cuevas and Fernandez Streets in Barangay Poblacion when he was shot once at around 4 p.m. by a gunman who fled with an accomplice on a motorbike.
Singco sustained a bullet wound in his abdomen and is now undergoing treatment.
An off-duty cop was shot by unknown men.
A police officer was shot dead by an unidentified gunman along the National Highway in Barangay Banlag, Monkayo, Davao de Oro on Sunday afternoon.
According to a report, SMS Rey Binalangbang, who was assigned at the Davao de Oro Police Provincial Office, had just stepped down from his pickup when he was shot dead by an unknown suspect.
The victim was rushed to Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital but was declared dead by attending physician Dr. Rodolfo Rimando Jr. due to several gunshot wounds on his body.
Col. Benedicto Faco, PNP provincial director, said that the PNP will act swiftly so that justice will be served to the family of Binalangbang.
Faco also condemned the killing of Binalangbang and asked the public to help the police in identifying the killer.
Police are still trying to establish the motive of the killing.
A policeman was assassinated by unknown men for unknown motives.
While the Sandiganbayan reduced the fine imposed on former Mayor Angel Viray Peliglorio Jr. and a private contractor in their conviction for malversation of public funds, the court ordered them to pay civil liability as additional penalty.
Peliglorio and Izumo Contractors, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Cedric C. Lee were convicted of malversation in the construction of the Mariveles Public Market in 2005.
They were sentenced to a prison term ranging from 12 to 18 years and were ordered to pay a fine of P23,470,500, which was equivalent to the amount malversed. They were acquitted of graft charge.
Peliglorio and Lee filed separate motions for reconsideration, both praying for acquittal in their malversation charge. Peliglorio said that he was never in custody of the money reportedly malversed, while Lee argued that there was no evidence that proved he misappropriated public funds for his own personal use or benefit.
Ruling on the motions, the anti-graft court said that “there are no new matters that will prompt this court to either amend, alter, modify, or reverse the assailed Decision” except on two specific issues — the inclusion of taxes paid as part of the fine and the restitution and civil liability of both accused.
“This Court, after revisiting the computations on the amounts paid, found that only the amount of P19,442,267.48 was acknowledged to have been received by accused-movant Lee,” the court’s resolution stated.
“Hence, this Court reduces the amount of the fine imposed to P19,442,267.48, the actual amount malversed,” it said.
But the resolution stated that there is an “imperative need” to modify its earlier decision regarding their civil liability and ordered them to “jointly and severally” pay the government P19,442,267.48 with interest of six percent per annum from finality of the decision until fully paid.
Their graft and malversation charges stemmed from the transfer of public funds to Izumo Contractors “even without procedural safeguards, guarantee of performance, and in violation of Commission on Audit rules as advance payment for the construction of Mariveles Public Market” on March 27, 2005. The prosecution said and the court affirmed that the construction never commenced.
A former mayor convicted of malversation of funds has had his fine reduced but an additional civil liability imposed.
Five of the six traffic enforcers from the Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management System (CTMS), who earlier tested positive in a drug test on August 1, 2022, also yielded positive results in the confirmatory test.
This was confirmed by Garry Lao, executive director of the City of Lapu-Lapu Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (CLOSAP), after they received the result of the confirmatory test on Thursday, September 8, 2022.
Lao said that the five traffic enforcers were found to be positive of using shabu, while one had negative results.
“We found out that of the six, five ang na-confirm positive for using Methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu, nag-positive,” Lao said.
Lao said that the six were already temporarily terminated from their work, pending the result of the confirmatory test.
He added that he already informed the Human Resources Department of the results, wherein those who tested positive will be terminated permanently.
Lao also invited the five traffic enforcers to enroll in the drug rehabilitation program of CLOSAP, which will last for three months.
“Pero ako silang giingnan nga it’s not an assurance sa inyong pag-report nga makabalik mo,” he added.
Meanwhile, the traffic enforcer who tested negative on the confirmatory test will be reinstated, Lao said.
Five traffic enforcers tested positive for drugs after a second test and will be terminated from their jobs.
