The God Culture: Timothy Jay Schwab's Use of Zechariah Sitchin to Interpret the Bible

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture has finally done it. He has produced a video that is so over the top in its looniness and outrageousness that he is losing followers at break neck speed. Joke lang! He did make an outrageous and looney video but his viewers still love him because they are gullible fools who do not do what Tim tells them to do which is to "test all things," including him. But that should be no surprise as Filipinos are easily swayed into believing all manner of falsehoods. 

So what is this new video? It's an interpretation of the Biblical flood and the archaeological findings of Ron Wyatt through the lens of Zechariah Sitchin's fictitious "The Lost Book of Enki."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fztqrNHtvU

The title and subtitle tell us what the content of this video will be.

Oops! Did Ron Wyatt Find the Nephilim Ark?

The Book of Enki says "Yes." And the Bible says that's not Noah!

Many of my readers might not know who Ron Wyatt is or what the Book of Enki is so here is a brief summary. Ron Waytt was an archeologist who claimed to have found Noah's Ark in Turkey, the Ark of the Covenant, Golgotha (the place where Jesus was crucified) and many other Biblical artifacts. Whether he was a fraud as many claim or whether he was correct is not exactly pertinent here. In this video Tim assumes Ron Wyatt did find an ark, just not Noah's Ark. Instead he found the Nephilim Ark.

The Nephilim are allegedly the offspring of Angels and human females which are mentioned in Genesis 6 as giants. According to Tim, God actually caused the flood not because of mankind's wickedness but because of the wickedness of the Nephilim. According to Tim when the Bible says that God "saw the wickedness of man and that it was great," that is a reference to the Nephilim and not to genetically pure humans. Only Noah and his family had pure human DNA. This is why Noah was chosen to be saved in the ark. Tim actually lays all that out in his first Flood Series video which can be watched here. 

Tim goes on to explain that God would destroy all living beings which had the Breath of Life. That is a very important qualifier because Tim does not believe that the Nephilim, which is basically everybody except Noah and his family, had the Breath of Life or that they were created by God. But none of that makes sense. If God's intent was to wipe out the Nephilim and to kill all which had the Breath of Life, yet the Nephilim did not have the Breath of Life and thus would not be killed, then you have too many contradictions as God's intended targets would not be killed. In fact it is the conceit of the video being reviewed here that some Nephilim actually built an ark and survived the flood which further undoes what Tim claims was God's original intent with the flood, namely to kill the Nephilim to save mankind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48-XtI0JAIs&lc=UgwcO30RC4xMroEfdiZ4AaABAg.9LCfVjFnLiq9LCt5eBWon9

Yahuah caused the Flood and He said He did and we ALWAYS say so. However, the reason was not just His waking up one day and deciding to create an adventure. He was ridding the world of the control of the Nephilim who were destroying it. The same will return in the last days and we are already seeing these signs. This is what the Bible says.

Thus, before we even begin to rip apart this new video we see Tim's doctrine makes no sense. He says God sent a flood to save mankind from the Nephilim but that the flood specifically did not kill the Nephilim because they did not have the Breath of Life and that some of them survived in their own ark. However, they would not even need an ark to survive since they did not have the Breath of Life and only those with the Breath of Life died. That would mean ALL THE NEPHILIM survived the flood. That also means God's plan for the flood failed and mankind was not saved from the Nephilim because even today there is Nephilim influence according to Tim. Speaking of the end-time government, and government in general really, Tim says it will be run by Nephilim.

8:01 -  This identifies the leaders God will use will be Nephilim, mixtures, not men and they will mix with human genes to create these leaders. Now, Nephilim have been mixing with humans all along in all of history. 

Gog of Magog Attacks 2: FRESH REVELATION: Lost Tribes Series 5B: Who is Gog?

Nephilim run the world? I thought it was the Reptilians! According to Tim God failed to wipe out the Nephilim in the flood despite their destruction being his intention. Timothy Jay Schwab's God is a failure.

 That brings us to The Lost Book of Enki.

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Book-Enki-Prophecies-Extraterrestrial/dp/1591430372

FICTION/MYTHOLOGY $24.00 

THE LOST BOOK OF ENKI 

Will the past become our future? Is humankind destined to repeat the events that occurred on another planet, far away from Earth? Zecharia Sitchin's bestselling series, The Earth Chronicles, provided humanity's side of the story—as recorded on ancient clay tablets and other Sumerian artifacts—concerning our origins at the hands of the Anunnaki, "those who from heaven to earth came." In The Lost Book of Enki, we can view this saga from a different perspective through this richly conceived autobiographical account of Lord Enki, an Anunnaki god, who tells the story of these extraterrestrials' arrival on Earth from the 12th planet, Nibiru. 

The object of their colonization: gold to replenish the dying atmosphere of their home planet. Finding this precious metal results in the Anunnaki creation of homo sapiens—the human race—to mine this important resource. In his previous works, Sitchin compiled the complete story of the Anunnaki's impact on human civilization in peacetime and in war from the fragments scattered throughout Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew sources--the "myths" of all ancient peoples in the old world as well as the new. Missing from these accounts, however, was the perspective of the Anunnaki themselves. What was life like on their own planet? What motives propelled them to settle on Earth—and what drove them from their new home? 

Convinced of the existence of a now lost book that formed the basis of ancient Sumerian texts holding the answers to these questions, the author began his search for evidence. Through exhaustive research of primary sources, he has here re-created tales as the memoirs of Enki, the leader of these first "astronauts." What takes shape is the story of a world of Mounting tensions, deep rivalries, and sophisticated scientific knowledge that is only today being confirmed. An epic tale of gods and men unfolds, challenging every assumption we hold about our cre-ation, our past, and our future. 

As the back cover tells us, The Lost Book of Enki is wholly a work of fiction compiled by Zechariah Sitchin who authored The Earth Chronicles. That series of books is about how ancient aliens landed on earth to mine gold and created man especially for the task. In this book he has "RE-CREATED TALES AS THE MEMOIRS OF ENKI." All he has done is take Sumerian myths and stitched them together into a hypothetical memoir. That's because there is no Lost Book of Enki except for this literary creation of Sitchin. Sitchin was one of the most preeminent ancient aliens theorists out there. And his writings are total garbage, especially if one is a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ or whatever one calls themselves, as Timothy Jay Schwab claims to be. Now on to the video.

There really is no need to go point by point through this thing. Let's take a look at a few highlights which reveal it's utter absurdity.

3:30 - First let's go to The Book of Enki, The Lost Book of Enki, from Zachariah Sitchin's publishing in recent years. So, this is accepted, you know, in much of scholarship as The Book of Enki. Yes, this is not scripture at all it is absolutely occult, 100%.

This is the first lie in this video. What does Tim mean that "in much of scholarship" this book is accepted? Who accepts it? No scholar takes Zechariah Sitchin seriously. There is a whole section of criticisms on his Wikipedia entry regarding his erroneous translations, interpretations, and total lack of credentials. Michael Heiser, a man who I know Tim reads and whose theology he has appropriated, has a webpage titled, "Sitchin is Wrong." And as mentioned above, THERE IS NO LOST BOOK OF ENKI! Sitchin made it up. Tim's admission that The Lost Book of Enki is 100% occult will return to bite him later when he accuses scholars of following occult paradigms. Oops! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

One of Tim's viewers actually commented about how Zechariah Sitchin is unreliable and no scholar takes him seriously.

Whoever you are, you need to be stupid to think Zacharia stichin is even a scholar. he is not. He knows NO ancient languages so if you believe anything he writes, you're ignorant. No one in scholarship even acknowledges him or his "work".

Tim's response was to delete the comment. After all, as he says in his videos, it's his channel and his rules. The number one rule is questions and dissent will not be tolerated. Just goes to show how ultimately dishonest Timothy Jay Schwab really is when he tells people to "test all things" including him.

Tim begins his reading on page 221 of the ebook which is also the same page as the print book. The story of the deluge in The Lost Book of Enki really begins on page 211 where the Anunnaki decide to end their mission on earth because there is an oncoming flood. It is decided that humankind must perish but Enki defies Elil who gave this command and directs his son Ziusudra, who has a human mother, to build a boat which will save mankind as well as animal and plant life.

It was to be through Ziusudra that civilization would be preserved.

8:08 - "By you shall the seed of civilized mankind survive." Now you know they do that today. In colonialism for the past several centuries they've been telling us, "Oh well we're civilized mankind." Yeah, where did the term come from? The Nephilim. That's where that comes from. Let's call it what it is. Colonialism is evil it always has been and it is a Nephilim concept and there you have it right there, their thinking that we find in colonialism. "Civilized mankind" what a ridiculous term. Man is man. If you do not value every man as equal then you are an idiot. There's no other way to term that. And you were thinking like a Nephilim. Colonialism was wrong and it was Nephilim thinking.

Here Timothy is actually ranting AGAINST civilization. He says such a notion as "civilized mankind" is ridiculous and comes from the Nephilim. And not only that but colonialism is evil. No ifs, ands, or buts about it! Those British who colonized India and stamped out the murderous Thuggee cult? They were evil because, as Tim says, man is man. The conquistadores who put an end to human sacrifice in the Americas? Pure evil! The brave missionaries who spread the gospel to cannibals thus ending such a custom? They were evil because colonialism is evil. The Romans who built roads and aqueducts which connected Europe? Evil! Absolutely evil. Any nation that subdues another people and attempts to show them a better way to live by introducing them to advanced technology, such as the wheel which sub-Saharan Africans did not use until Europeans came, is evil no matter what, says Tim.

See how the Philippines is just like any other place? Surely Tim would have no problem living here because there is no difference!

Remember man is man. We are all equal. The Australian aborigines who had nothing to show after thousands of years were totally equal to Captain James Cook and every other British explorer who turned that desert into a fertile place to live. The naked Filipinos who met Magellan when he arrived were no different than than the genius known as Isaac Newton who showed the world how the universe operates with his laws of mechanics. No civilization is better than another. Even if they have honor killings, stonings, beheadings, eat dogs, have sex with goats, have sex with young boys, marry off their girls before they even reach puberty, bind young girl's feet, etc., etc., etc. 

The Sambia people who live in the jungles of Papua New Guinea and have their young boys fellate older men so they can drink their semen in order to become men are equal to the people who constructed the philosophic, economic, and spiritual foundations of the United States of America. There is no difference, says Tim who surely would be willing to raise his children in the fashion of the Sambia people unless he is some kind of idiot who does not think all cultures and men are equal.

This Indian man who is just getting a drink of fresh cow piss? Well, he's just like Timothy Jay Schwab. And according to Tim he would be an idiot to think anything else than that cow piss is a tasty drink and a healthy medicine because man is man and every culture is equal.

You know this is only eight minutes in and it's already a lot of blathering blatherskite and there is so much more to come that it's not worth dealing with. Let's cut to the chase. Timothy thinks the story related in The Lost Book of Enki is true. It actually happened! He mentions again that Enki was a fallen angel and his son Ziusudra was a Nephilim.

22:27 - Now again, let's be clear. Enki is a fallen angel, a watcher from before the flood. Again, they mated with human women and they had an offspring who were the Nephilim who are the origin of demons who are evil. Every imagination of their heart is evil continually. Now who is this Ziusudra or sudra however you want to pronounce it? Let's see, he is no mere mortal, oh no. He's no mere man because he's not a man. “My son,” he is this is Enki talking, "Enki to Ziusudra pointing cried out." so he's pointing to Ziusudra saying that's my son he's a Nephilim. He's not Noah he can't possibly be Noah. Noah was pure in his generations so you have to completely ignore the Bible to say that this guy is Noah.

In this passage Tim links the Nephilim to Geneis 6:5 just as he did in his Flood Series part 1. The verse reads as follows:

Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” 

Tim is certain in his interpretation. It is not the wickedness of man qua man, that is genetically pure man, which is being referred to but the wickedness of the angel/human hybrids know as the Nephilim. This of course flies in the face of the context of the passage which is as follows:

Genesis 6:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” 

Genesis 6:7 “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” 

Tim teaches God did not create the Nephilim and that they do not have the Breath of Life. But here God says it grieves him that he "made man" and that he will "destroy man whom I have created." Clearly Genesis 6:5-7 refers to man and not the Nephilim. 

Tim also completely ignores other verses which call man wicked.

Genesis 8:21 “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” 

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” 

Those verses are referring to men and not to Nephilim. That is a callback to Genesis 6:5 which is also referring to men and not Nephilim. There are many other passages about the innate wickedness of man scattered throughout the scriptures that Tim ignores to his peril. Tim foolishly denies and dismisses the doctrine known as "total depravity" in Gog and Magog Part 2 and Part 3. 

Further exacerbating this problem is that Tim says the Nephilim are "pure evil."

However, a Nephilim is pure evil period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fztqrNHtvU&lc=Ugx7KR-fNZWV_aqoWgp4AaABAg.9NJJ06OY0jO9NJJxxSAuAI

This is wrong on so many levels. There is no such thing as "pure evil." Evil does not exist as a substance but is a privation of good. There are many kinds of evils. Evil like sin is an action, breaking the law. Evil like disease is the absence of health. Tim's doctrine of a creature being "pure evil" is Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism and in complete contrast to the scriptures. Everything that exists is good insofar as it exists and that is because God created everything that exists and he cannot and does not create evil.

As for who the Nephilim are, since Tim is using a book by Zachariah Sitchin he would do well to stay within Sitchin's frame of reference and not superimpose his views on the text. You can read Sitchin's thoughts on the Nephilim in chapter 5 of The 12th Planet.

What, then, does the term Nefilim mean? Stemming from the Semitic root NFL ("to be cast down"), it means exactly what it says: It means those who were cast down upon Earth! 

Contemporary theologians and biblical scholars have tended to avoid the troublesome verses, either by explaining them away allegorically or simply by ignoring them altogether. But Jewish writings of the time of the Second Temple did recognize in these verses the echoes of ancient traditions of "fallen angels." Some of the early scholarly works even mentioned the names of these divine beings "who fell from Heaven and were on Earth in those days": Sham-Hazzai ("shem's lookout"); Uzza ("mighty") and Uzi-El ("God's might"). 

Malbim, a noted Jewish biblical commentator of the nineteenth century, recognized these ancient roots and explained that "in ancient times the rulers of countries were the sons of the deities who arrived upon the Earth from the Heavens, and ruled the Earth, and married wives from among the daughters of Man; and their offspring included heroes and mighty ones, princes and sovereigns." These stories, Malbirn said, were of the pagan gods, "sons of the deities, who in earliest times fell down from the Heavens upon the Earth . . . that is why they called themselves Nefilim; i.e. Those Who Fell Down."

Irrespective of the theological implications, the literal and original meaning of the verses cannot be escaped: The sons of the gods who came to Earth from the heavens were the Nefilim. And the Nefilim were the People of the Shem—the People of the Rocket Ships. Henceforward, we shall call them by their biblical name. 

This definition makes Enki, as well as Ziusudra, a Nephilim. And Zitichin does not think these beings are angels but extraterrestrials! Aliens. So does Timothy Jay "Fox Mulder" Schwab believe in aliens now?

Tim concludes this video by saying:

45:16 - Thus Wyatt not only found the Nephilim ark it appears, well, but he proved it with the supplies with metal included which would be Nephilim and using the Nephilim measurement even. Good job!

If that is true then everything else about The Lost Book of Enki must also be true. It is one story. You cannot pick and choose here. It's either myth or history. It can't be both or partial. Tim thinks one part is history so the rest necessarily follows. That means the Nephilim coming to earth from another planet to mine gold and creating man to be a slave for that purpose is true. 

Some 445,000 years ago, astronauts from another planet came to Earth in search of gold.

Splashing down in one of Earth’s seas, they waded ashore and established Eridu, “Home in the Faraway.” In time the initial settlement expanded to a full-fledged Mission Earth—with a Mission Control Center, a spaceport, mining operations, and even a way station on Mars.

Short of manpower, the astronauts employed genetic engineering to fashion Primitive Workers—Homo sapiens. The Deluge that catastrophically swept over the Earth required a fresh start; the astronauts became gods, granting Mankind civilization, teaching it to worship.

Then, about four thousand years ago, all that had been achieved unraveled in a nuclear calamity, brought about by the visitors to Earth inthe course of their own rivalries and wars.

The Lost Book of Enki, Introduction

Put on a timeline it looks like this.  

The 12th Planet, Zachariah Sitchin, pg2. 410-411

But there is no way Tim believes that because he claims to believe the Bible. So why would he consult The Lost Book of Enki in order to corroborate the Bible and attempt to disprove Josephus, Berossus, Ron Wyatt, and the testimony of history that Noah landed in Turkey? It does not make any sense. Tim's alternate thesis is that Noah landed on Mt. Everest. In fact this video is a sequel to NOAH'S ARK FOUND in 2010 on Mount Ararat? Does The Bible Agree? Flood Series 5A which I already thoroughly eviscerated and exsanguinated. Click the above link to read it. That video is filled with numerous errors and outright lies which I fully exposed.

There really isn't much more to say here. The tie to the Philippines is that Tim teaches Noah made the ark out of narra wood in the Philippines. Of course this same wood is native to many countries in Southeast Asia. Also Tim does not believe there was an ocean before the flood. That means Noah was living on what we know as the ocean floor while the Philippines would have been the tops of mountains. Again Tim's cosmology does not make sense. To posit there was no ocean before the flood defies all the evidence to the contrary.

What we are seeing here is the progression of Tim as he slips further and further away from Christianity because he thinks he has discovered some new and truer revelation which restores the truth. Something which has been hidden in plain sight for millennia and only Tim has been smart enough to put together. Tim is a typical case of the Dunning-Kruger effect. First he latched onto the Dead Sea Scrolls getting it into his head that the REAL Biblical canon is to be found in them. This includes Jubilees and Enoch and excludes any book not found among the scrolls such as Esther and the Maccabees. In fact, based solely on his interpretation of a few scrolls, he calls Maccabees a fraud claiming that Antiochus Epiphanies never defiled the temple and that Hanukkah is a hoax. He offers no clue on who wrote the Maccabees and when or how it made its way into the Septuagint which predates the Qumran community by a century and is the Bible of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and the early church and is still the Bible of the Eastern Orthodox to this day. He also offers no alternate origin story for Hanukkah or the story of Anitochus Epiphanies' desecration of the temple or why the multitude accepted Maccabees and why that book is cited or alluded to in the New Testament. I have no idea what he bases his New Testament canon on because no NT book was found in the caves of Qumran. If Tim were consistent he would have no New Testament.

Then he incorporates the Dead Sea Scrolls into his systematic theology formulating a system that is at odds with what the Bible actually teaches. For example, based on Jubilees 2:2 he teaches the heretical doctrine of the pre-existence of souls or spirits as well as downplaying the role of the Holy Spirit in creation and thus denying that He is God.

8:03 The Father and Son created together. The Holy Spirit had some sort of role though not laid out other than He hovered upon the waters, but there's no detail we found yet in any passage explaining what exactly he was doing. But He was there admittedly

21:27 All spirits for every man who will ever live were already created from day one.

The 22 Works of Creation. Who Were the Creators? Answers In Jubilees: Part 12

This heretical doctrine is only one more reason to reject the book of Jubilees as Scripture.

Tim even uses this system to teach false history about the Philippines. It is that system I have exposed again and again in these articles. Now Tim is actually appealing to Sumerian mythology to support his interpretation of the Bible and he is treating it as true actual history. For Tim there really was an Enki and a Ziusudra and the Nephilim really did build a boat to survive the flood.

A much more sober analysis of the Sumerian myth of Enki is to be found in James Frazer's book, "Folklore in the Old Testament."

That is a one volume abridgment but the story can be found on pages 120-125 of volume 1 of this work at archive.org. I recommend this book not because I believe the Bible to be myth but because it offers insight into parallel flood stories from around the world.  

Is Tim aware that practically every single culture has a flood story and that they all differ in significant ways? In one story only a single man and his dog survive. He then finds out the dog is actually a woman and he tricks her into revealing her form and they repopulate the earth. In several other stories a brother and sister survive and they have to repopulate the earth. What relation do these and other flood myths have to Noah or Enki's flood? What is their origin? Comparative religion is interesting but when you start treating myths as history, like Tim does with the myth of Enki, then you have gone off the deep end.

Retards in the Government 206

  It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.

 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139324

A dismissed Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel and three others who were arrested Wednesday at a checkpoint in Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental are facing murder raps in relation to the daytime gun-slay of a village chief in Dauin, a town about 30 minutes south of this capital.

Capt. Louie Batoto, Dauin police chief, in an interview Thursday, said three of the suspects are now in their custody while the fourth, the suspected gunman, is in a hospital here recovering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on his leg.

The suspects are from Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur, although their names were withheld pending further police investigation, he said.

A dismissed cop is among the four charged with killing a barangay captain. His name is Jhal Salapudin II but it is unclear why he was dismissed.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139351

A businessman escaped unscathed in a botched robbery hold-up while the three suspects, including a soldier, were arrested in pursuit operations in Zamboanga Sibugay province, a top police official said Thursday.

Col. Albert Larubis, Zamboanga Sibugay police director, identified the victim in Wednesday afternoon's robbery attempt in Barangay Mate, Titay town, as businessman Dande Calago.

Larubis identified the arrested suspects as Felix Salazar, 40, his younger brother, Jovanie, 37, and Joven Ocmer, 30, a member of the Army’s 42nd Infantry Battalion based in Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte.

Police investigation showed that before the incident, Calago was driving his pick-up type vehicle with Felix and Ocmer aboard on the way to Barangay Mate to inspect a parcel of land being sold to him by Jovanie, Larubis said.

Larubis said Felix and Ocmer at gunpoint declared the heist and tied the hands of Calago with masking tape.

However, the vehicle fell on its right side at the shoulder of the road as Calago resisted and stepped on the accelerator to speed up before the suspects managed to commandeer his pick-up truck.

Larubis said one of the two suspects shot but missed as Calago took the opportunity to escape through the shattered windshield and sought help in the village.

Felix and Ocmer carted away the cash and other valuables Calago left in his vehicle and fled to the bushes, where Felix allegedly called Jovanie to pick them up.

A group of would-be robbers was thwarted when the truck they were in fell on its side as the driver resisted. One of them is a solider in the Army's 42nd Infantry Battalion.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139508

A police personnel allegedly selling handguns was killed in a shootout with the police during an entrapment operation in Daraga, Albay on Friday, according to a police report.

Maj. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 5, identified the slain police officer as Corporal Joel Tualla of Libmanan, Camarines Sur, who was assigned at the Polangui Municipal Police Station.

The report said Tualla attempted to sell a .9mm KG9 sub-machine gun and .45 caliber pistol to a police undercover agent in Barangay Bañag at around 11:05 a.m.

“Tualla, sensing that it was police set up, he drew his service firearm and fired at the approaching police operatives, forcing the police raiding team to retaliate, killing the suspect on the spot,” Calubaquib said.

A PNP officer was shot dead by his colleagues after he attempted to see a pistol and a sub-machine gun to an undercover cop.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139564

Police recovered at least eight illegal firearms, including five high-powered rifles and assorted ammunition, while being transported to this city by an active policeman from Sultan Kudarat province and a dismissed colleague on Friday.

Lt. Col. Alan Ladra, chief of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit (RHPU) 12 (Soccsksargen), said the illegal items were seized from Staff Sgt. Abdul Gani Macadla, 36, and former Police Officer 1 Warden Husain Legawan, 39.

The two were intercepted by operatives in a checkpoint in Barangay Apopong aboard a car en route to the city proper at about 12:30 p.m.

Ladra said their men were conducting an operation under Oplan Lambat Bitag when they flagged down a white Toyota Vios sedan with an unauthorized license plate and noticed that its driver was not wearing a seatbelt.

He said the two men on board reportedly acted suspiciously, prompting the team to conduct a “plain view” inspection of the vehicle.

“They initially spotted some suspicious items and eventually found the illegal firearms and ammunition,” Ladra told reporters.

Recovered were a 9mm Glock pistol loaded with 21 ammunition, 9mm pistol with 15 bullets, a caliber .45 handgun with six bullets, five M-16 Armalite rifles, five steel boxes containing 1,000 rounds of M-16 ammunition, and 44 long steel magazine for M-16 rifle.

An active duty PNP officer and one who was dismissed were caught running illegal guns.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/08/21/dilg-issues-warning-20-lgus-illegal-unreported-fishing

Twenty local government units have been warned by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for their failure to regulate commercial fishing in their localities last year, the agency said Saturday.  

The DILG, in partnership with environmental group Oceana Philippines, said they were able to detect illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUUF) in these places through satellite technology. 

The basis of the warning issued by the agency were the number of violations allegedly committed under the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, such as the commercial vessels' use of "super light" or artificial light to attract fish during nighttime and their "intrusion and encroachment" in municipal waters that remain unreported.  

Using such artificial light sources for fishing is prohibited under the law.  

"Despite the pandemic, we want to remind LGUs of the protection of our aquatic resources which, unfortunately, is still an issue in the country.... mahigpit ang ating paalala na pangalagaan ang ating mga karagatan,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año was quoted as saying. 

(This is a stern warning to localities to take care of our oceans.) 

LGUs are failing to regulate commercial fishing in their respective areas.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1429276/cagayan-barangay-captain-shot-dead

A barangay captain in Buguey, Cagayan was shot dead by two gunmen on Saturday, the local police reported.

Based on initial investigation, Barangay Fula captain Renante Ritarita was driving his mini-dump truck and was on his way home when he was ambushed at around 4:45 p.m.

Citing witnesses, Police Captain Joel Labasan, Buguey police chief, said the masked assailants were seen alighting from a car  before the attack and hid in the nearby bushes.

Senior Master Sergeant Arnel Tumanu, Buguey chief investigator, said they recovered 16 empty shells for an M-16 Armalite rifle from the site.

Police also found Ritarita’s bag with P11,890 cash, two magazines for .45-caliber pistol, a mobile phone and a handheld radio.

Another barangay captain shot dead. But the contents of his bag including cash gun magazines is rather interesting. Why didn't the assailants take the money? Why did he have so much cash on him as well as the magazines? 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139701

The Caloocan City government is set to file charges against village officials and the owner of the Gubat sa Ciudad Resort that was found operating despite the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) implemented in the city, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Monday.

“The LGU will file cases against the barangay officials and the concerned violators regarding the Gubat as Ciudad Resort incident. The business permit has been revoked already and the resort was closed down as of 5 p.m. yesterday (Sunday). The Philippine National Police (PNP) is working closely with Caloocan LGU on the ongoing investigation and subsequent filing of cases,” Año said in a message sent to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) when sought for a comment.

Año said the local police has also summoned Barangay 171 chairperson Romeo Rivera while contact tracing and testing of all those who visited the resort are underway.

Caloocan Mayor Oscar Malapitan has already revoked the resort's business permit following its closure on Sunday afternoon.

LGU official are set to be charged because a resort was operating during MECQ.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139761

Police is investigating the identity of the lone gunman behind the killing Monday of a village official in Isabela City, the capital of Basilan province.

Lt. Colonel Junpikar Sitin, Isabela City police chief, identified the victim as Jamirun Amigos, the village chief of Marang, Sumisip, Basilan.

Amigos was walking in front of a food chain outlet around 2 p.m. Monday in Barangay Isabela Proper Isabela City when shot to death by the gunman, Sitin said.

Sitin said the suspect already fled when the responding policemen arrived at the crime scene.

Local village chief shot dead by an unknown gunman for unknown reasons.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1430580/sandiganbayan-oks-plea-bargain-deal-with-ex-dpwh-exec-orders-to-return-around-p1-4-m

In the decision dated May 7, the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division granted the deal struck by state prosecutors with Juanito Padilla Abergas, former Central Visayas director of the DPWH, provided that he would return around P1.484 million of the public funds he was accused of misspending.

Padilla is facing three criminal cases before the anti-graft court. He was accused of releasing reimbursements for and collecting his extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses, local travel expenses, and actual and/or incidental expenses that were used for activities not related to his work.

According to the Information filed against Padilla, he used the allocations and public funds from 2002 to 2005 to pay for personal hotel bills, meals, drinks, grocery items, and even to buy “pasalubong” — or souvenirs.

Instead of being sentenced for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, he would be convicted for the lesser offense of failure of an accountable officer to render accounts.

The Sandiganbayan explained that the decision was reached as the prosecution was also unable to present several original disbursement vouchers that resulted in the striking out of some exhibits — which would have been in favor of Padilla.

“It is not denied that during the trial, the originals of 52 Disbursement Vouchers subject to these cases were not produced by the Prosecution, resulting even to the exclusion of exhibits […] which in the end, would clearly have an adverse effect on the judgment to be imposed,” the court said in the decision penned by Seventh Division chair Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Gomez-Estoesta.

“The prosecution, however, is aware of its flaw and by the time that it terminated with the presentation of its evidence has only produced four photocopies of Exhibits ‘AA’, ‘BB’, ‘CC’, and ‘DD’, being the only Disbursement Vouchers admitted by the Court in its Resolution dated September 28, 2018,” it added.

The Sandiganbayan has entered into a plea bargain with a corrupt DPWH worker because the government prosecution could not prove their case. So you have a corrupt government employee and incompetent government lawyers. It is not clear when this trial began but the DPWH employee began stealing between 2002 and 2005 so 16 years it seems. 16 years and the government could not prove its case.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139990

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has filed a case against National Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Edgardo Masongsong over his supposed inaction on the supposed use of public funds for a party-list's campaign activities.

In a Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday, PACC chairperson Greco Belgica said his office lodged on Monday an “online” case against Masongsong.

Results of the PACC investigation found that Masongsong never expressed objection to electric cooperatives’ (ECs) continuing financial support to the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca) party-list, Belgica said.

“(The result is electric cooperatives are financing party-lists like Philreca),” he said. “(Based on our investigation, we have proven that there is probable cause for the Ombudsman to probe him).”

The NEA, a state corporation created on August 4, 1969 by virtue of Republic Act 6038, is in partnership with 121 ECs. It is tasked to provide financial, institutional, and technical services to the ECs to make them become more efficient, reliable, and globally competitive.

Philreca, the umbrella organization of the 121 ECs nationwide, has received financial assistance from them to finance the campaign of its party-list group, Belgica noted.

Hence, Masongsong violates Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, Belgica said.

“(Mr. Masongsong violates the law, including RA 3019 and Omnibus Election Code because it is prohibited to contribute funds for the campaign of a candidate or party-list using government funds),” he said.

This is a weird case. It seems that the head of the National Electrification Administration, which oversees all the local electoral cooperatives, did not take any action when several EC's were using funds to support the party-list Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca). Hopefully the PACC investigates those EC's that are committing the actual crime and not just the head of the NEA.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139864

Two communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, one of whom happens to be a village councilor, surrendered to government authorities in the province of Zamboanga del Norte, a top police official said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, identified the NPA surrenderers as Marcos Pajuay and his daughter, Josephine.

The father and daughter surrendered following series of negotiations around 9:15 a.m. Monday in Barangay Mawal, Leon Postigo town, Ylagan said.

Ylagan said the elder Pajuay is an incumbent councilor in Barangay Mawal, Leon Postigo, Zamboanga del Norte.

So, it turns out there really are communists in the government.

Coronavirus Lockdown: Mega Jab Center, Mandatory Face Shields, and More!

More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.

The government has not been shy about blaming the public for not following health protocols as being the cause of the spike in COVID-19 cases. But a new study shows half of those infected have one of the variants which are more infectious.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/06/21/nearly-half-of-covid-19-samples-from-metro-manila-linked-to-foreign-variants-expert

Nearly half of sequenced COVID-19 samples from Metro Manila are foreign variants of the virus, a member of the Philippines' vaccine expert panel said Thursday. 

Between January 4 and May 2, the Philippines has sequenced 7,167 samples nationwide, but has yet to disclose the recent number of samples taken from Metro Manila, according to data from the Department of Health (DOH). 

"Since these are only representative samples... it will just tell you that it is present in NCR (National Capital Region), said Dr. Rontgene Solante, who is also the head of San Lazaro Hospital's Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine. 

"It does not mean that it is causing community transmission," he said in an online press conference. 

It would "really take time" before the Philippines could say if the new variants, which are about 50 percent more transmissible, are already the dominant strains of COVID-19 in the country, he said. 

(Our sampling is really very low... We need to get those data so that we can have a more objective way of telling people which variants have been detected.)

While it may be too early to say definitively what effects these strains are having on the spread of the virus it should not be ruled out as a cause. 

Along with having the longest lockdown in the world the Philippines will now be even more strict in enforcing health protocols as Duterte has ordered that all people who are not wearing face masks properly are to be arrested. This has caused LGUs and the PNP to have to adjust their policies.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/05/06/2096306/lgus-police-adjust-policies-again-duterte-orders-arrests-improper-mask-use

The Department of the Interior and Local Government will confer with the Philippine National Police and local government units to adjust ordinances to President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to arrest those wearing face mask improperly.

DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in an interview with ANC’s "Headstart" that they will sit with PNP leadership and LGUs "to determine the parameters of the presidential directive."

"We will have to reconcile this also with the various ordinances that were issued by different LGUs," he added.

In a recorded address aired on Wednesday night, Duterte ordered police to arrest those not wearing face masks properly in public and detain them for nine hours.

“My orders to the police are those who are not wearing their masks properly in order to protect the public—because if not, if you cannot defend the public—to arrest them and detain them, investigate why they are doing it. They have nine hours,” he said.

Malaya explained that LGUs have different ordinances and sanctions on directives issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the policy-making body during the pandemic. 

LGUs imposed warnings or fines, and arrests are only allowed when there is resistance to authorities, added the DILG official.

But Malaya acknowledged that in implementing Duterte’s order, the DILG must also account for detention spaces.

“If we do make arrests, we would also need to prepare our detention cells because there may be a larger number of people detained than before,” he added.

Not only is this order against commonsense and completely draconian but it does not take into account the lack of space in which to detain people. It also contradicts the decision of the DOJ to not arrest violators but give them community service.

Strangely enough new PNP Chief Eleazar says no violators will be given harsh penalties despite arrest itself being a harsh penalty.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/786775/no-harsh-penalty-vs-face-mask-policy-violators-eleazar/story/

Police officers will not enforce harsh penalties for violation of the face mask policy, the country's new top cop Police General Guillermo Eleazar said Sunday.

Eleazar said they will bring violators to a holding area and enforce local ordinances on the mandatory wearing of face mask, such as community service or imposing fines.

[Officials have no right to impose punishment. They will apprehend but won't hurt or punish. Violators will just be placed in a holding area.]

Already they are preparing detention facilities for those they apprehend. PNP officers have been ordered to "observe maximum tolerance in arresting violators" but the PNP does not have a good track record in such a thing as tolerance.

Right now it is only face masks which are mandatory in public across the nation. One town has recently made face shields mandatory in public as well.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139621

The city government has amended its ordinance requiring the mandatory wearing not only of face masks but face shields outside their homes.

Aileen Refuerzo, Public Information Office chief, on Saturday said the city’s legislative body approved on final reading Ordinance No. 49, series of 2021, which amended Ordinance No. 45-2020 or the Face Mask Ordinance of Baguio City by incorporating the face shield requirement.

“The city government will enforce the Face Mask and Face Shield Ordinance of 2021 following completion of its amendment process,” Refuerzo said on Saturday.

The measure, she added, declares that it is “unlawful” for all persons including tourists and outsiders to go to public places, buildings, national roads, or highway, sidewalks, walkways, or public conveyances or other similar establishments, without wearing face mask and face shield until the threat of the Covid-19 is completely eliminated in the country.

The penalty for non-wearing of face mask is PHP1,000, PHP2,000, and PHP3,000 for the first to third offense, respectively and cancellation of business permit if applicable.

The penalties for non-wearing of face shield and indiscriminate disposal of used or damaged face masks and face shields are PHP500, PHP1,000, and PHP2,000 for first to third offense, respectively, and cancellation of business permit if applicable.

How necessary and ridiculous. Let us hope such a scheme does not become the law of the land.

Feeling hopeless during this pandemic? Just look to this cross if you live in the area where it has been erected.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1429051/piats-giant-cross-in-the-sky-lights-up-to-bring-hope-amid-pandemic

A 16-meter-tall cross perched on the 50-meter-high Black Hill was ceremonially lit on Friday night (May 7) to serve as a symbol of faith, hope, and love for residents of Piat who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Called the “Cross in the Sky,” it stands at the People’s Integrated Agritourism Center. The local government of Piat allocated P1.5-million for its construction.

“The cross brings the message that we can surpass all problems including the pandemic if we have Jesus as our center of life,” said Mayor Carmelo Villacete on Saturday (May 8).

Villacete said the Piat Basilica Minore church and surrounding villages have been locked down following the death of a church organist, as well as the infection of two doctors and 11 other health workers.

Located near Piat’s black lagoon, the giant cross is expected to lure tourists once travel restrictions are lifted, according to tourism officer Benedict Santo Tomas. He said the Piat municipal government will strictly enforce all health protocols when that happens.

They hope to turn this cross into a tourist destination but there is no way that will happen soon. When the pandemic is over it will only be a reminder of all the excess waste of money spent on things like this. Speaking of waste the government wants to set up a temporary mega vaccination center in an urban forest.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1429129/green-concerns-raised-vs-planned-mega-jab-center

Environment and heritage advocates are opposing a plan by the government to put up a “megavaccination center” in an urban forest, saying the short-term use of the property of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) will result in long-term ecological damage.

Lucille Karen Malilong-Isberto, the NPF executive director, resigned on Thursday due to a conflict with Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat over the project that would require chopping down about 500 trees at the NPF’s property in Entertainment City, the reclaimed area in Parañaque City known for its casinos.

The heritage group Dakilang Pamana ng Lahi (Pamanlahi) said the proposed vaccination site would endanger the “park’s growing ecosystem” and “urban wildlife” as the site is close to the Las Piñas-Parañaque critical habitat and protected wetland and is home to about 25 bird species.

“The green and fresh environment that is open and free, a large public space that is much-needed by the people of Metro Manila, will be destroyed and will disappear,” the group said in a statement on Thursday.

The NPF, a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) attached to the Department of Tourism (DOT), also expressed the same concerns.

The NPF promotes cultural heritage and Filipino identity “hinged on diversity,” according to its website. It spearheads and develops “hubs, spaces, activities, green infrastructure projects, and research and knowledge production initiatives that utilize innovation and creative potential as catalysts for national development.”

It's not as if the government has ever thought ahead about much. They pretty much do everything short term.

Did you know that there are no FDA approved vaccines to prevent COVID-19? That's right. All the vaccines in use are merely authorized under emergency use orders. The latest vaccine to get that treatment is Sinopharm but by the WHO and not the FDA. Perhaps there Sinopharm will be arriving en masse soon. The Philippines has imported millions of vaccines and now they are number 2 in SEA for the number of jabs given.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1139805

The vaccination rollout gains full steam as the Philippines is now second among Southeast Asian nations with the most number of coronavirus vaccines administered.

In a report by National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., data show that as of May 10, the country has administered a total of 2,409,235 vaccine shots, more than two months after it started its vaccination campaign.

The seven-day average of doses administered is 65,879.

It is next to Indonesia with 21,993,299 doses administered since its rollout began on Jan. 13; Cambodia at third with 2,284,788 since Feb. 28.

Worldwide, the Philippines ranked 41st out of 194 and 15th out of 47 countries in Asia.

The government appears to meeting its goals which is good. The mayor of Makati, Abigail Binay, says her city now has more vaccines than vaccinees. She says it is a "beautiful problem."

While the Philippines has enough vaccines apparently it does not have enough propaganda. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1430419/step-up-covid-19-info-drive-communicate-pain-of-disease-pcoo-told

Ang Probinsyano Partylist Rep. Ronnie Ong said the PCOO should maximize the potential of its various information dissemination assets such as the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Philippine News Agency (PNA), and Philippine Broadcasting Network (PBN) to increase people’s awareness of COVID-19.

One possible way to dissuade people from violating the basic health and safety protocols, Ong said, is to come up with visual materials that make people realize that COVID-19 “is not just a killer but is also a very painful disease.”

“Some people I know who lived to tell their ordeal told me the indescribable pain that they had to suffer. They can feel their lungs collapsing as they try to struggle to breathe. Parang meron daw truck na nakadagan sa dibdib mo sa sobrang sakit,” Ong said in a statement.

“We have to share these stories in a manner that people will have a self-realization that taking the risk for non-essential activities like going to pool parties or biking on big pelotons could put you or your loved ones in extreme pain and even death,” he added.

The government, Ong said, “needs to let our people visualize and experience the pain of being sick with COVID” through various information materials such as boosted social media optics, leaflets, flyers, and television and radio infomercials that will not just provide the public faceless and nameless statistics but a graphic warning of the “horrific ordeal one has to go through because of COVID.”

“It’s really hard to understand how people could still act like there’s no virus when we have already reached the one million mark in terms of death,” Ong said.

What is Ong talking about? There have only been 18,562 deaths in the Philippines and the DOH says there is a 91.3% recovery rate. Is he talking about the worldwide total? He should be specific. With the Indian variant now being detected in the Philippines perhaps the death toll will catch up to Ong's statement.