It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
Police arrested a retired member of the Philippine Army who allegedly robbed a convenience store in Sta. Mesa, Manila on Thursday, March 7.
The Manila Police District (MPD) identified the suspect as Alberto Amador, 54, a resident of Tondo, Manila.
The suspect was arrested inside his house at around 12:30 a.m. today, March 8, in a follow-up operation conducted by the Sta. Mesa Police Station (PS-8) personnel together with the members of MPD-Criminal Investigation Section (CIS) and Abad Santos Police Station (PS-7).
Based on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage on Thursday, the suspect, who was armed with a gun, entered the convenience store in Barangay 592, Sta. Mesa at around 2 a.m.
The suspect was seen showing his gun to the two store clerks while ordering them to open the store's cash box.
Police said the suspect took away around P11,000 cash from the store.
Recovered from the suspects's possession were motorcycle, a black pistol, two magazines loaded with 15 pieces of live ammunition, 19 M-16 blank bullets, 70 live ammunition, nine different IDs, and a cammouflage set of keys.
The arrested suspect is now detained at PS-8 and facing robbery charges.
A former solider has been arrested for robbing a store.
A police officer was found dead Thursday in Uson town in Masbate province, three days after unidentified men shot his wife dead.
Police Brigadier General Andre Perez Dizon, Bicol regional police director, said in a report that Patrolman Samuel Baruelo Jr, 31, was found dead around 1:30 p.m. with a bullet wound on his head in Barangay Buenasuerte.
An initial investigation said the victim left the house where the wake of his wife was held to take a bath but failed to return after an hour.
His relatives looked for him and he was later found near a creek with blood on his body.
His wife, Cheryl, a 32-year-old college student, was shot dead at 5:55 p.m. on Monday, March 4, in Barangay Bagumbayan in Masbate City.
An initial report said that while walking from school on the way to their house, Cheryl was approached by two unidentified men and one of them shot her at close range in the head.
Police recovered an empty shell and one slug in the area.
The slain cop was assigned at the 1st Masbate Provincial Mobile Force Company.
They both lived in Barangay Bagumbayan with their three children.
Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol Police spokesperson, said they were still identifying the motive behind the killings and if the two incidents were connected.
A cop has been found dead a few days after his wife was murdered.
A barangay captain in Tayum, Abra was unhurt in an ambush in Bangued yesterday.
Bong Cariño, 60, of Barangay Poblacion in Tayum was driving his car when his vehicle was shot in Barangay Bliss Angad. He sped off and hid at his house.
Initial investigation showed that a car behind Cariño’s vehicle, which was driven by Banjo Claveria, said to be a drug suspect, was the target of the gunmen.
Claveria was wounded and taken to the Seares Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Twenty-seven bullet shells for an M16 rifle were recovered at the scene.
A barangay captain has survived an attempted assassination.
A 51-year-old barangay councilor was shot dead on Saturday afternoon, March 9, in Barangay Pag-olingin West here.
Police identified the victim as Marilyn Escartin from San Juan, Batangas.
Investigation said the victim was walking when the suspect, alias Joey, a councilor of Barangay Pag-olingin West, approached and shot her.
She died on the spot and the suspect fled.
Lawmen are conducting follow-up investigation and combing surveillance footages in the area.
A village counilor has been assassinated.
A jail guard was gunned down on his way to work to the Ilocos Sur Provincial Jail in Barangay Taleb here on Monday morning, March 11.
Police identified the victim as Jayson Barrientos Parchmento, 45, a former policeman and Prison Guard 3 of the Ilocos Sur Provincial Jail run by the Ilocos Sur provincial government.
Investigation disclosed that the victim was driving his car when unidentified gunmen shot him.
The suspects fled and the victim was rushed the victim to the hospital but he died on the way.
Eight empty shells of a caliber .45 pistol were recovered in the crime scene.
The victim from Makati City and presently residing in Barangay 7, Vigan City where he got married was a police officer assigned to the Police Regional Office 1 in San Fernando City, La Union but was dismissed from the service for being Absent Without Leave (AWOL).
Police are conducting follow-up investigation.
A jail guard has been assassinated.
A police intelligence agent based in Carmen, Cotabato province, credited for his accomplishments in locating members of local terrorist groups wanted in courts for heinous crimes, died in an ambush in General Santos City at about dusk Sunday.
The slain Corporal Ricky Mendoza Gomez, who belonged to the Carmen municipal police in Cotabato, was in General Santos City for a training on advanced police intelligence networking proficiency, handled by instructors from the Police Regional Office 12.
An initial report on Monday from the office of PRO-12 director Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg in Barangay Tambler in General Santos City stated that Gomez was riding a motorcycle when he was shot in the head and upper torso with 5.56 M16 assault rifles by still unidentified men as he traversed through a busy stretch of a highway in Barangay Sinawal, killing him on the spot.
Gomez served as a police intelligence operative in Pikit town, Cotabato prior to his assignment in Carmen, also in the same province. More than 60 people had been killed gun attacks in Pikit since 2021. Some perpetrators, positively identified by investigators and Gomez, are now subject of police manhunts.
Local executives and police officers in the province told reporters that Gomez had remarkable accomplishments and even got citations for his roles in tracing whereabouts of wanted persons and members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters implicated in deadly terror attacks and extortion.
Macaraeg said he has directed their intelligence units in Cotabato province and in General Santos City to cooperate with police investigators who are working to identify killers of Gomez for prosecution.
A PNP intelligence officer has been assassinated.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday announced the removal of a number of personnel from their positions, citing allegations of providing protection to colorum syndicates.
"Recently, we discovered that colorum syndicates are trying to infiltrate the MMDA. We immediately identified that," acting MMDA Chairman Don Artes said in a press conference.
He said the personnel involved have been relieved and there is an ongoing investigation.
"Our personnel who have possible involvement have been relieved particularly those in our anti-colorum unit who are in the investigation, intelligence and investigation office. The investigation is ongoing, we have coordinated with the DILG for investigation on the criminal aspect," he said.
Several MMDA personnel have been relieved for protecting colorum syndicates.
The Ombudsman suspended Piolito Santos, who was appointed acting NFA administrator last week, and Jonathan Yazon, acting department manager for operation and coordination of the NFA, the DA said in a statement on Monday.
Last week, the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of NFA administrator Roderico Bioco and more than 100 employees over the alleged disadvantageous sale of rice buffer stocks.
Due to the suspensions, DA chief Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. will retake the helm of the NFA.
Laurel also appointed Director IV Larry Lacson as officer-in-charge deputy administrator of the NFA to ensure the agency's continued operations, the DA said.
The Ombudsman has suspended two more NFA officials in connection with an investigation into the sale of rice buffer stocks.
The promotion of an Army official met a setback at the Commission on Appointments (CA) as his wife showed up at the Senate on Tuesday to block it.
Tessa Luz Reyes-Sevilla recalled the allegedly harrowing events she went through at the hands of her husband Ranulfo Sevilla.
She said her husband does not deserve to be promoted. The military official was nominated for promotion to brigadier general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“No amount of sorry, no amount of money will make me back down. Nothing will make us back down. We deserve to be vindicated,” Tessa told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday before the CA confirmation hearing of her husband.
She added that she has been silent long enough and has endured for too long the alleged abuses of her husband.
(I can’t keep quiet anymore. We have endured for a long time. What’s painful is that we have been tolerating his lack of financial support and yet he still has the gall to womanize.)
Apart from committing adultery, Tessa said she and her children were physically and mentally abused by Sevilla.
(What hurts me is that the children see it. It may look innocent to have been pushed, accidentally pushed — but I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant, I was pushed. I thought I would miscarry mu child so I applied for a protection order.)
Tessa’s 12-year-old daughter, who accompanied her at the Senate, likewise testified that she and her siblings were subjected to Sevilla’s “abusive acts.”
In the end, Tessa asked the AFP to look into the growing incidents of housewives being abused by their partners who are military officials.
“The gentlemen of the AFP, I hope that you’re hearing this and this is the right time. I hope that it’s going to be a precedent and I hope that you look into the very sad plight of the wives, mothers, partners of your men in the AFP. It’s about time, Sirs,” she appealed.
The CA panel on national defense, meanwhile, held an executive session to discuss Sevilla’s appointment.
The wife of a solider up for promotion to brigadier general has blocked his promotion after detailing his abuse.
A job order employee of the municipal government of Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental was found dead in Sitio Balugo, Barangay Sangke on Monday morning, March 11.
The victim was identified as 43-year-old Darrel Cayao of Barangay Asia.
Police Major Jaynick Bermudez, Hinoba-an police chief, said the victim was driving a motorcycle with a friend from Basay, Negros Oriental when they were waylaid by an unidentified person upon reaching Barangay Sangke.
Bermudez said the victim was hit in the head and sustained a lone stab wound in the chest. The victim’s friend suffered minor injuries when they fell off the motorcycle.
The suspect fled.
Bermudez said the victim’s friend left the area due to fear. The victim was found injured on the roadside and was taken to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
He said the suspect targeted the victim and might have waited for him to pass by the area. Bermudez said they have identified the suspect and investigation is ongoing.
Police have yet to establish the motive but they are looking into personal as a possible motive in the incident.
Mayor Daph Anthony Reliquias, in a statement, mourned Cayao's death. "These acts should not be tolerated. This is an act of people who do not fear the Lord,” Reliquias said.
He symphatized with the Cayao family and assured them that the local government will support their quest for justice.
A government job order employee has been killed.
A jail officer fatally shot two women before taking his own life using the same gun in Valenzuela City on Wednesday morning, March 13.
The suspect was identified as Mhel Manibale, a member of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). He died from a self-inflicted bullet wound.
The victims, Lanie Bernardino, 55, and her daughter Mary Grace, 27, both succumbed to gunshot wounds in the head, police said.
Based on the police report, the incident occurred around 2:45 a.m. inside the victims’ residence on Navarette St. in Barangay Arkong Bato, Valenzuela City.
Police said the suspect had a heated argument with the victims regarding his relationship with another daughter of Lanie.
Manibale attempted to enter the house, but the victims intervened, prompting him to shoot them with a pistol.
Upon seeing the two women lifeless, Manibale turned the gun on himself, resulting in his death.
Authorities recovered five spent bullet case of a 9mm pistol at the scene of the incident.
A BJMP employee killed two women and thne himself.
The Philippine National Police's Regional Internal Affairs Service (PNP-RIAS) has filed an administrative case against three policemen over the warrantless arrest of film director Jade Castro and three others for the alleged burning of a mini bus in Catanauan, Quezon.
This was confirmed by Police Regional Office 4A Public Information Office chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Chitadel Gaoiran to GMA News Online.
(Yes, there is. To know if there are lapses in the arrest.)
The announcement was initially made by Castro’s lawyer Mike Marpuri during a briefing on Tuesday.
“I got a phone call just this morning from PNP-RIAS… na they filed motu proprio administrative cases against the chief of police, the investigator, and the arresting officers,” Marpuri said.
Marpuri identified the officers as Police Captain Daniel Dela Cruz, Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonjon Pordan, and Police Corporal Christian Abenilla. He said the preliminary hearing has been set for Friday.
3 PNP officers are facing administrative cases over the warrantless arrest of a filmmaker.
