It's part 42 of Retards in the Government. Been contemplating on doing a series about all the corrupt politicians in the House and Senate who are currently under investigation. Can you believe it? How many years will the country have to wait to see justice in the PDAF pork barrel scam?
AN INCUMBENT village chief was arrested while another barangay chairman escaped after the authorities implemented a lawful search that resulted to the confiscation of around P70,000 worth of suspected illegal drugs, guns and explosives, in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, early Thursday, March 22.
That is a lot of drugs and explosives. And two barangay officials are the culprits!
A total of 105 containers of ceramic tiles from China and other imported products mysteriously vanished at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) despite an “alert order” preventing the release of the items.
"Mysteriously vanished." Definitely an inside job. The BOC is rife with corruption and could use a thorough cleansing.
Andanar, in a text message, said the breach of protocol is based on four grounds:
“1. Staff did not show the backflip of the ID to me; 2. IPC did not return the final design for my approval; 3. IPC used an e-signature without my permission; 4. IPC used the wrong e-signature.”
Something so ridiculous now must be probed like it's Watergate! If the media thinks this card is "grammatically challenged" then they have should take a look at some of the PNP reports I have seen.
Reality has set in for Duterte. He can't win the drug war in six months and he can't set up a third telecom in only 3 months time. What else can't he do?
What a double standard here. The DOJ said NOTHING about the weak complaint filed against drug dealers Kim and Espinosa but tossed the thing out. But now that the VACC is looking to charge the former administration with homicide over the Dengevaxia debacle the DOJ scolds them and tells them to fill out the rest of the information in their complaint rather than simply throw it out!
Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go announced Duterte’s decision, adding that the President has also ordered a crackdown on all colorum vehicles.
Duterte, without a warrant, orders the arrest of the owner of Dimple Star Buses in order to make him accountable. But is he alone accountable? Colorum vehicles have been allowed to operate across the Philippines for years. Who has allowed this to happen? The LTFRB, the PNP, local officials. The usual corrupt crowd who will turn a blind eye for a little bit of money. It's an entrenched corrupt system and will not be easily eradicated.
The cases stemmed from Argosino and Robles’ alleged receipt of a P50-million bribe from Lam in exchange for the release of 1,316 Chinese employees of Lam’s Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.
This happened in 2016 and charges are just now being filed. How many years to a final outcome?
Law enforcers were serving a search warrant against Barangay Kalanganan Mother councilor Sadat Ayunan for drugs and drug possession but the village official pulled out a hand grenade, Senior Inspector Tirso Pascual, chief of the city police’s Station 2, said.
How did he procure a hand grenade?
Since Biazon is the principal author of the proposed House Bill to promote and develop the sport of scuba diving in the Philippines, he hopes to attend and acquire knowledge so that they will be able ensure safety to those partaking in the sport as well as promote the Philippines as one of the best diving countries in the world.
Meanwhile, Biazon did not mention the purpose of his Maldives trip, but he did say that he will be on board MV Maldives Princess from April 3 to 7, while he will be staying at Pan Pacific Singapore to attend the expo.
Biazon is facing graft, malversation, and direct bribery charges in relation to the alleged misuse of his P3 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) back in 2007. He reportedly took home P1.9 million worth of public funds after he collaborated with pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles to support her bogus foundation called the Philippine Social Development Foundation (PSDFI).
This politician is charged with stealing millions of pesos and he wants to be allowed to travel to Singapore to attend a diving expo because he authored a bill to promote scuba diving in the Philippines and he believes it will help him gain knowledge of the subject. Does that mean he authored a bill about a subject of which he knows nothing about? The whole thing is ridiculous and I fully expect him to be granted permission to travel.
HAHA! Told ya so!
As the investigation on the crash is underway, Poe called on concerned agencies to look into “the bigger picture” on the cause of such deadly road accidents.
In particular, the senator wants how the LTO, the agency in charge of vehicle registration, conducts its inspections prior to approving vehicles to traverse the country’s roads.
Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, cited the “rampant” practice of “no-show” or “non-appearance” of vehicles seeking new or renewal of their registration or franchise, or during emission test. The complete inspection of vehicle, including emission test, is a requisite to annual registration.
“Information that reached us said that on paper, motor vehicles undergo and pass the test, but the reality is a number of them were never tested,” she said in a statement.
Poe said “concerned citizens” tipped her that “some LTO employees” allegedly receive bribe from vehicle owners during the stage of vehicle inspection in exchange for approval even without the physical inspection of vehicles.
Following the accident, Poe renewed her call for the passage of her proposed measure that would create the National Transportation Safety Board which shall be mandated to investigate transportation-related accidents.
While Grace Poe is out to reveal the "bigger picture" of corruption within the LTO Duterte is giving away money and cell phones and ordering the warrantless arrest of Dimple Star's operator in order to "make someone responsible" according to Bong Go. It's always too little too late in the Philippines. An investigation won't bring back the dead and it likely won't root out corruption either. Worth a try a though.
Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano claimed that some nongovernment organizations (NGOs) were being unwittingly used by drug lords to discredit the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Without naming the groups, Cayetano said advocates who accused the administration of being behind summary killings and rights abuses were only helping frustrate President Duterte’s desire to rid the country of illegal drugs.
Baseless, sweeping accusations. Note that Cayetano does not even have the decency to name the NGOs. Has he personally warned them that they are unwitting pawns being used by dug lords? And which drug lords is he talking about? This is the modus operandi of Filipino politicians; if something is not going your way it's black propaganda, a dark conspiracy meant to bring you down.
As a result, owners of 300 beach resorts, members of civic groups and local officials in four provinces in Ilocos region agreed late this week to clean up their waterfronts and rectify environmental code violations.
People have been saying it for years, and these revelations only confirm the truth, Filipinos DO NOT CARE about the environment. That's why the entire nation is polluted. Wouldn't it be nice if out of all this comes a national anti-pollution campaign and the country begins the healing process?
“We do not tolerate cases such as this one,” said Aplasca in a statement on Saturday.
“We are very serious in cleansing our ranks of rogue members,” Aplasca added.
According to the complaint, the policemen accosted the Dela Cruz couple in a Sta. Rosa mall on Aug. 4, 2017.
They were taken to a slaughterhouse where the policemen threatened to kill the couple and to make it appear that they were drug suspects who resisted arrest violently if they refused to dish out P1 million.
Dismissal is good but without an arrest and prosecution for kidnapping and extortion this is an empty gesture at being "very serious in cleansing our ranks of rogue members." It's not serious at all.
NO ONE CAN STOP ME!!! This is a familiar tune Duterte has sung before.
And yes the tune is exactly the same. It's all for the people
.
Closing
Boracay: “Basta ako, determinado na ako gyud nang undangon tungod sa mga tao (I am determined to do this for the people),” he said.
Martial law: "I have to protect the Filipino people. It's my duty. And I tell you now, if I have to declare martial law, I will declare it. Not about invasion, insurrection, not about danger," the president threatened. "I will declare martial law to preserve my nation, period. Wala akong pakialam diyan sa Supreme Court. Because the right to preserve one's life, and my nation, my country, transcends everything else, even the limitations."
“People are being informed through the media that we have intensified our operation against smuggling. We expect an upsurge in smuggling because of the TRAIN Law,” Lapeña said at a press conference held at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Lapeña said the spike in smuggling would be due to higher taxes under the TRAIN Law.
“Even before the TRAIN Law, smuggling is already something that is profitable to people engaged in shortchanging the government of its rightful revenue. Lalo na ngayon [especially now],” Lapeña said.
Unintended consequences? Note how he admits smuggling was already profitable. So much for Duterte rooting out corruption!
The Philippines receives at least 3,000 reports per month from other countries of possible cases of its children being sexually exploited online, said the Department of Justice.
Legarda said the Southeast Asian nation must better enforce its anti-trafficking law, which carries the threat of life imprisonment, but there must be global action to stop cybersex trafficking where victims are sold for sex online.
“Developed countries, from which the demand for online sexual exploitation of children usually originates, must do their part,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation days after delivering a speech on cybersex child trafficking to the Senate.
She cited a recent case in Queensland, Australia, where a man was spared jail and fined $500 after being convicted of receiving explicit images of two girls from a Filipina mother.
“This calls for amending the lenient sentences that their laws mete upon those who prey on Filipino children … raise the penalties to lower the demand,” added the three-time senator and first woman to be elected head of the Philippines’ upper house.
The Philippines is considered a regional hotspot for trafficking – from domestic workers who are exploited and enslaved overseas to forced prostitution in the nation’s booming sex industry and now to cybersex trafficking.
“We get a lot of help from the likes of Australia, Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States when it comes to tackling the online sexual exploitation of children … but we need more,” said Juvy Manwong, assistant secretary at the department.
More, more, more! How about stop passing the blame? How about creating a country where people aren't so poor they think they have to sell their children? Pretty ridiculous to think "developed countries, from which the demand for online sexual exploitation of children usual originates" have not "done their part." Note how Legarda slyly places the blame squarely on other nations by saying the demand for webcam shows comes from them. So the stop the supply!
The Sandiganbayan has approved former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s request for a month-long trip to the United States with his family.
The anti-graft court’s Fifth Division in open court hearing on Monday approved Estrada’s motion to travel from April 30 to May 31 during the resumption of his plunder trial over his alleged involvement in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
Estrada earlier asked the court to allow him to attend a good governance conference, undergo a medical consultation, and go on vacation with his family.
In his motion to travel, Estrada said he had accepted the invitation as speaker for the May 20 meeting of US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), an organization headed by Filipino-American philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis.
Jinggoy Estrada is accused of stealing millions in the PDAF scam but last year he was released from prison because Duterte is friends with his father and he pulled some strings. Suddenly Jinggoy was granted bail for the non-bailable offence of plunder. Now he has been given permission to travel to the USA at the behest of a group headed by....LOIDA LEWIS!!! This is the lady whom Duterte claims is trying to undermine and destabilise the government and oust him by conniving with the ICC. The corruption runs deep in this case.
"USPGG Willie Dechavez did not invite Jinggoy Estrada to speak in Michigan under USPGG nor is any program being planned by USPGG Michigan since Willie Dechavez is on vacation in the Philippines," the statement read.
The statement said a certain Tony Antonio pushed for the invitation of Estrada to Dechavez, who responded that he can only invite the former lawmaker in his personal capacity.
"Tony Antonio asked him to invite Jinggoy and Willie said it could only be done in his personal capacity, not as chair of USPGG Michigan, because he needs consultation with his group in Michigan," the group said.
Dechavez, however, still used the USPGG letterhead and his official position in the letter-invitation.
Uh-oh! Looks like there has been a misunderstanding. Estrada was invited but not by the USPGG. Even overseas Filipino groups cannot get their act together.
Aguirre said he told the prosecutors that “it is not correct for me to do that [order an investigation].”
However, he said, “because of the seriousness, uproar, outrage by the ignorant ay napalaki ito… I apologize to the prosecutors for causing the investigation because extraordinary times or extraordinary incidents call for extraordinary solutions.”
He said the investigation was for the protection, not only of the Office of the Secretary of Justice but also of the prosecutors.
“Para lang maipakita natin sa kinauukulan, sa ating mga kababayan na wala tayong tinatago dito [To show the authorities, to our countrymen that we are not hiding anything …] and that you, the prosecutors [have] decided this case in accordance with the rules, in accordance with our proceedings,” Aguirre said.
The Sec. of Justice actually called the people who were outraged over the dismissal of drug charges against Espinosa and Kim "ignorant!" Duterte allegedly punched a wall because he was so outraged! Is he also ignorant? Then he apologises for having to investigate the men who dismissed the case! Outrageous!
Chief Inspector Aldrin Gonzalez, information officer of the Police Regional Office-12, said Monday the first to fall was Sadat Gampong, who was killed by police agents in a brief shootout.
Gampong, a barangay councilor, was a high-value target of the Cotabato City police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
A drug dealing barangay councillor from the ARMM.
Cimatu said he has tasked the DENR ecosystems research and development bureau to determine Boracay’s carrying capacity, or the maximum number of people that could fit in the island.
“The first research was 10 years ago and at the time they said that it’s already about to reach the end of its carrying capacity. That was 10 years ago,’’ said Cimatu.
Cimatu said the new study will be “the biggest factor’’ in the environmental assessment the DENR will make when it decides whether to grant the casino an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).
“It will be science-based and it will be on this carrying capacity,’’ said the environment secretary.
For 10 years they have known that Boracay is near capacity. 10 YEARS!! And yet they just approved building a casino. I am sure this new study truly will be science-based if by science you mean economics.
He said Reynaldo “Jumbo” Diaz executed an affidavit on Nov. 23, 2016, claiming Osmeña got P2 million in 2013 and P5 million in 2016 from suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz.
If true it means for two years the DOJ has been sitting on evidence that the Mayor of Cebu is involved in drugs and has done nothing about it.
According to the DOJ, the courts in Bohol have jurisdiction over the case, not the courts in Cebu, since the crime happened in the province.
A murder case dropped over a technicality. Why didn't the DOJ just transfer the case to Bohol? Oh wait the Supreme Court ordered the transfer from Bohol to Cebu AT THE REQUEST OF THE DOJ!!!
Justice? Just mess! A mess of which DOJ Sec Aguirre claims to be ignorant.
Aguirre said Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo did not inform him that he had approved Boniel’s petition for review which challenged the resolution issued by a special panel of Department of Justice prosecutors that Aguirre himself had tasked to handle the case.
“I hope he (Orceo) will be able to explain to me what happened and whether (his decision) is correct or not,” Aguirre said.
Orceo ruled that the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office did not have jurisdiction to tackle the criminal complaint against Boniel and two of his coaccused, Willy Hoylar and Restituto Magoncia Jr., for the crime of kidnapping with murder that allegedly took place in June 2017.
Gisela’s body was said to have been dumped into the sea. Orceo was seemingly unaware that the Supreme Court had allowed the transfer of venue of the case from Bohol based on the request of Aguirre himself.
Does anyone in the Department of Justice know anything??
The case is back on! Imaging being played like a yo-yo. One minute your case is tossed out, the next it's reinstated. Circle of Justice?
PDEA Director Derrick Carreon said the probe will check on the link between personalities behind the human rights organizations and drug operators.
“This has been a recent finding. So we will coordinate with our counterparts from PNP [Philippine National Police], NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] and all other agencies including intelligence agencies kung kailangan,” Carreon said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
Carreon said that the information put forth by presidential spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano was still subject to verification.
“That is still subject of further investigation by all law enforcement agencies,” Carreon said.
The world eagerly awaits the results of this investigation into these unfounded and unproven allegations made by Cayetano and Roque.
Mayor Rosario Mediatrix Fernandez and municipal treasurer Imelda Celebrar were sentenced after pleading guilty to 16 counts of violation of the Government Service Insurance Act of 1997 and 11 counts of violation of the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009.
Based on the charge sheet of the Office of the Ombudsman, Fernandez and Celebrar were late in remitting P5.34 million to the GSIS and P620,000 to Pag-IBIG.
There is no mention of why they were late in making the payments. Negligence perhaps? At least it's not a case of plunder.
The former director of the NBI charged in connection with a drug lab!
“It’s not so safe. It could be safer, but what I see is that criminals are not afraid anymore because they have human rights and the victims have no human rights. So what happened? There will be more victims. They’re (the CHR) a big part of this,” he said.
In the Philippines criminals are not wholly to blame for their actions. The responsibility lies with the Commission on Human Rights.
DOLE Regional Director Cyril Ticao said the move was prompted by the incident in Cebu earlier this month at the construction project of JE Abraham C. Lee Construction and Development Incorporated where its bunkhouse collapsed killing five and wounding 55 other workers.
According to Ticao, the incident showed a glaring negligence of safety standards, adding that the structure, as a sleeping quarter, did not pass the prescribed safety requirements.
How many more people have to die before government agencies start doing their jobs? DOLE, LTFRB, DENR!! The people and the environment is dying because no one enforces the law.
Remember that school shooting in Florida?
It seems this announcement was a bit premature.
We all know how Filipinos love to play up the success of anyone who has the slightest bit of Filipino blood in their veins but here we have a young girl with Philippine ties murdered at school and she is forgotten or overlooked by the DFA. Maybe the DFA should wait before making such announcements or even better they should stop making them altogether.
