It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
The Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) has filed another criminal complaint against former Health Secretary Janette Garin and 38 others for the death of a 12-year old girl who was a recipient of the Dengvaxia vaccine.
How many more cases will be filed? One every time a child is alleged to have died from the vaccine? At this rate these cases won't be resolved for decades.
A radio announcer gunning to be a barangay (village) councilor was gunned down by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Negros Oriental before dawn on Friday.
Investigators are now looking at all possible angles in the murder, said Tataca.
Tataca said Alburo’s death could also be linked to his job as a radio announcer.
Tataca added that they are also looking into the angle that Alburo’s death was triggered by a heated argument he had with someone at the cockpit.
Election violence? Or just a heated argument? Why the need with the word play? Gunning to be councillor gunned down by gunmen? Totally unnecessary and more like a tabloid than what a real news outlet should be writing.
In the video at this link Duterte blames the mayor and nothing is said about what it means for a town to be placed under the control of the Comelec.
Let's back up to December 19:
That was two weeks ago. Millions allocated to Sorsogon for flood control projects. The House said they would be investigating.
The House rules committee has issued subpoenas to the owner of contractor CT Leoncio Construction and several public works officials in Bicol region to shed light on the so-called flood control projects scam and other irregular transactions involving multibillion-peso infrastructure projects in Sorsogon province.
The so-called scam? Turns out the flood control projects are a total scam.
Responders rescued 250 families in a still ongoing “massive rescue” in Matnog town in Sorsogon province hours after flooding spawned by Tropical Depression “Usman” submerged houses in 19 villages starting Friday afternoon.
Dionebel Figueroa, Matnog municipal administrator, said the flood reached neck-deep in certain areas and some residents were waiting for rescue on the roofs of their submerged houses.
The villages of Tabunan, Sinebaran, Camcaman, Camachiles, Tablac, Banuangdaan, Manjumlad, Naburacan, Lajong, Pawa, and Bolo were among those that still needed rescue as of this writing.
Figueroa said the families who were taking shelter at the parish church were also rescued and brought to higher ground.
According to him, road constructions and high tide contributed to the rise of flood water.
Flood control projects that do not prevent floods! All over the country roads are torn up constantly in the name of flood control. How many of them are money pits, scams? Here is an instance how corruption costs lives and literally destroys homes. Oh and who is working on these infrastructure projects in Sorsogon?
A company owned by the in-laws of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno cornered government contracts in Sorsogon province worth P551 million in 2018 alone, according to records of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Yeah nothing fishy about that. No corruption here. Just a coincidence! The whole article reads like a web of intrigue in typical Philippine fashion. It's all one big scam. When the House passed a resolution to ask Duterte to fire Diokno everyone came out of the woodwork vouching for his integrity. Turns out he is just as corrupt as the rest of them.
The leadership of Ako Bicol Party list wants Congressman Rodel Batocabe’s son, Atty. Justin Batocabe, to finish his father’s remaining six months in office.
The proposal, however, must go through proper procedure set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and is subject to the approval of House Leadership.
Why? Because he is qualified? No. Because politics in the Philippines runs purely on tribal and dynastic lines.
Napoles argued that Revilla’s acquittal meant there was “no main plunderer, hence, there is no plunder.”
The main plunderer requirement was imposed by the Supreme Court on prosecutors in its controversial July 2016 decision to acquit former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Lawyers of Napoles argued that their client could not have been the main plunderer because she was “not a public officer.”
They also claimed that Napoles shouldn’t have been charged with plunder because the amount she and Cambe were accused of stealing did not breach the P50 million threshold.
This argument is very stupid but it is based on legal precedent set by the Supreme Court and authored by newly minted CJ Bersamin and as such I wish this lady all the luck in the world. If she goes scot free it is only due to the incompetent folks on the Supreme Court who bent the law to set GMA free.
A police probe into an estafa case blossomed into a romantic relationship between the lead investigator and the prime suspect that led the lawman joining her illegal activities – or so the story goes.
Investigator SPO2 James Baluya “developed a romantic and working relationship” with suspect Dolores Barrion while looking into her case, said the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) in a press statement.
According to Evasco, Baluya was apparently enticed to join Barrion’s illegal activities while closely investigating her case. He reportedly eventually began acting as her bodyguard and adviser in her transactions.
Oh to be a PNP officer and in love. How romantic!
Former Quezon Mayor Stewart Guadalquiver Leonardo of Bukidnon has been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division for taking advantage of the procurement of equipment for the municipality back in 2010.
Convicted of graft due to anomalous purchases. Only took eight years.
Duterte said he had told the local chief executive that he would humiliate him in front of his family if he would continue to threaten Batocabe’s widow.
If the mayor is threatening this lady why not file a case against him? Why not have the PNP arrest him?
In a speech in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, the President attacked the doctrine of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as he once again went into a tirade against priests and the Catholic Church.
“Magdasal ka na sa isang Diyos, magdasal ka pa dito sa santong yawa. Isa lang ang Diyos. (You’re already praying at one God, then you’re going to pray these cursed saints. There’s only one God.) There’s only one God, period. You cannot divide God into 3, that’s silly,” said the President.
Before attacking the Holy Trinity doctrine, Duterte said Jesus Christ is “unimpressive” because he had allowed himself to be nailed on the cross.
“‘Yong Diyos mo, pinako sa krus. Tangina. Nakakawala ng bilib. Ako ang Diyos, tapos ipako mo ako? Putangina. Sabihin ko, ‘Lightning, ubusin mo ito. Sunugin mo lahat ng mga erehes,'” said Duterte.
(Your God was nailed on the cross. Fuck. How unimpressive. I’m God and you will crucify me? Motherfucker. I’d tell them, ‘Lightning, finish all of them. Burn all the non-believers.')
How is there ever an appropriate time to blaspheme? Why did this subject even come up at an event where land grants were being distributed?
“We have 18 cities and municipalities in our list but not necessarily to be under Comelec control ... It will depend on the outcome of the weekly conferences. Updates will be tackled by the technical working group,” Albayalde said at a press conference in the Comelec office in Manila.
Only 18? That sounds very low.
After berating the fictional Padre Damaso in Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and the American priest arrested in Biliran for committing abuses against women and children, respectively, Duterte segued into his “confession” to a priest when he was a freshman at the Ateneo de Davao.
Duterte said he stammered at first, then told the impatient priest, “I went to the room of the maid.”
When the priest asked why, the teenage Duterte said: “I lifted the blanket…. I tried to touch what was inside the panty…. I was touching [it]. She woke up so I left the room.”
Then he said he went to the bathroom for the “usual.”
Duterte then told the priest he went back to the maid and “I tried to insert my finger.”
Responding to the priest's question, Duterte claimed the maid “was closing her eyes, fast asleep” the whole time. And then he said he went back to the bathroom for a second round of the “usual.”
The confession ended with the priest admonishing him, “Oh my God, say 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Marys, because you will go to hell.”
To unbelievers of his confession, Duterte told the audience, “Totoo man (It’s really true)!... It’s true.”
Wow. I'm sure it is true. All of it.
The unidentified seven police officers will be facing administrative cases, said Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief.
“As I have promised, there will be no mercy for errant personnel who will fire their guns to celebrate the holiday,” Albayalde said in a statement.
The seven police officers were among 23 persons who were arrested for alleged indiscriminate firing over the holidays, a report from the PNP said.
Also arrested were a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, another law enforcement agent, two security guards, and 10 civilians, the PNP said.
“The full might of the law will be applied to these trigger-happy gun owners upon observance of all requirements of due process,” Albayalde said.
An administrative case is not the full might of the law. All of these people including the PNP and AFP personnel need to be charged with criminal cases and dismissed from service. Indiscriminate firing of guns is dangerous and potentially deadly.
“The total ban [of firecrackers) cannot be executed without the benefit of really identifying alternative livelihood activities or programs,” Duque said in a press conference at the East Avenue Medical Center.
Duque said that the government “cannot be reckless” and should be clear on what alternative livelihood programs would be provided for people who would be affected of the ban.
“We cannot be reckless, we have to be very clear about what will be the alternative livelihood programs for people who will be displaced because of the ban,” he said.
“I think that is the more compelling reason we ought to look into,” Duque added.
Every year people are injured and even die due to reckless usage of fireworks but instead of banning them altogether the government will allow them to continue to be manufactured because otherwise these people would be without a job. A job that results in the death and injury of others. It's like saying dealing drugs should not be made illegal because otherwise these people would be without jobs. Dumb reasoning.
George Sanidad, 45, chairman of Barangay Gaddani, was tending to his family’s convenience store at 10 p.m. when a man standing outside the shop opened fire, hitting him twice in the back.
The last politician assassinated in 2018.
“The latest controversial remarks of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on the (Catholic) Church is his way of shaking long held religious tenets and beliefs that instead of molding them into being righteous individuals make them cling to religion as an opium,” the Palace official said.
“In so doing, the President puts to a test the validity of the religious rituals bordering to fanaticism as against the practice of genuine spirituality as taught by the different personifications of one God,” he added.
"Religion as an opium?" Duterte the communist evangelist! For it was Marx who said "
Religion is the opium of the people."
Sarangani Rep. Rogelio Pacquiao was accused of mauling two minors for driving their motorcycles with loud mufflers in Barangay Apopong, this city on New Year’s Eve.
The victims aged 14 and 15, reported to the Police Station 2 that the congressman’s bodyguard identified as PO2 Estrada flagged them down as they passed by the house of Pacquiao in Barangay Apopong past 10 p.m. before New Year’s eve..
The victims alleged the congressman’s aide confronted them for driving past their motorcycles with loud mufflers which reportedly irritated the lawmaker who was inside his house.
The victims also alleged that Estrada brought them inside the compound of the congressman’s residence where they were allegedly mauled by Pacquiao and his bodyguard.
On New Year’s Day, the victims and their parents were summoned to the barangay hall by the congressman.
Congressman Pacquiao served as barangay chair of Apopong until he was elected congressman of Sarangani in 2016 replacing his elder brother, Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
During the dialogue, the minors together with their parents recanted their earlier statements issued to the police saying it was a case of mistaken identity.
The complainants said they were unsure if it was Pacquiao who hit them since it was dark at the congressman’s residential compound.
Teenagers too young to riding motorcycles are out riding motorcycles which are loud but not so loud that they can't hear the shouts of Pacquiao's aide flagging them down so he can bring them into the residence where they are beaten up by both Pacquiao and his bodyguard. But later all parties are brought in to have a sit down at the barangay hall and they recant. It seems the PNP were not involved at all. This incident smells like a cover-up. Enough time had passed that Pacquaio could have contacted these boys families and paid them off to not press charges.
To raise additional revenues, the Social Security System (SSS) will sell nine condominium units in the cities of Makati and Pasig worth a total of P79.5 million.
The SSS’s net income fell 38 percent year-on-year to P8.6 billion as of end-September 2018 as the increase in its revenues was outpaced by the faster jump of expenses due to higher pension payouts.
Its fund life was already slashed by 10 years to 2032 from 2042 previously when the additional P1,000 a month were granted to pensioners since 2017.
Implementing the second tranche of pension hike this year, as earlier promised by President Duterte, would further slash the fund life to only until 2026—which means that the SSS will no longer have funds to disburse benefits in seven years’ time, unless its fund is replenished.
The SSS is fund is quickly diminishing so in order to raise funds the SSS is selling off idle assets which raises the question: Why does the SSS own condominiums?
In a statement, the country’s socioeconomic planning agency said it had started looking into the case “even prior to the filing of a formal complaint.”
Being proactive is good. If only they were more proactive in looking into corruption.
For the first time since 2010, the national government is now running on a recycled budget.
Due to the failure of Congress to approve the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 national outlay, the 2018 spending law was automatically reenacted on Tuesday, New Year’s Day, by operation of the Constitution.
The Senate is expected to resume work on the 2019 budget when Congress reconvenes on Jan. 14 after a month-long Christmas recess.
If the House had not wasted time on drafting a federal charter then perhaps the budget would have been passed on time and approved by the Senate and the the nation would have a budget for 2019.
In the wake of Tropical Depression “Usman” and the low pressure area that wreaked havoc on the country in the past week, Senator Grace Poe on Thursday called for the urgent passage of the bill that would create the Department of Disaster Resilience and Emergency Management (DDREM).
Poe made the statement after observing a lack of coordination between the national government and local government units (LGUs) during the onslaught of the weather disturbance.
“Parang kulang pa rin ang coordination ng national government at ng local government units, kasi wala naman talagang point person sa NDRRMC,” Poe said in a radio interview.
Poe said there must be enhanced coordination between the national government and local government units to effectively respond to the needs of communities before and after calamities.
The path to more corruption is paved with good intentions. It would be better to reform the NDRRMC and the Office of Civil Defense than to create a whole new department which will mean more allocation of monies and more opportunities for corruption. Remember last year when all those mayors visited Malacañang at the behest of Bong Go while their cities were bracing for a typhoon? A new DDREM won't fix stupidity like that.
The PNP either have his birthdate wrong or his age wrong. If he was born in 1985 there is no way he is 36! The PNP sure are stupid. They can't event their paperwork right. And now here they are bumbling the investigation into the assassination of Rep. Batocabe.
Yeah great police work. Nice flow charts. Only one problem. This alleged mastermind has not been arrested! Instead of taking the information they have and apprehending the mayor and putting him in jail they chose to have TV conference starring this flow chart which shows how it all links back to the mayor. Only two of his underlings have been arrested. So where is the mayor? Some members of Congress have asked to Duterte to PREVENTIVELY SUSPEND HIM FROM OFFICE!!!!
“I appeal to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to order the responsible government officials to invoke Section 60 to 68 of Chapter IV of the Local Government Code (RA 7160) to preventively suspend the incumbent Daraga mayor and any other civil servants implicated in the murder of AKO BICOL Congressman Rodel Batocabe,” Belaro said in a statement.
Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., for his part, lauded the development, while he continues to call for justice for Batocabe.
“Well for one I’m happy solved na ‘yung kaso. Secondly nakakatakot naman na kapwa pulitiko na, umabot na sa ganyan ang sitawayson sana, well if he would be brought to justice, sana it will be a swift decision (na) siya talaga ang perpetrator (I hope,” he said in an interview here.
(Well, for one I’m happy that the case has been solved. Secondly, it is scary that a fellow politician will resort to that situation. I hope if he would be brought to justice it will be a swift decision that she is really the perpetrator.)
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1069266/solons-welcome-identification-of-mastermind-in-batocabe-slay
Rep. Andaya is a moron! The case has not been solved. Allegations have been made, the public has been shown a flowchart, and the alleged mastermind is still free! If he ever is arrested the trial will take years and seeing as how one of the masterminds of the PDAF scam was just set free I am sure the mayor will also go free. Oh well at least the PNP cancelled the mayor's gun permits.
What a joke.
Wow what a read. I never thought it possible but this is the Philippines where anything is possible.
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