It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
“We encourage our local officials to institute peace covenants among the different candidates,” Comelec spokes-person James Jimenez said.
“It might not be legally binding, but at the very least, we could have moral suasion over the candidates and encourage them to keep the elections safe for everyone,” he added.
“This early in the game, I believe we have already outstripped the deadliness of the barangay elections, which is, historically, more hotly contested,” he said.
Senior Superintendent Royina Garma, CCPO, director, said that she is happy with the turn out of the signing of the covenant.
“I hope that they will stay true to the covenant,” said Garma.
"I promise not to kill you if you promise not to kill me."
Among those included in the list was Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, president of the PDP-Laban and among the 11 bets endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I have very few posters. Hence, most unlikely yan,” Pimentel said in a Viber message to reporters on Friday when asked for his reaction on the list released.
Senator Nancy Binay, who is seeking reelection in the May 2019 polls, said she was shocked upon hearing the news.
(I was surprised with that news. I’m not sure where the reports are coming from, but as far as I’m concerned, we still haven’t put up tarps or posters.)
“I find it very offensive that I’m being tagged as a violator sa mga campaign materials,” she added.
Campaign season is off to a great start. Do these people not know what is going on with their campaign? Is there no coordination? Bong Go is not on the list and so I suspect it is not complete.
Rowell Reynon, 47, a dismissed policeman from Sta. Cruz, Guiguinto, was included in the police’s drugs watch list, said Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan police director.
Bersaluna said Reynon was first dismissed from the service in 2001 but was reinstated in 2002.
In 2010, Reynon was again dismissed for involvement in the illegal drugs trade of the so-called “Alabang Boys,” he added. Reynon was also allegedly involved in a swindling case in 2014.
Another solitary bad egg which in no way reflects up on the PNP as a whole smashed!
What the heck happened? Can Estrada still make a comeback without the support of Duterte?
The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division has ordered the 90-day preventive suspension of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. in connection with his graft case.
“While I firmly believe that only the House of Representatives has the authority to discipline its members, I … am nonetheless voluntarily submitting [myself] to the preventive suspension,” he said.
Gee that's nice of him to voluntarily submit himself to the orders of the Sandiganbayan.
Too late!
According to Guanzon, incidents of vote buying — such as giving away of gadgets and other items — could be reported to election officers in the area of incident.
She then pleaded to candidates and the public not to participate in vote buying as it taints the image of election in the country.
A 1953 election poster that discourages Filipinos from vote buying gained traction on a popular online discussion forum as the 2019 midterm elections heats up.
The poster featured prominent figures in Philippine history such as national hero Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini who fought against colonial forces.
A tricycle driver who received P105 from an electoral candidate disclosed that he sold his vote since he does not earn much in his job.
“If it will help my people, why not? … Tricycle drivers are poor too,” Menardo Fajardo, the driver, said in Filipino.
According to him, he only earns around P300 to P500 per day but needs to support his children of five.
Fajardo also disclosed that candidates do not go on a house-to-house basis to give out cash. Instead, they hand out the envelopes to the “barangay staff or someone who will distribute the money.”
Another voter, who was not identified, revealed in an interview with two academicians that they accept such offers since it might be perceived as an “act of defiance of the candidate’s goodwill” if they refused.
“It would also identify you as a voter against the candidate. You would also be seen as going against the flow,” the voter said.
Another constituent shared that “it’s all about keeping good relations.”
Since this has been going on since 1953 and even before it is not going to be stopping anytime soon. Why should it? The people know anyone they vote for is going to be corrupt and they are mostly poor folks in need of money like the tricycle driver. Or else they don't want to be targeted by "going against the flow."
“This is the first time we used the masks but we plan to use them again in his next sorties and events,” Tolentino’s sister Annalyn told ABS-CBN News.
“‘Yung iba naka mascot at sticker. Ito para iba naman,” she said.
The masks also give Tolentino’s campaign a more “personal” touch, his nephew Brent said.
“It is really important to recognize the candidate by his face. Seeing the face is better than just seeing the name,” he said.
“It feels more personal when you see a candidate’s face than just seeing a name,” he said.
Actually it just feels and looks creepy as heck. Getting some serial killer vibes here or even bank robber vibes. Just put on a creepy mask and do your criminal deeds.
Andanar explained that the PCOO officials sent to Europe were part of the government’s delegation to clarify issues on “involuntary disappearances” and anti-communist terrorist groups, among others. He added that the caravan is only a “side event.”
“The caravan is a side event in-between official meetings with officials from the European Parliament, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), European Commission, and leaders of the Filipino community,” Andanar said in a statement.
He also pointed out that the delegation left for Europe two days before the arrest of Ressa, but he instructed the PCOO officials to answer queries about Ressa.
This actually clarifies things a lot. After being told that the PCOO sent people to Europe to discuss the case of Maria Ressa, which is pretty ridiculous, we now find out it is to discuss and advocate for the delisting of over 600 disappearances from UN records which was reported earlier in the week.
The Philippine government formally moved for the delisting of more than 600 cases of enforced and involuntary disappearances that occurred from 1975 to 2012 during a meeting with a United Nations working group.
The Philippine delegation sought to delist 625 cases during a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a release Friday.
The said disappearances were mostly attributed to government forces.
The process of clarifying these cases, DFA said, is supported by and runs parallel to mechanisms established by Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law of 2012 and Administrative Order 35, which created the inter-agency committee on extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.
While it sought to delist cases of disappearances, the Philippine delegation assured the UN working group that the government would continue to assist families of the disappeared.
The Justice department said that 105 of the 625 cases had already been taken up and claims for reparation had been granted under the Human Rights Victims Recognition and Reparation Act of 2013.
That law created a board to evaluate and process claims of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos administration.
These disappearances of back to the time of Marcos. In the Philippines people end up dead or disappear frequently. Journalists, politicians, lawyers, they all are potential victims. How they can possibly justify the removal of these cases, many of which remain unresolved simply because there is now some legal framework in place to handle these disappearances doesn't make a lot of sense. What about the thousands killed in the drug war since 2016 and what about all the people assassinated each year by motorcycle riders? The whole trip appears to be a waste of time and money. Why not simply prepare a briefing to send to the relevant agencies?
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) owe infrastructure contractors at least P100 billion, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.
“This gargantuan amount of payables has reincarnated an old system that forces DPWH contractors to cough up kickbacks just to be paid for completed projects. The practice of bribery has returned in the DBM and DPWH. This happened 20 years ago, unfortunately, when Secretary (Benjamin) Diokno was also DBM boss,” he said.
He said concerned DBM and DPWH personnel gave him the information on the amount the two agencies owed contractors as of the end of last year.
Malacañang Monday defended the Budget department from allegations that the government owes several private contractors billions because of corruption.
"Malabo yata iyon (That's unclear). Why should the government owe the contractors because of corruption?" presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing.
"Why would the government owe contractors because of corruption? There seems to be no connection. There is corruption if contractors resort to bribes to get something. But if the government owes them something, I do see the connection with corruption," he added.
Panelo said a contractor would not receive full payment if he fails to finish the project assigned to him. He said contractors, not Andaya, should file a complaint if they think the government did something wrong.
"Congressman Andaya cannot be lawyering to these contractors. If the contractors have something to complain, they should themselves file the complaint and address their concerns to the respective department or to Department of Public Works (and Highways)," the presidential spokesman said.
"The contractors do not seem to be complaining... how can you be more popish than the pope?" he added.
Yeah how can you be more popish than the pope!? Huh? Answer that! Checkmate critics!
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has warned to “kill” anyone who asks for a birth certificate as a requirement for passport renewal.
Locsin made the statement on Tuesday after a netizen asked whether birth certificate is still needed for renewal of passport.
“Sir @teddyboylocsin kailangan pa rin po ba ng birth certificate pag nag parenew ng passport? Salamat po,” the netizen’s tweet read.
“Hindi. Putangina. Not for passport renewal. If anyone asks you, tell me who and I will fucking kill him/her,” Locsin tweeted in reply.
Who does Locsin think he is? Duterte? He should really get off Twitter and go kill them all.
And now it's time for...Cocaine!
PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde, however, said police intelligence suggested that the cocaine, which weighed around 88 kilograms and amounted to nearly half a billion pesos, was not meant to enter Philippine markets.
“The initial analysis is that these were transient,” Albayalde said. “These recovered drugs really weren’t for the Philippines.”
According to the PNP chief, the cocaine shipment was likely temporarily parked here and meant to be shipped to another country at some point, although he could not say which one.
“Although it (cocaine) is being used here, because of its price, it’s not too popular here. That’s why the most common is still ‘shabu’ (crystal meth),” he said.
“Itong 2019 alone ‘yung mga sites ng discoveries [for cocaine], amounting to more or less nasa P600 million na (In 2019 alone, at the sites of discoveries, we have recovered cocaine amounting to more or less P600 million already) ,” he told Radyo Inquirer on Tuesday.
“Isang anggulo [na tinitingnan natin] is they are trying to divert the attention of government forces para maipalusot ang mas malaking shipment, most likely shabu kasi iyon ang may market ng drugs sa Pilipinas,” he said.
(One angle we are looking into is they are trying to divert the attention of government forces to smuggle a larger shipment, most likely crystal meth because it has a market here in the Philippines.)
Aquino said there are “suspicious events” on the consecutive discoveries of cocaine, as he suspects that drug syndicates will not allow those illegal drugs to be wasted for nothing.
“There should be answers to this. Kaya nga nakikita namin na diversionary tactics lang ito para mapahuli ‘yung maliit, mapalusot ‘yung mas malaki (That’s why we see that this is only a diversionary tactic for the small amount of illegal drugs to be caught, but for larger amount to be smuggled),” he said.
Aquino also said that the country might only be being used as a trans-shipment point for the illegal drugs to be delivered to other countries, since cocaine is not commonly used here because of its expensive price.
“So the tendency is to create a vacuum or gap in some vast coastlines where ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) could be brought in,” he added, noting that cocaine only amounted for around 2 percent of the illegal drug market in the Philippines.
Aquino noted that there had been 13 incidents in which fishermen found blocks of cocaine floating off the country’s coasts since 2018.
“It is becoming suspicious why this cocaine isn’t being recovered … when it’s supposed to be [embedded] with GPS (global positioning system trackers). And if shabu is also being smuggled by sea, why aren’t we finding floating shabu, just cocaine?” he said.
He admitted that, though police have intercepted more than 3,000 floating drug laboratories and dens in the country’s seas, it was still a big challenge for law enforcers to prevent the entry of illegal drugs into the country.
“We [have] more than 7,000 islands, so it’s really difficult to monitor and guard,” Banac said.
Large amounts of cocaine bing discovered off the waters of the Philippines or in large shipping containers is nothing new. It seems to be pretty routine. Whether the drugs are intended for disbursement in this country or elsewhere it is obvious that the PNP cannot stop the entrance of cocaine into the country. They even admit that monitoring and guarding 7,000 islands is difficult. But that hasn't stopped them from declaring victory because according to an SWS survey people are seeing less drug users. Senator Trillanes remarked that there are less drug users because they have been killed and Duterte did not take so kindly to that assessment.
President Rodrigo Duterte slammed Senator Antonio Trillanes IV anew after the latter said there are now fewer drug addicts because they were killed without due process.
“Some critic senator, stupid senator. Trillanes said ‘Oh there, there are no more (drug addicts) because they are dead and so? Are you not happy that I’m doing it for you instead of you, a military idiot? You do not even know how to count,” Duterte said during his speech at the 9th anniversary of the Mindanao Development Authority.
An admission of complicity if not outright guilt in the killings of thousands of drug users and a threat to kill a Senator. Nice.
Technical vocational education and training (TVET) programs involved in incidents of ghost training as well as ghost trainees were recently discovered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Central Luzon and three other regions.
The investigation confirmed the existence of ghost training and ghost trainees in registered technical vocational and education training programs – 13 of which are in Central Luzon, seven each in Region 1 and Region IVA, and 1 in Metro Manila.
Each of the training schools identified has two or more cases of conducting ghost trainings and listing of ghost scholars. Nine cases of illegal collection of fees from trainees and scholars were also found, a gross violation of the rules and guidelines on TESDA scholarship.
Ghost schools? Ghost training? Spooky!
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) gave some P15 million worth of scholarships to hundreds of “doubtful or fictitious students,” the Commission on Audit (COA) said in its recently-released 2017 annual audit report.
Also expensive and an on-going problem!
The Cabugao Regional Trial Court Branch 24 has ordered the arrest of Cabugao, Ilocos Sur Mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang due to a criminal complaint over the padlocking of a local beach resort with its operator and four-year-old son trapped inside.
A separate warrant was issued for the case of grave coercion against the mayor and several others.
This is a developing story that will likely take years to resolve but it seems to be a misunderstanding about who owns the resort which is better than a case for graft.
Amid a standing order of President Rodrigo Duterte for policemen to not drink in public places, two lawmen were reportedly caught drinking inside an eatery in Quezon City on Monday.
A report from the Philippine National Police Counter-Intelligence Task Force (PNP-CITF) said Tuesday that the duo was spotted by its operatives inside Korabs Canteen along Justice Lourdes Paredes San Diego Avenue corner 3rd Avenue in Barangay Socorro, Quezon City.
Maybe they were off duty?
The report said that when the police and PDEA-7 agents went to the hospital room of Ramirez, where he has been confined for about a year now, authorities found and seized liquors, cigarettes, lighters, assorted cellphone accessories, wireless charger, playing cards, and portable speaker.
So who helped sneak all that contraband in?
Without dropping names, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said the agency already holds a list of officials allegedly supporting the NPA, based on data accumulated from the 2016 and 2018 elections.
He revealed that the communist rebels have amassed around P195.5 million from extortion activities against politicians since 2016.
“We now have a watchlist. We know you. So if you are supporting communist rebels in any way, you ascertain yourself as a supporter of terrorism an an enemy of the state, you establish yourself as an accomplice to their cause,” he said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Año berated the officials in the list, as he said they help the NPA rebels to continue operating in some parts of the country.
The DILG chief also urged voters to not support candidates whom they know are financing the communist movement, as the campaign season for the midterm polls heats up.
Release the names so the people know who to not support or go out and arrest them all!
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