According to the DILG, the 46 politicians would be facing administrative charges of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, conduct unbecoming of a public officer, and gross neglect of duty.
The names of the politicians listed in the narcolist were revealed by the President on live broadcast via the government channel PTV-4 from Davao City on Thursday evening.
According to the DILG, the list includes 35 mayors, seven vice mayors, a provincial board member, and three members of the House of Representatives.
Certainly we will see all these people arrested soon right? The reaction to this list has been varied from shouts of outrage and innocence to consternation on why they were included but perhaps the best reaction comes from Senator Grace Poe because it is so dumb.
Poe admitted that she had apprehensions at first on the government’s plan to release the names of personalities allegedly linked to illegal drugs ahead of the election in May.
But in an interview on Friday, the senator said, “Ang Pangulo ay abogado, siguro alam niya ang ginagawa niya (The President is a lawyer. He probably knows what he is doing).”
“Basta ang importante ay ito, magfile ng kaso at sagutin nila sa korte (The important thing is they file a case in court),” Poe said. “At least nalabas na yan, eh kung fake naman pala silang ano, edi mapatunayan sa korte ‘diba (It’s good that the list was released. If it’s fake, the courts will prove that, right)?”
Aside from facing charges in court, the personalities included on the “narcolist” may also go directly to the people to belie the allegations hurled against them, according to Poe.
“Kung malakas ang loob nila, magsalita sila sa taumbayan at sabihing hindi totoo yan dahil ito ang pruweba namin na hindi totoo yan,” the senator said.
(If they are courageous enough, they will speak up and prove that the allegations were false by presenting proof.)
Even this bland personality reveals she does not know the first thing about law, namely the presumption of innocence. It is the government that has to present proof of guilt, not the other way around!
There are two lists? What?
“If there is showing of fault or negligence on the part of Manila Water and if it is established that this crisis is caused not by natural causes of force majeure (unforeseeable circumstance), then affected consumers may file damage suits individually,” Guevarra said.
This kind of response, sue me or sue them, is typical in the Philippines but it does not solve anything. People need water now. A lawsuit will not bring the people water. Does this idiot think the people have the time, money, or wherewithal to file a lawsuit!!! It is absolutely ridiculous.
After identifying 46 politicians with suspected involvement in drugs, the President admitted that he would feel useless if the drug problem remained unresolved.
“May mga ano kasi, may mga tao sa mundo na — hindi mo pwedeng lokohin.‘Yung ginagawa mo kaming kengkoy dito sa gobyerno, parang wala na kami [There are people in the world you cannot fool, like you’re making a fool of the government, like we’re nothing],” Duterte said during the national peace and order council meeting in Davao City Thursday.
“If I cannot dispose of you, neutralize you, I will resign as President. Inutil ako [I’d be inutile],” he said.
Another empty promise to resign. How many of these has he made?
President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he couldn’t care less if the priests critical of him and his government ended up getting killed.
Duterte issued the remark just weeks after he called on the public to spare the religious leaders from harassment after Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle bared supposed death threats received by some priests and Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, a critic of the drug war, from people claiming to be working for the Duterte family.
“[T]hey tried to picture me na ‘pag namatay sila...I should be blamed because of my outburst. The hell. Wala akong pakialam kung mamatay kayo ngayon lahat. Maluwang pa ang ating cemetery,” the President said during the National Peace and Order Council meeting in Davao City.
“Stop scaring people about your holiness. Do not scare me about you dying and getting me blamed.”
Why does he keep responding to the priests if he hates them so and doesn't care about their opinions or even if they get killed? Ignoring someone, silence, is powerful and says plainly, "You don't matter and are not worth responding to."
“If the Senate is indeed serious in enacting a General Appropriations Act for 2019, we have until May this year to complete our task,” the Camarines Sur representative said in a statement.
“Both chambers will resume legislative session on May 20 until June 7. That is our last chance to pass the national budget,” he added.
Is this legislature really on holiday for the next two months? And they think they can overcome differences in the budget in just two weeks when they return?
A Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) councilor, or “kagawad”, and two of his cohorts were arrested by the police after they allegedly yielded sachets of dried marijuana leaves in a buy-bust operation in Rosario, Cavite Sunday.
PO1 Ricardo Mendoza, case investigator, identified the suspects as Henry Oyao alias “JR,” 22, SK kagawad and resident of Brgy. Muzon 2, Rosario; Elmer Obiana alias Agler, 27; and a 16-year-old female student.
Mendoza said the three suspects were all identified drug pushers and included in the barangay watch list.
A 16 year old drug pusher? Sure.
“The President’s staunchest critics and vocal detractors are at it again lambasting the supposed withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute and necessarily from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC),” Panelo said.
“The Philippines cannot leave that which has never joined in the first place. Our position on the matter remains clear, unequivocal and inflexible: The Philippines never became a State Party to the Rome Statute which created the ICC. As far as we are concerned, this tribunal is non-existent and its actions a futile exercise,” he added.
These are some of the dumbest words I have ever read in my life. It just defies all logic or sense or anything. The Philippines was a bonafide member of the ICC then Duterte withdrew because he did not want to be held accountable for his actions. That is a fact. Anything else is a lie.
A "substantial" number of houses for families affected by "Yolanda" remain unfinished more than five years after the typhoon ravaged the Visayas, Malacañang said Sunday.
Citing a report of the National Housing Authority, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said 56,140 of the 205,128 housing units in the "Yolanda" corridor are in Eastern Visayas.
Of the 56,140 Eastern Visayas housing units, only barely more than half, or 29,531, are fully completed, with 18,183 units already occupied and 11,348 units ready for occupancy.
What a shame. 5 years on and these housing units are still not built. When an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan in 2011 it was only a few months before everything was cleaned up and back to normalcy.
Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 10 (Northern Mindanao) and local policemen nabbed a former mayor of the town of Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, for possession of illegal drugs and firearms here Friday afternoon.
Liwaya Angcap, former mayor of Midsalip town and her common-law partner, Leander Lumantas, were arrested after a search based on a warrant was conducted in their store and residence in Barangay Talairon, this city.
Wilkins Villaneuva, PDEA-10 regional director, said Liwaya is the daughter of incumbent Mayor Leonida Angcap of Midsalip town, Zamboanga del Sur, who was among the officials on the narcolist released by President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City on Thursday evening.
This lady sounds like bad news. Why was she only arrested after the release of the narcolist?
Among those who expressed surprise to be included in the list was Mayor Leonida Angcap of Midsalip town in Zamboanga del Sur, a member of the HnP under Zamboanga del Sur 1st District Rep. Divina Grace Yu.
But Mayor Duterte said in a statement on Saturday that she would not look at the President’s narcolist as basis for her endorsement of a candidate.
She said she would never turn down politicians who would publicly request her to raise their hands, even if they were on the President’s list of narcopoliticians.
The Davao mayor even said she chose not to get a copy of the list of narcopoliticians because she would rather leave it to the voters to decide on the qualifications they look for in a candidate.
Surprisingly Sara and her father do not seem to be on the same page when it comes to this issue.
The Sandiganbayan has issued a 90-day preventive suspension order against Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate in relation to a graft case he is facing over his alleged involvement in the hiring of ghost employees in 2010.
What is the point of a 90-day preventive suspension? The assumption here is that he is guilty so why not fully suspend him? Or better yet why not give him the presumption of innocence and wait until the case has played out and a verdict is handed down.
A village chair was killed, while his wife was wounded after being ambushed by still unidentified motorcycle-riding suspects in Alangalang town, Leyte province on Sunday (March 17).
The victims were identified as Virgilio Vergara, 62, chairman of Barangay Buri and his wife, Corazon Vergara.
Another local politician shot dead by motorcycle gunmen.
“International organizations appear to have conspired against this President. They opt to believe what they’ve been receiving from this source the Philippines…false stories about the situation in this country,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
The Palace official added that “those who speak against the President” in relation to “human rights and drug-related killings” are all “citing the same figures” in condemning Duterte’s drug war, which according to government tally, has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 drug suspects since 2016.
However, critics of the administration has been claiming that the real number may be in between 11,000 and 27,000, including vigilante-style killings that were not considered part of legitimate operations.
Asked where these groups supposedly get their information, Panelo pointed to the “critics and detractors of the President.”
“When these people issue statements, then the newspapers print it, that’s their basis. So unconsciously, they appear to be in conspiracy. Hindi lang siguro nila alam, parang ‘yun ang lumalabas. Pare-pareho sila ng sinasabi e,” he said.
News outlets and human rights organisations are unconsciously conspiring against Duterte by citing numbers the Duterte administration disputes. Why don't they file a libel suit against news organisations which cite these statistics? If these numbers are fake then what is the difference between them and Duterte pulling numbers about drug users out of the air which the PDEA and PNP say they have no idea where he got them from?
"Upon being re-arraigned, accused Valbuena, assisted by Atty. Baldovino Jr., manifested that he is waiving the reading of the informations, that he understands the nature of the charges against him as well as the consequences of the waiver, and that he is pleading guilty to the lesser offense," the decision read.
The Sandiganbayan thus found Valbuena guilty beyond reasonable doubt and ordered him to pay a total fine of P10,000.
Valbuena had been charged of falsification of public documents when he "willfully and unlawfully" failed to disclose the businesses of his wife, Aileen, in his SALN for July and April 2010.
“This developed in the wake of suspected election-related incidents in the last two elections, together with serious armed threats posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and/or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other analogous groups,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a statement.
Jimenez said that areas under the Category Red Election Hotspot classification may warrant the motu proprio declaration of Comelec Control over these places.
“The Comelec En Banc may also direct the augmentation of personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the need arises in the mentioned areas,” Jimenez added.
Send in the troops to secure the vote!
The former mayor of Dumingag town in Zamboanga del Sur was ambushed along the national highway of Bacolod town in Lanao del Norte at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday (March 20).
A sketchy report from the police here said Naciancino Pacalioga Jr., 57, former mayor of Dumingag, was on his way to Cagayan de Oro City when he made a short stop-over for personal necessity at Esperanza village when ambushed.
Another ex-mayor assassinated.
Operatives of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) seized 166.5 kilograms of crystal meth, or shabu, worth an estimated P1.13 billion in two operations in Muntinlupa on Tuesday.
“Based on the packaging, these drugs came from the Golden Triangle of drug syndicates. This is the same packaging seized by other nations such as Thailand and Vietnam,” Aquino said in a press briefing.
However, Aquino said they have yet to look into details of the suspects they had arrested and determine to which group they belong.
“Nobody wants to talk dito sa grupo nito. Actually, I think they are from mainland China,” he said.
Even Senator Panfilo Lacson was baffled by the enormous presence of an estimated P1-billion worth of shabu, which was later seized in Muntinlupa City on Tuesday.
“How the hell did that volume pass through Customs and the police check points?” Lacson wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
“And the Chinese nationals? WTF!” said the senator, who once headed the Philippine National Police during the time of then President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
It's real simple. Someone with a soft spot for China and her people wants these drugs to get into the country. That's really it. Will Duterte come out cursing and promising to kill these Chinese drug dealers for ruining the country? Don't count on it.
Two village watchmen in Quezon City were arrested Tuesday for allegedly demanding P30,000 for the release of a detainee at the barangay hall.
According to authorities, a woman filed a complaint before the Batasan Police Station and alleged that personnel of Barangay Commonwealth were asking for money for the release of a relative arrested for illegal drugs.
Police said they also rescued 38 people detained at the barangay hall. These were brought to the police station for questioning and might be released if investigators find no basis for their arrest, said Supt. Joel Villanueva, Batasan Police director.
According to Villanueva, people arrested by village officers should immediately be turned over to the police.
Villanueva noted that one of the detainees had been detained at the village facility for three weeks.
38 people being detained a the Barngay Hall, one for 3 weeks, all in the hopes that their families would pay the extortion fee.
China is donating P15 million worth of equipment to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) as the administration “aggressively” rehabilitates government media, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said.
Andanar said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua has “committed” to give the donation after PCOO submits a proposal.
He said Zhao gave the commitment during their conversation at the State Banquet of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad in Malacañang on March 7.
The equipment, he, would include laptops, desktops, microphones, audio consoles, among others, which would be used for the operations of the state-run Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Philippine News Agency (PNA).
“The PCOO Organization is honored to be a constant recipient of donations and scholarships from the embassy of China since 2016,” Andanar said in a Viber message.
“The act of goodwill is very timely because we are aggressively rehabilitating our government media agencies,” he added.
Translation: we are perfecting our propaganda techniques. How much spyware is embedded in all that equipment?
Echiverri said the mayors are liable for misconduct and dereliction of their duties when they failed to form the councils in their towns to fight the proliferation of illegal drugs.
“The failure of the respondent to create the local ADAC can be classified as a misconduct in office or a dereliction of duty which is among the grounds for discipline, suspension or removal from office of a local official,” Echiverri said in the complaints.
The DILG said the mayors were reminded on several instances through memoranda to “activate, strengthen and ensure” the functions of anti-drugs councils.
According to Echiverri, a total of 80 mayors will face complaints for not organizing the councils while 800 more will be held liable for “low functionality” of the councils they organized.
Do they have the funds to organise these councils? Are they even effective at ridding the cities of drugs?
The anti-graft court has allowed former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles to seek an outright dismissal of their plunder charges while trial is proceeding in connection with the pork barrel scam.
In separate resolutions, the Sandiganbayan's Fifth Division on Wednesday granted Estrada and Napoles's motions for leave of court to file a demurrer to evidence.
A demurrer to evidence is an option for the accused to seek dismissal of a case for lack of evidence halfway through the trial, based on evidence presented by the prosecution.
"After a careful examination of the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution, both testimonial and documentary, the court resolves to grant the present motion of the accused, to sufficiently provide him an opportunity to challenge the sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence establishing the material elements of the offense charged to support a judgment of guilt," the court said in the resolution on Estrada.
Estrada and Napoles have said the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to arrive at a conviction. They have ten days to file their respective demurrers challenging the prosecution's evidence.
"Thereafter, the incident shall be deemed submitted for resolution," the court said.
We are one step closer to seeing these people walk and no one being held
accountable
for the PDAF scam. Just
one step.
The representative of the congressional district where narcotics agents had seized P1.1 billion worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) proposed on Wednesday that house-to-house searches be conducted on rented properties in exclusive subdivisions to check whether these were being used by crime gangs, especially drug traffickers.
Fenced-off exclusive residential areas provide a “secure” cover for criminals as entry is strictly regulated and neighbors rarely engage with one another, Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon said.
“I call on property owners and residents [of subdivisions] to cooperate and actively participate in weeding out those involved in the drug trade, which is a great scourge to society. At this time, each and every rented or vacant property should be checked and profiled to rule out its use by criminal elements,” Biazon said.
It sounds good and necessary sure but what it really is is a violation of one's privacy and the dismissal of the principle of the presumption of innocence. Have the PNP do there investigations and then get a warrant and make the bust. But if he really wants to go this route then Ruffy should be calling on the PNP to monitor all Chinese nationals as it was a group of Chinese who were busted with all that shabu. Of course no one will say that. Especially not DFA Sec. Locsin.
After meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Locsin said they agreed to set aside “differences we have yet to resolve” to pursue a “mutually beneficial relationship.”
“Thus, you have our assurance that the Philippines will look out for your people in my country as I have seen China look out for our people in yours,” Locsin said in a joint press conference with Wang on Wednesday.
“Without the new China, there will be no prospect whatsoever for the developing world to grow into emerging economies,” he said.
“We would still be, as throughout the second half of the last century … at the mercy of Western markets, which on a whim, can turn us away, as they did throughout the post- and neocolonial period,” he added.
Alluding to the United States, a longtime ally of the Philippines, Locsin said the Philippines and China were “never enemies,” and had “resist(ed) attempts by the Great Powers in the previous century to use our proximity against each other rather than for each other’s benefit.”
Locsin said the Chinese Communist Party is supplying direction that “no other institution anywhere in the world could.”
The secretary’s remarks reflected sentiment in the Cabinet of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has frequently praised China and criticized his county’s long-standing alliance with the U.S.
Speaking at the same occasion Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi ignored concerns over such disputes, calling China and the Philippines “friendly brothers” and “trusty friends.”
“The cooperation between the two countries … brings more benefits to the people from two countries. It also contributes to the peace and stability of the region,” Wang said.
The Philippines will be taking care of and looking out for all the illegal Chinese here? All the Chinese drug dealers here? The Philippines and China will remain "trusty friends" and "friendly brothers" as long as the Philippines does not press its claims on the WPS. Praising a ruling party that literally slaughters its own people, a party that has been built on blood, is sickening. No Communist nation has ever been a good nation. Not one.How can Teddy lithely ignore the encroachment on Philippine territory and harassment of Filipino fisherman by the Chinese in the WPS. At least not everyone has forgotten.
In an unusual move, two former high-ranking Philippine government officials have filed a case against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Criminal Court, saying the “atrocious actions of Chinese officials in the South China Sea and within Philippine territory’’ constitute crimes against humanity that the ICC can prosecute.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales filed the complaint, technically called a communication, on behalf of Filipinos and the hundreds of thousands of Filipino fishermen “persecuted and injured’’ by China’s aggressive island-building and occupation of islands in the West Philippine Sea.
“In implementing China’s systematic plan to take over the South China Sea, President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials have committed crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court which involve massive, near permanent and devastating environmental damage across nations,’’ the two former officials said in a communication filed with the ICC before the Philippines withdrew from the Rome statute on March 17.
Such a move maybe ultimately ineffective and cause a strain between China and the Philippines as well as embarrass Duterte but at least it shows that someone has not forgotten about the things China is doing in the WPS.
In a press briefing at the Southern Police District headquarters in Taguig City, Deputy Director General Archie Gamboa, Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for operations identified the suspects as PO2 Alejandro Hernandez and Rey Binggal Servitor.
Hernandez, who was absent without official leave (AWOL) since 2012, was arrested by Las Piñas police officers manning the checkpoint in front of a restaurant along the Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas City at about 4 a.m., Gamboa said.
AWOL for seven years and did no one in that time try to track him down?
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