It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III believes President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning of a revolutionary war declaration was said metaphorically.
“He is just frustrated. I’m sure he will have a better outlook once his programs vs criminality becomes more successful,” Sotto said in text message on Friday.
Asked if Duterte’s threats should not be a cause for alarm, Sotto said: “Nope. Suspension of the writ has proper Constitutional safeguards while a revolutionary war is a metaphor.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, believes the President himself knows that he could not do both — suspend the writ of habeas corpus and declare a revolutionary war.
“He will not do it because he is too smart and intelligent to know he cannot do it,” Lacson said in a separate text message.
Senatorial bet Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III alleged on Friday that eight Senate seats were sold at P50 million each during the 2016 national elections.
“Cheating. The goddamned Comelec [Commission on Elections] cheated me,” Osmeña said when asked about a major problem in 2016 over an interview with ANC’s Early Edition.
When asked whether it was Smartmatic or Comelec who allegedly made the cheating, Osmeña answered: “Both of them. Because they had to do that to get the numbers correctly. And they cheated me.”
Osmeña said he was ranking well before the polls, but was allegedly cheated when Senate seats were sold at P50 million each.
“They did not cheat me itself. They cheated so I went down. So I went down to number 11 from number six. But that was because they sold eight seats at P50 million each,” he said.
However, Osmeña admits he does not have evidence to support his claims: “I have evidence based on the final results. I have no evidence on how they did it because it’s all done by computer.”
Damning allegations of which he can offer no proof. Just a sore loser? Why did he not bring this up before and why is he participating in an election which he thinks is fundamentally unfair?
“The ACG is ready to provide assistance to anyone victimized by online or cybercrimes, investigate the incident to determine authenticity and source and file necessary charges under the law,” PNP spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac told INQUIRER.net in a text message Friday (April 5).
“Hence, it is best that the Senate blue ribbon resume its investigation, in order that those named in the video, particularly Mr. Paolo Duterte and Undersecretary Carpio, can clear their names,” Drilon said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
Two different reactions to the same video. The PNP is willing to investigate the video and those who made it but not the allegations made in the video while the a few Senators think the allegations are worth investigating. Why won't the PNP investigate the claims? Or maybe they are doing that clandestinely.
The hands of the justice department are also tied in investigating the alleged involvement of several prosecutors in the illegal drug trade after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) declined to bare details of its so-called narco list.
Just like the Supreme Court, the DOJ has not been able to initiate its probe on the 10 prosecutors in the narco list due to the refusal of the PDEA to share information with the department.
He lamented the decision of PDEA not to share the names after publicly announcing the alleged involvement of prosecutors in the drug trade.
“It is regretful that PDEA announced it before validation because everyone in the prosecution service as well as judges in the judiciary became a suspect at this point when the names are being withheld,” he argued.
It's like the tables have been turned and now the DOJ knows what its like to implicated in the drug trade with the announcement of a narco-list that is said to contain many judges and prosecutors.
Acting on the order of President Duterte, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has asked Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra to suspend 18 immigration personnel who allegedly extorted P9 million from 15 Korean nationals arrested on March 6 in Angeles City, Pampanga for overstaying.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said they recommended that the 18 agents be placed under preventive suspension pending an investigation on the alleged extortion try during a law enforcement operation.
“Extortion is a violation of our oath of service. We cannot allow such instances to go unpunished. We have requested the DOJ, which is our mother department, to issue the suspension order.”
He said the agents face both administrative and criminal charges.
Acting on the order of the President? Why doesn't he just give the order to suspend them like he has given the order to arrest people?
For allegedly slapping an election officer, a lawyer who is running for the municipal council in Camiling, Tarlac, is facing disbarment.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon yesterday said the poll body would seek the disbarment of Marty Toralba.
“The candidate who slapped our Comelec EO is Marty Toralba, who claims to be a lawyer. We will have him disbarred,” Guanzon posted on her Twitter account.
The group reported that Toralba slapped the 59-year-old Mariano as the poll officer was leading the removal of illegal campaign posters in his area of responsibility.
A candidate for office slapped a poll worker as he was removing said candidates illegal posters. At least he did not shoot the man.
“Seriously. Isn’t it enough that politicking has already trashed the country you claim to love, you’ve got to harass dogs too? Leave. Dogs. Alone,” Jimenez wrote.
Online users identified that the campaign material belongs to a local candidate in Parañaque City. It was not, however, clear whether the campaign sticker was placed by the candidates or supporters.
This is brilliant idea. All a candidate has to do is place his face on as many stray dogs butt's as he can and he will get maximal coverage and be sure to win.
The lead investigator in the killing of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz admitted that he failed to follow standard police operational procedure while handling the case.
In Monday’s hearing on the murder case, Police Master Sgt. Noel Bollosa, a defense witness, said that he himself asked Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) to process the crime scene.
According to police operational procedures, the investigator should request the chief of police to send the Soco team.
Bollosa, however, said he was not aware of that rule, reasoning out to defense lawyer Dodjie Encinas that on that day, he was handling five to six “drug-related” cases.
“It’s a big deal, not following [protocol]. It fosters the fact that there was ‘hocus pocus’ that happened,” State Prosecutor Xerxes Garcia said after the hearing.
When asked by Garcia what other cases he was handling the night Arnaiz was killed, Bollosa said that he could not remember since all his records were lost in a fire.
How many other cops fail to follow protocol during investigations?
Police Major Maria Luisa Calubaquib, spokesperson of the Bicol police, said that based on initial reports, retired Senior Supt. Ramiro Bausa, was shot while campaigning in Barangay Cagbacong around 2 p.m.
Too bad. That's Philippine politics though.
The National Bureau of Investigation has taken custody of three policemen who were held responsible for the killing of the son of Mayor Marcelo Gayeta of Sariaya town, Quezon province, and his companion in an alleged shootout on March 14 in Tayabas City.
Lt. Col. Mark Joseph Laygo, Cpl. Lonald Sumalpong and Pat. Robert Legaspi were held at the Camp Soledad Dolor holding center in Candelaria town after their arrest by the NBI on Monday night.
Police said they sent a team following complaints that motorcycle riders fired at a gas station in Tayabas without any provocation.
The riders, later identified as the young Gayeta and Manalo, were killed after they allegedly exchanged gunfire with the policemen.
But according to the NBI investigation, which was requested by the Gayeta family, the victims were deliberately killed. The NBI had obtained the testimonies of four other policemen who were involved in the supposed shootout.
There is not much to go on in this story. Cops are being held because an investigation shows they deliberately killed two men but the two men allegedly fired at the cops. It would not be surprising if the cops deliberately killed them because they were being fired at.
Malacañang on Tuesday said the families of 14 farmers from Negros Oriental province whom police allegedly shot down in cold blood last month should bring charges against the policemen involved, giving assurance that President Ridrugi Duterte would neither allow police brutality nor tolerate police abuse.
Fact-finding teams from 21 human rights and farmers’ organizations investigated the March 30 killings in Canlaon City and Manjuyod and Santa Catalina towns and found through interviews with witnesses and the victims’ families that the policemen who were supposed to be searching the farmers’ houses for illegal weapons summarily executed them, contrary to the police claim that they had fought back.
“The families should file charges, that’s the best they can do, and we will let the law take its course,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a text message on Tuesday.
Panelo gave assurance that President Duterte would “not allow police brutality nor will he tolerate police abuse.”
“The Palace is waiting for the official copy of the report on the investigation, which the Philippine National Police is currently doing with a team from its national headquarters now in Negros Oriental,” Panelo said.
This is not a helpful comment but it is typical of he lawsuit heavy Philippines. Panelo knows these people are too poor and uninformed to go about filing a lawsuit. Filing charges should the job of a DA or even the PAO. So where is the PAO in this case or the CHR?
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio on Monday filed a perjury complaint against re-electionist Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel before the prosecutor’s office of Manila City Hall for making false statements while under oath.
The perjury complaint filed by Topacio stemmed from the electoral sabotage that Pimentel filed against now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her husband Mike Arroyo, and others back in 2011.
The Pasay City Regional Trial Court however ruled in December 2018 that Arroyo was cleared from electoral sabotage, granting her demurrer to evidence.
With this, Topacio said that the statements made by Pimentel while under oath were false and are grounds for perjury.
He also noted that he filed the complaint not on behalf of the former president but on his own decision.
Pimentel also dismissed the complaint as merely a “gimmick” that he said should be ignored.
“This latest gimmick of Topacio should be ignored,” Pimentel told reporters in a text message.
“Topacio will be the one to face a perjury complaint,” he added.
“Subject document was filed years ago and he files perjury only now that it is election time?” Pimentel said.
“The purpose is obvious. For election distraction only,” he added.
The senator, however, said that he will refer the case to his lawyer to study and determine their course of action.
Topacio's reasoning, that Arroyo's acquittal means Pimentel's testimony was all lies, is very bad logic and very bad lawyering. It could be that Pimentel told the truth but despite that there was no enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. The picture with Topacio proudly displaying and points to the lawsuit is a great picture of Philippine politics where everyone sues anyone for anything no matter how trifling.
Police in Lanao del Sur arrested one of their own for possession of an unlicensed gun and of suspected shabu at a checkpoint in Marantao, Lanao del Sur on Wednesday.
Police Brigadier-General Graciano Mijares, director of the Regional Police Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RPO-BARMM), said Patrolman Alrajhi Londo Hadji Yasser, 34, faced charges for violation of the election gun ban and of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Mijares said the police politely requested Yasser to open his car’s window for plain view inspection but the suspect instead tried to pull out his gun. He was subdued by other police officers.
Police also allegedly found upon inspection an unlicensed gun, an Uzi 9-mm machine pistol, and seven sachets of suspected shabu in Yasser’s car, a Toyota Revo.
Several identification cards, including that from the Philippine National Police, an upper GOA “C” uniform with nameplate MAMLE with pant, athletic uniform, RIG belt, and ball cap were also recovered from Yasser’s vehicle.
Madiwo, in a separate interview, said Yasser had been under surveillance for almost a year now because of his alleged involvement in illegal drugs but they never had strong evidence to get him until his vehicle passed by their checkpoint by chance.
PNP officer in the BARMM nabbed for weapons and drug violations.
A policeman was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman inside his house in Catbalogan City in Samar, the Police Regional Office-8 said Thursday.
Police Lt. Col. Douglas Antonio Eloja, chief of the Catbalogan City police, said Police Staff Sergeant Kirk Walter Lorenzo, 38, had just arrived home after attending the alumni gathering at the Samar State University when he was shot by the perpetrator.
Initial investigation showed that the suspect followed Lorenzo to his house located at Calachuchi St. Barangay Muñoz, Catbalogan City, Samar on Wednesday night.
The suspect shot Lorenzo, who was resting on a sofa, and then managed to escape, police said.
Pretty awful and goodness knows the motive could be anything from involvement with drugs to silencing a snitch.
No comments:
Post a Comment