It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has accepted the guilty plea of Mayor Alex Centena of Calinog, Iloilo, and eight others, for the offense of failure of an accountable officer to render accounts, in connection with their involvement in an allegedly anomalous purchase of liquid fertilizers worth P999,000.
Centena and his coaccused were earlier charged with graft, but through a plea bargain entered with the Office of the Ombudsman, they agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offense.
In a decision dated April 11, the antigraft court accepted their guilty plea, and ordered Centena and his coaccused to pay P5,000 each and P999,000 as civil liability.
The case stemmed from their conspiracy to buy more than 600 bottles of fertilizer from Feshan Philippines Inc. without proper public bidding.
Another case where public bidding was not done before making a big purchase. Happens often in the Philippines.
Alcala’s graft case was in connection with the “garlic cartel” scheme, which reportedly monopolized garlic prices from 2013 to 2014.
Garlic cartel. Hilarious.
The matrix has linked media organizations and journalists to the destabilization efforts against President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.
“The source of that is from the Office of the President, from the President himself. I don’t know how he got one. But it’s coming from the President. I talked to him the other day,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
Asked if the government would file charges against those in the matrix, Panelo said no, unless they do “overt acts.”
“Basta lumabag na sila. Kapag mayroon na silang mga overt acts to bring down this government (If they violate the law, if they carry out covert acts to bring down this government), that’s a different story,” he said.
“We are just letting them do what they want. We just want them to know that we know, and we want the people to know that they are on this,” he said.
Panelo maintained the government would not file charges for now against the personalities involved.
“Wala, hahayaan lang namin sila… sa ngayon ha, sa ngayon (We are just going to let it pass for now). Kasi (Because) if the plot thickens and they perform acts which are already a violation of the penal laws, that’s a different story,” he said.
Panelo said that receiving information from other countries was not illegal as it was part of the sharing of intelligence information.
“That’s what we call sharing of intelligence information. That’s standard for all countries; they share intelligence information. If it affects the security of a particular country, they will really share information,” he said.
Here we go again with another ouster plot. If this is a confirmed plot then why would they let it continue? Is covertly working to overthrow the president legal? Just fine and dandy? There is no plot at all and the little paper with a so-called matrix does not offer any information. There are no specifics given. It is just more garbage.
“Maraming nagka-come up na information pero (There were information coming in but) no specific threat because we have a very strong AFP, we have a very strong PNP (Philippine National Police), and very strong support na nakikita namin coming from the Filipinos sa ating administration (that we see coming from Filipinos and the administration),” he told reporters.
Why is the AFP contradicting Duterte?
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte is considering leaving Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the Davao regional political party she founded, after the 2019 elections.
One reason for her possible exit is her desire to head the Davao City local party Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL), currently led by her older brother Paolo Duterte.
"Thinking about leaving HNP, going back to HTL, where it's calmer. No decision," she told Rappler on Sunday, April 21, in a text message.
"Nabalitaan ko (I heard that) my brother wants to step down as president of HTL. I want that job instead of HNP chair," she added.
This politics butterfly doesn't know what she wants. She is always swaying back and forth in her decisions. She founds a party that everyone flocks to and even backs a sale of Senate candidates but perhaps she can't handle all the attention? Who cares anyway. After all according to Sara every political, including her, is just a liar.
Representatives of Bayan Muna and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) on Tuesday said they are studying the possibility of filing charges against individuals behind the diagram which tagged them as being involved in an alleged plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.
It's going to be fun watching everyone sue each other. What a great show!
"I want a boat prepared. I'll give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that thing out, or I will set sail doon sa Canada, ibuhos ko ýung basura nila doon [I will dump their trash there]. I cannot understand why they are making us a dump site," Duterte said during the situation briefing for the quakes which jolted Luzon and the Visayas.
A total of 103 container vans containing trash weighing 2,450 tons were shipped to the Philippines in several batches from 2013 to 2014. Canadian-based firm Chronic Plastics, Inc., which exported the vans, declared their contents as plastic scrap materials without securing import entries for its shipment that arrived in July and August of 2013.
Some of the vans remain at the Port of Manila.
"Awayin natin ang Canada. We'll declare war against them, kaya naman natin sila [Let's fight Canada. We'll declare war against them, we can handle them anyway]," Duterte said.
The President also warned he will dump trash in front of the Canadian embassy.
"Garbage is coming home. 'Yung iba. 'Yung iba mga limang truck, ibuhos mo dyan sa Canadian Embassy ... supladohan lang ang mundong ito," he added.
[Translation: Garbage is coming home. The others, around five trucks, dump it in front of the Canadian embassy. The world runs on arrogance.]
Awesome. It's going to be a trash war. I hope he really does dump five trucks of garbage in front of the embassy. That would be great for all those OFWs working in Canada.
Alexander Echabe, who was the candidate of PDP-Laban, was shot in the head, a sketchy report by Joey Brillantes, Echabe’s companion, said.
Brillantes said Echabe and his group were campaigning in Sitio Ananao, Barangay Budac, when the gunman approached shot him.
Brillantes said the gunman and his companions then fled.
Brillantes identified the gunman as a barangay chairman and his companions as his brothers.
Another candidate shot dead in Abra which is historically violent town.
Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Tuesday denounced what he described as unfair appointment of several relatives of Olongapo City Mayor Rolen C. Paulino to various, high-paying positions in the city government.
“It is really unfair, indecent and scandalous that a number of Paulino’s relatives are holding high-paying positions in the city government when salaries for entry-level positions for nurses, teachers and policemen are low,’’ Gordon said.
‘’Aside from those holding plantilla positions, there are also a number of consultants that the government is paying P24.850-million per year for consultancy services,” Gordon pointed out.
He said the city has no budget for hiring doctors that the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital (JLGMH) has to make do with Nepalese and Pakistani resident doctors.
‘’Yet, it spends millions for consultants, aside from his relatives holding plantilla positions. Imagine how many doctors can be hired for the P24 million alone?” he added.
Nepotism is nothing new in the Philippines or the world. Will there be charges to follow?
Mayor Ciceron Cawaling of Malay town, Aklan province has been dismissed from public service for his role in the environmental degradation of world-famous Boracay Island.
Roy Defiño, Aklan provincial director of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), confirmed to Manila Bulletin that Ombudsman’s dismissal order against Cawaling was implemented by DILG Wednesday afternoon.
Cawaling’s dismissal came hours after he resumed being town mayor when his six-month preventive suspension expired. He was found guilty of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, conduct unbecoming of a public official, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service.
Defiño disclosed Cawaling was not at his office when the dismissal order was served.
“We just posted at the door of his office. Technically, he is dismissed from public service,” Defiño noted.
They just posted it on the door of his office rather than actually telling him. HAHA!
“You don’t get results when you do not say p***** i** mo. The press, international, they don’t like me. So when I say ‘p***** i** mo’, actually it’s a slang, we call it slang and it means son of a b****.,” he said.
The 74-year old President said cursing is not even a crime.
“You know, it’s not even a crime. The Supreme Court said when you say those words: epithets, curses and slang words in the heat of anger, you tend to use the mother you know — “F” and everything,” he said.
In March 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that the phrase “putang ina mo” was not slanderous.
Duterte even said that cursing is common in movies.
“I counted one movie with the word “F” and they — in one movie I purposely did the listing. They said it 400 times in a 1 hour 45 minutes movie of [Netflix],” he said.
Duterte does not know the meaning of the word dignity.
Escalante City Councilor and human rights worker Bernardino “Toto” Patigas was shot dead on Monday afternoon along the highway in Barangay Washington.
Police have yet to establish the motive behind the killing.
Patigas, 72, was a human rights worker belonging to the North Negros Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, a member organization of Karapatan-Negros chapter. He was also seeking reelection as a councilor in the coming elections.
Palabay said Patigas was a survivor of the Escalante massacre of 20 farmers and farm workers on September 20, 1985, when government forces opened fire on protesters staging a protest against the Marcos dictatorship.
Another dead activist and politician.
A councilor and his uncle were on the campaign trail on Thursday morning when they were ambushed in Barangay Inolingan, Moises Padilla town, about 48 km south of here.
Killed were Mark Garcia, brother of Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo of Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental, and their nephew, Councilor Michael Garcia.
The ambush prompted acting poll provincial supervisor Salud Milagros Villanueva to call for an emergency meeting.
“We are currently assessing the situation and are taking measures regarding the matter, which will be enforced by the Philippine National Police and Army,” she told the Inquirer.
Yulo, Mark and Michael were on the campaign convoy about 10 a.m. when hooded men ambushed them.
The hooded men were on board a black pickup and motorcycles and were armed with M-16 rifles, shotguns and .45 caliber pistols.
From another Inquirer article:
Former Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) President Mark Garcia and village councilor Michael Garcia were killed in an ambush Thursday while on the campaign trail in Negros Occidental.
Initial report from the Negros Occidental police indicated 30 armed men might have carried out the attack while the Garcias were campaigning for incumbent Moises Padilla
Vice Mayor Ella Garcia Yulo around 11 a.m. in Barangay Inolingan.
Garcia-Yulo is running for mayor in the municipality of Moises Padilla. She is up against her uncle, incumbent Mayor Magdaleno Peña.
It appears that this lady's uncle sent 30 armed men to kill her which is pretty messed up. How much more awful can Philippine politics get?
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