It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
"I am issuing a warning. If that NAIA is not—the security is not improved there—I will order the Air Force to take over. You must remember I declared a national emergency when I started as president. And I would invoke it," the president said during the 122nd anniversary of the Presidential Security Group last Wednesday in Malacañang.
"Napakadisgrasya 'yan kung may mangyari diyan. Talo tayo lahat diyan. (It would be a disgrace if something happens there. We will all lose)," he added.
Surely the Air Force has enough on its hands than to have to be saddled with the NAIA. Why did he
proclaim a state of national emergency if he is not going to use the powers such a proclamation grants?
“What the President is saying, and which I’ve been saying too, is that critics want to pursue an aggressive, isolationist policy that is very dangerous in these times,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
Panelo did not directly refer to Duterte’s words but said the critics were forcing the President to take provocative steps that might aggravate the territorial dispute in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines.
“He doesn’t like being forced to take steps that would endanger the Filipinos. He is being forced, isn’t he? He said, ‘They are looking for trouble. They really want to push me there.’ That’s the President’s point, hence his reaction,” Panelo said.
Duterte said on Monday that fishing by the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea was fine with him because China and the Philippines were “friends,” drawing disapproval even from his allies in the Senate, who also cited the exclusivity clause.
This either/or scenario is demonstrably false yet the Duterte administration keeps pushing it. No one is calling for war or isolationism. What they want is for the Philippines to assert its sovereign rights in its own territory. Yet Duterte continues to refuse to do that.
Outgoing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña literally vacated the mayor’s office ahead of his stepping down on June 30.
Employees and visitors at the Mayor's Office were surprised upon seeing the bare rooms at the eighth floor of the executive building.
The glass dividers were gone along with the ceiling and some ceramic tiles. The kitchen tiles were also gone.
All of the tiles in the washroom had also been pried off, exposing raw concrete.
According to Bimbo Fernandez, Osmeña’s executive assistant, the mayor owns the fixtures and furniture inside the mayor's office.
Fernandez said Osmeña renovated his office using his personal funds when an opposition-dominated City Council denied his plea for a ₱2 million budget.
The camp of Mayor-elect Edgar Labella is contemplating on filing charges against Osmeña and his staff for allegedly destroying the mayor's office.
Absolutely unbelievable and an incredibly petty way of showing his displeasure a not being reelected.
President Duterte’s threat to jail anyone who would attempt to impeach him drew a sharp rebuke on Friday from an opposition senator who reminded him that filing an impeachment complaint was a legal process.
“Impeaching a President is not a crime,” Sen. Francis Pangilinan said.
“I will be impeached? I will jail them all. Just try it. Try to do it, do it, and I will do it,” the President said.
That the President has to be told this is ridiculous. Clearly Duterte is a grandstanding fool. Sounds like he knows he is guilty of treason for making back door deals with Xi to allow Chinese fishermen to fish in Philippine territory.
“The turnover of documents was scheduled at 10:30 am on Friday, June 28, but no member of the transition team of outgoing Mayor Joseph Estrada was present. Only members of the Domagoso transition team were present,” Moreno’s camp said in a statement.
Incoming Manila City Administrator Felix Espiritu appealed to the camp of Estrada to create a formal turnover as it may pose a problem for their accountability of government properties.
Why would Estrada have these kinds of documents in his personal possession? Shouldn't they been a safe space like the Mayor's office?
The Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended that legal action be taken against former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo and actor Cesar Montano, former head of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB).
In its annual audit report of the TPB, the COA said the TPB’s Buhay Carinderia project was onerous and violated the government procurement law.
In fact, state auditors said that the TPB made P80.64 million in payments to contractor Marylindbert International Inc. without supporting documents as required by law.
These payments happened in 2018 and only now has the COA made the recommendation that Teo be charged with a crime. If she is charged it will be still longer to get a resolution.
A former mayor of Dingras, Ilocos Norte who was tagged in the 2009 murder of an executive of the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC), was arrested in Quezon City on Friday afternoon.
Former Dingras Mayor Marynette Gamboa, 55, was the alleged mastermind behind the ambush of Dingras Mayor-elect Joefrey Saguid and the killing of INEC president Lorenzo Rey Ruiz.
A ten year old murder that is now just being solved.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Office of the President (OP) for not using some P1.41 billion in donated monies that are part of the President’s Social Fund (PSF).
In its annual audit report, the COA said President Rodrigo Duterte’s office could have used the amount to help calamity victims, put up livelihood projects or for land reform.
“Guidelines and work and financial plan for the utilization of the donations amounting to P1,412,943,850.00 intended for projects in economic development in accordance with the national priority plan … were not formulated, hence, benefits that could have been derived therefrom were not attained,” the report said.
According to state auditors, the P1.41-billion fund came from a 1990 compromise agreement between the Presidential Commission on Good Government and Meralco Foundation Inc., which used to be owned by the Lopez family, that settled a dispute involving 27,776,557 common shares of Meralco stock.
COA explained that Benpres Corp., represented by its president Eugenio Lopez Jr., executed in August 1990 a deed of donation giving 3,333,333 Meralco shares to the OP.
The Arroyo administration then sold the shares to the Government Service Insurance System in 2008, and placed the P1.4-billion proceeds in the PSF. The amount has since earned P29,629,241.64 in interest.
The Office of the President has billions sitting idly which should be used for social welfare projects. Perhaps the problem is formulating programs to properly dispense the money? It's a problem that should certainly be rectified.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for its failure to complete projects involving the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment and the setting up forensic and scientific laboratories.
Of the eight acquisitions programmed in 2018 using the funds retained from clearance and other fees collected by NBI amounting to ₱244,500,000.00, only one or 12.5 percent was completed as of December 31, 2018.
COA also called out the NBI for utilizing only 57.29 percent or P33,354,149.40 of the requested fund received from Department of Budget Management (DBM), which amounted to ₱58,224,616.00
“Hence, [this] resulted in the lapsing [or] reversal of NCA (notice of cash allocation) to the BTr (Bureau of Treasury) amounting to P24,870,466.60,” COA’s report read.
COA also said that the NBI only implemented five out of its 13 planned or programmed activities with an allocated budget amounting to P118,113,460.36
The five activities were implemented at a total cost of P87,966,778.71 or 74.48 percent of the total budget allocation.
The NBI is underspending its budget. Underspending is the biggest scourge throughout the government. It means programs do not get implemented and the people who are paying for these projects and services do not get served.
“Of course, kung talagang pinag-utos ng Presidente at may nakita tayong (if the President really ordered it and we saw) violation of the law, why not?” Albayalde said in a press conference in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
He further assured that the PNP will hold a proper investigation on those suspected to be planning to unseat Duterte.
“There will be an investigation. Hindi mo naman pwedeng basta-basta kunin ‘yung tao dahil tinuro at kukunin mo (You cannot just grab a person because someone pointed at him). There will always be an investigation before you can make an arrest,” Albayalde said.
Asked what laws will apply to those who would file an impeachment complaint against Duterte, the PNP chief said it will depend on what violation the police will find out against the filer.
“Kasi ‘yung pag-impeach sa kanya, it’s not covered by the law, but violations, depende kung meron, either sedition or libel. Depende kung anong makita natin na violation ng batas,” Albayalde said.
(Impeachment of the President is not covered by the law, but if there are violations, it could either be sedition or libel. It depends on which violation of the law we see.)
Charged with sedition or libel for filing an impeachment protest? That is insane.
A councilor of Pilar town, Abra province was shot dead shortly after attending flag-raising ceremony at the municipal hall on Monday (July 1), according to police.
Police said Amante Doral Sr., 63, who won reelection as a member of the Nacionalista Party, was aboard a motorcycle driven by his son, Jocker Doral, 18, when an unidentified assailant shot him at the village of Narnara in Pilar.
Investigators said Doral fell from the motorcycle after getting shot, causing his son to lose balance and causing the motorcycle to crash.
Doral’s son brought him to the police station from where the councilor was brought to the town’s health center. But Doral suffered multiple gunshots and died at the health facility.
July 1 was supposed to be Doral’s first day at work as a councilor. Police said the assailant had escaped and remained at large.
Tragic.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has barred dismissed Mayor Ciceron Cawaling from serving a new term in Malay town in Aklan province where Boracay Island is located.
In a four-page advisory issued on June 27, Ariel Iglesia, DILG Western Visayas director, said there was a “temporary vacancy” in the post of municipal mayor of Malay because Cawaling had been dismissed by the Ombudsman from service.
Iglesia said Vice Mayor Frolibar Bautista would assume Cawaling’s post as acting mayor.
But Cawaling said he would assume his post because the dismissal order was still not final.
“I was elected and proclaimed as winner in the May 13 elections. There is no electoral protest against me,” he told the Inquirer on Sunday.
Iglesia said the Ombudsman decision was executory and allowing Cawaling to assume office would make the decision inutile and resurrect the already abandoned Aguinaldo doctrine.
The legal doctrine extinguishes administrative cases filed against any public official during the term immediately after his or her reelection.
In a separate advisory, Iglesia said there was a “permanent vacancy” for the post of mayor in Janiuay town in Iloilo after Mayor-elect Manuel Thomas Franklin Mary Locsin was barred from assuming office.
Locsin has been under hospital arrest since June 3 at the Medical City here.
Mayor John Lloyd Pacete of Bugasong town in Antique also cannot assume office due to his conviction for a gun violation during the 2016 elections.
Three mayors all barred from assuming office for various criminal offences.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the failure of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to return to the Department of Health some P121.5 million in unused funds meant for potable water supply projects across the country.
In a report, the audit agency said P23.3 million from 37 completed projects and P98.2 million from 14 unfinished projects remained unused, despite a 1994 COA circular ordering the return of such balances from the implementing agency to the source department.
The COA said the majority of these nonoperational LWUA projects were in Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental and Maguindanao.
More underspending and unused funds.
Newly-elected mayors whose names are included on the so-called narcolist cannot choose the chief of police in their cities and municipalities pending the withdrawal of their police deputation authority, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Monday.
Why don't they just build cases and arrest these mayors? What is the point of having this list if they will not use it to prosecute?
“That is a provision for the thoughtless and the senseless,” Duterte told reporters in Malacañang, referring to Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution, which states that the State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.”
“The protection of our economic rights about the economic zone resolves this? I am protecting the country and 110 million Filipinos,” Duterte said.
The President said China would not recognize the Philippine Constitution even if he shows it to them, saying our Constitution would be “meaningless.”
“Pupunta ako sabihin ko get out, this is the Constitution. Sabihin sayo’ naubusan ka na ng toilet paper, gamitin mo yan (You want me to go there and tell them to get out, this is the Constitution? They’ll tell you, did you run out of toilet paper? You can use that),'” he said.
“Ako kung sabihin (If they say) you present to me a constitution like that and we have this ruckus claiming the same place in our jurisdiction. Sabihin ko, kung wala kang pang-ilo gamitin mo yang constitution mo (I will say you can use your Constitution as toilet paper). Because that means war. And that piece of paper, the Constitution, will become meaningless with no spirit except desperation, agony, and suffering,” he added.
This is the speech where Dutere is being accused of calling the Constitution toilet paper. To be fair he did not say that except in a hypothetical role playing way where he pretends Xi calls it toilet paper. However his disdain or the Constitution's provisions comes through loud and clear in both his words and actions. That is not to be wondered at as he has previously referred to the Constitution as
a meaningless piece of paper.
(I don't want to be a senator. But when President Rodrigo Duterte came into office, I wanted to become a senator because there are a lot of changes. There are a lot of laws needed.... It suddenly became exciting, so now I'm energized.)
Marcos said that she has always been invited to run for Senate since 2003, but thought she was "not fit" to be part of the institution.
(I thought I didn't fit in here. I wasn't convinced to go here. I've been in Congress for a long time. It was fun there, we were like friends, but I don't understand why I am in the Senate now.)
Senators on Monday started filing 10 pet bills according to seniority.
Marcos, a newbie senator, will file hers during the last batch, together with senators Christopher "Bong" Go, Francis Tolentino, and Ronald dela Rosa.
She said she will be filing bills on taxes, particularly on the internal revenue allotment for local governments; a bill on term extension for barangay officials until 2022; and a bill seeking to protect LGBTQ+ rights.
Imee Marcos is just another Duterte rubber stamp like Go and Bato. How is that the new Senators have bills to file already? That is crazy especially when they are new to the process and do not know how it works. Did they write those bills? Did Bato really write bills he would like to see become law when he admits he has no idea how the Senate works? Total clown world!
But, according to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel: “That provision, if you enforce that, literally, then you’re courting dangers because precisely China would not want that.”
The presidential mouthpiece who also serves as President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel also said: “In other words, what benefit would you have if you enforce that provision and then (lose) everything?”
You cannot understand this story without understanding that Duterte made an informal verbal agreement with Xi to allow Chinese fisherman in the Philippines' EEZ.
In a speech last week, Duterte claimed that he and Xi agreed that Chinese fishermen would no longer block Filipino fishermen from Scarborough Shoal as long as the Chinese would have access to Recto Bank.
Will you allow the Chinese to fish? Of course. That's what we talked about before, that's why we talked. And that was why we were allowed to fish again. It was a mutual agreement," Duterte said at a speech in Malacañan last week.
According to Duterte, this was what he discussed with Xi during his first state visit to Beijing three years ago.
"That was more of an informal agreement rather than documented," Panelo told ANC's "Early Edition" Monday.
In a separate press briefing at Malacañan, Panelo insisted that the agreement between the two leaders were verbal.
"I don't think they signed (an agreement). They just talk. You know world leaders they have a word of honor," Panelo said in Filipino.
The Malacañang spokesman added that Filipino fishermen would not have been able to access Scarborough Shoal again if not because of the deal between Duterte and Xi.
Asked if the agreement was legally binding despite the lack of documentation, Panelo answered, "Why not? There is nothing wrong with it."
Actually everything is wrong wth it. From its violation of the Constitution to the secrecy from both Congress and the public to the danger it has posed to Filipino fisherman as most recently exhibited in the shipwreck. It begs the question just what Panelo means by "losing everything" if the Constitution is enforced. What did Xi promise Duterte? What will he lose?
Former Cebu City mayor Tommy Osmeña's running mate, ex-councilor Mary Ann Delos Santos, took a page out of the former city chief executive's playbook and likewise left her office stripped bare as her term ended.
Delos Santos’ old office had been assigned to newly-elected councilor Niña Mabatid. But, it was gutted of all furnishings.
So petty and stupid.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for allowing some 6,985 containers filled with rice, refined sugar and donated goods overstay in its ports.
According to the annual audit report of the COA, some containers have been left to rot from 30 days to up to 25 years, even though BOC regulations state that abandoned perishable goods, or those unclaimed after a month, should be auctioned off.
“Considering the length of time the above goods stayed in the yard, there is a risk of deterioration or spoilage and therefore is unsafe for human consumption, thus, may not be feasible for auction and depriving government of revenues,” the report said.
Meanwhile, 17 containers contain goods and articles for donations to various government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, including the Philippine Red Cross.
The donations were meant for calamity-stricken communities, and the delay in releasing the cargo containers defeats the purpose for which the goods and articles
Containers filled with perishable food and donated goods sitting idler upwards of 25 years! How ridiculous. Everyone knows the BOC is one of the most corrupt agencies in the government.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said he was offered bribes ranging from P5 million a day to P1.8 billion a year to drop his promise to get vendors out of the main roads of the national capital.
[Somebody relayed to me the message: They will give me P5 million day, P150 million a month, P1.8 billion a year. Now, whether that is true or not, I don’t know. It’s like the same old system.]
P5 million a day is quite a lot of money. Does this mean former Manila Mayor Estrada was taking in this bribe? Surely as Vice Mayor of Manila Moreno would have known about this bribe to allow vendors on main streets. Is he merely putting on a show?
Joel Torrecampo, the Department of Education’s (DepEd) acting schools division superintendent in San Juan, said in 2017 that the school could not be opened due to safety concerns, as it was located 50 meters away from a firing range of the Philippine National Police.
Stray bullets believed to be from the firing range were reportedly found on the school grounds by a caretaker, making the area “dangerous for students.” The PNP responded by raising the height of the fence around the firing range.
All the politics in this story aside the fact that the PNP's firing range is located in a an area like this and that stray bullets were found inside the school grounds is insane. Why not have the range inside? Or far away from the city? Why did they build the school a mere 50 feet away from a firing range?
“Do not do it, please, during my term,” he said in his speech at the celebration of the 72nd anniversary of the Philippine Air Force at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
“I know that the Armed Forces and the police will have to decide one day, somehow,” he added.
What does that even mean? Is this a foreshadowing? Does he think his time is almost up because of his failure to enforce the EEZ provision of the Constitution and protect the Philippines' sovereignty? Or is it just more BS?
Police Lt. Col. William Gadayan, Isabela City Police Station chief, said Hadji Hataad Mundi Astanan, a businessman and former treasurer of Barangay Upper Binembengan, Sumisip town, was gunned down in Purok Moonlight, Barangay Sumagdang.
Gadayan said their initial investigation showed that motorcycle-riding assailants attacked Astanan.
Another ex-LGU official gunned down by motorcycle assassins.
“If you are threatening the President to do some sort of action and then you threaten him with an impeachment complaint, the mere fact that you are threatening the highest official of the land, the mere fact that its a threat, if it goes to the realm of threatening then it may be criminal in nature,” he said.
“I am just explaining that when you say impeachment, filing an impeachment complaint is not a crime per se but when it goes into the realm of threatening someone or anyone, threats when circumstances are right, correct, if the elements of the crime are there, then it goes in the realm of being criminal in nature,” he added.
Glad they could clear that up? What kind of muddled legal theory is this? If you threaten an official with impeachment for dereliction of duty then that is a crime because you have made a threat? A lot of nonsense in this new legal theory.
“Wala pa kaming mga gamit. Wala pa kaming computers so please bear with us,” Sotto told ABS-CBN News.
(We don’t have equipment. We don’t have computers so please bear with us.)
The 29-year-old mayor took the removal of equipment lightly, saying it is his predecessor’s right to remove his personal property.
But Sotto noted that the mayor’s office is “really lavish” even after it was stripped of appliances.
It is highly unlikely that all the computers used in the Mayor's office are the personal property of the former Mayor. If it is in fact the case that they are then that is a huge problem. All the sensitive information on the hard drives are now in private hands and they should be retrieved immediately.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) over alleged irregularities in the procurement of goods and services amounting to P66.02 million.
In the 2018 annual audit report for DILG, the COA also chided DILG’s leniency in monitoring the submission of liquidation reports relating to super-typhoon “Yolanda” funds transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways and various local government units.
According to the COA unliquidated balances of the Yolanda Fund expenses reached P219.63 million and P839.87 million, respectively.
In the report, COA has noted that five regional offices along with the Central Office (CO) did not comply with the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of RA No. 9184 in procuring several items.
Records showed that the DILG’s CO spent P2,933,453.02 for the payment of fuel, oil, and lubricants through reimbursement; P43,081,473.96 for airfare payments procured through direct booking from airlines or travel agency; and P4,023,670.24 advance payments for contractors.
Meanwhile, COA called on the DILG to strictly monitor submission of liquidation report for the Recovery Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) program that has been funded with over P1 billion to facilitate the recovery and return to normalcy of Yolanda affected localities.
Out of the P853.8 million in funds transferred to the DPWH, only P634.17 million was liquidated, leaving a balance of P219.63 million in still unjustified expenses.
On the other hand, a total P839.87 million in RAY funds remained unliquidated on the part of the local government units that received money.
“The non-submission of liquidation reports both by the LGUs and the DPWH can be attributed to the leniency of the management to monitor the status of project/program implementation at the regional level which is contrary to pertinent provisions of the MOA (memorandum of agreement) and COA Circular No. 94-013 dated December 13, 1994,” COA stated.
The DILG procured airline tickets and other goods in a manner that caused the government to lose money. They also failed to submit reports about money transferred to the DPWH and LGU's for Yolanda relief. But wait! There's more!
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has yet to liquidate some P10 million meant for an information campaign on federalism, according to the Commission on Audit has (COA).
The COA pointed this out in its annual audit report on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
According to the report, while the DILG was assigned as the lead agency tasked to undertake a nationwide information campaign on the possible shift to federalism, it released a P10-million budget to the PCOO, through an August 2018 memorandum of agreement.
Under the MOA, the DILG was tasked with overseeing the information campaign of the “One Nation, One Government: Transition to Federalism” project. On the other hand, the PCOO was duty-bound to liquidate all expenses made against the fund to the DILG, on a monthly basis.
The DILG was tasked by the PCOO with the federalism propaganda campaign. But the PCOO failed to liquidate the money for that campaign and they failed to submit progress reports about the campaign. But it turns out this campaign was a total waste of money and time because now Duterte has said he won't push for federalism!
Locsin said in a television interview that he was not aware of President Duterte’s supposed “verbal agreement” with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016, and insisted that such a deal could not be enforced because it was not documented.
But presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo stood by his statement on Monday that there was a verbal agreement between President Duterte and Xi, and it was already being enforced.
“Isn’t it already being enforced? We’re not being bothered, so that means it’s being implemented,” Panelo said.
He insisted that the deal was legally binding.
“That’s recorded. The interpretation that there’s no document is wrong. That has been recorded officially, so there’s a record for that,” he said.
“It was officially recorded by both sides,” Panelo said, explaining that bilateral meetings of leaders are recorded.
“Of course, it’s legally binding,” he said. There are as many opinions as there are lawyers, he added.
“The verbal agreement cannot be enforced. It cannot be enforced on us because it’s verbal. Exactly as Senator (Franklin) Drilon said, you need a document to prove an agreement. That’s the way it is,” Locsin said.
He said the President may have been misled to agree to allow China to fish in Philippine waters because he was made to believe by his legal advisers that Filipinos could share their “surplus catch” with foreigners.
“I didnt even know there’s a verbal agreement. He may have said it because he was given the impression there’s a level of beyond allowable catch that if there’s a surplus you can share it with foreign fishermen,” Locsin said.
Asked if the country was implementing the supposed verbal agreement, Locsin replied: “No, we’re not.”
The bottom line is that Duterte made a secret verbal deal with the President of China and he thinks it is legally binding while members of his cabinet do not. That means there is no coordination between Duterte and his officials on this matter.
Critics of the Duterte administration’s stance in the West Philippine Sea dispute should just “shut up” as the people no longer trust them as evidenced by the result of the recently concluded midterm elections, Malacañang said Thursday.
Panelo made the remark as he slammed former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay for calling for a Senate investigation into the supposed verbal agreement between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping, giving China access to the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
If there is one thing Duterte does not want it is an investigation into his doings. Whether it be his bank accounts, EJKs, the Marawi siege, and now this secret verbal deal made with President Xi.
(We became close during the campaign because I feel for her. I went through the same prejudice she had experienced.)
Dela Rosa said one of the prejudices against Marcos was the fact that she is the daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The former police chief, on the other hand, said he was looked down because he came from the province, he lacked skills in speaking English, among others.
Some people are prejudiced against unqualified, corrupt, lying buffoons such as Bato and Imee. But then again many do not have that prejudice which is why they each won a seat in the Senate.
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