It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption and murder in Philippine politics.
A policeman was killed by a still unidentified assailant at a wake in Taguig City yesterday.
Pat. Ralph Calucag Aquino, assigned to Police Community Precinct 8 in Barangay Bagumbayan, died at the scene from a gunshot wound in the head.
He was picked up by a certain “Toto” from the house of a common friend to attend a wake along Paso street, police said.
While Aquino was at the wake, the assailant shot him and fled on foot.
Aquino’s alleged gambling habit – he was said to play the coin gambling game cara y cruz – could be among the motives for the attack, said Maj. Ramon Christian Laygo, city police investigation unit chief.
This cop was shot dead at a wake by a man who got away on foot likely because he owed money from gambling.
Convicted rapist and murderer former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez should be shot “in the back of the head,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Friday.
“Shoot the shit in the back of the head. Anything less is a sellout. Anything less clear is the same,” he said over Twitter.
Reacting to Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s remark saying that Sanchez should have been sentenced to death, Locsin said: “Well then, kill him.”
“He won’t be the first to be shot to pieces behind bars. No loss, no regrets, no nothing,” the country’s top diplomat said.
“People today talk a lot about killing but nobody kills when killing needs to be done. Fucking fairies. All talk,” he added.
The DFA Secretary is literally calling for a man to be murdered.
The Sandiganbayan has placed Limay Mayor Nelson David under a 90-day preventive suspension, as the anti-graft court tackles the graft cases filed against him.
David is facing two counts of graft charges due to the town’s allegedly anomalous purchase of land supposedly owned by his children.
According to David, he should not be suspended as he has not been the town’s municipal mayor for more than nine years, and that it was complainant Lilver Roque who sat as Limay mayor for three consecutive terms.
David only won the mayoral race for Limay in the May 13 elections.
However, Sandiganbayan cited Section 13 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which states that public officials charged of criminal offenses involving defrauding government may be preventively suspended to prevent the said official from impeding in the investigation.
The Mayor is being suspended because of an anomalous land purchase but he thinks he ought not to be suspended because he was not charged while mayor. David has not been mayor for nine years only recently winning back the seat. However the Sandiganbayan does not agree with his argument.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Thursday served Thursday the suspension order against Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco.
The order stemmed from charges filed at the Sandiganbayan accusing her of supplying overpriced fertilizers worth P5 million to the local government of Porro, Cebu in 2004 when she was still a businesswoman.
The anti-graft court said the purchase was done without a public bidding.
Catamco said the suspension order made her feel “very, very hurt,” saying the case was “without merit.”
She called the order “very oppressive,” as the court only used as basis a complaint letter from a nongovernment organization that has no interest in the case.
She said the case has no merit and the Sandiganbayan ordered her suspension based simply on the fact that she is an incumbent official as provided for in the Local Government Code of 1991.
The court did not consider the time the alleged crime was committed, she said during a press briefing on Friday.
Gov. Catamco is in the same situation as Mayor David. She is being suspended even though she is charged with a crime committed while not as a government official. She claims this is a gray area that the Supreme Court has not ruled on. Perhaps she will take her appeal to the Supreme Court and precedent can be set.
A village councilman of Barangay Pag-asa was shot dead inside the Bagac public market at 9:50 a.m. on Saturday (Aug. 24).
Edward Galazi, 35, was shot from behind by an unknown assailant.
A man and his son were hurt in the crossfire.
Another LGU assassinated. Sounds like this assassin was on his feet but still got away!
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) would be the next agency to be cleansed of corruption, President Duterte said, as he called for changes in the way corporate income taxes are assessed because of what he described as high-level corruption.
Duterte said some companies are in cahoots with corrupt examiners and are not paying the right amount of taxes.
“The corruption is at the higher levels. I am monitoring it... well of course, it affects a lot of Filipinos. Checkpoint, Customs, BIR. So BIR is next,” the President said during the launch of a solar power facility in Romblon the other day.
He said the assessing of tax dues based on the net income of corporations has resulted in leakages that benefit corrupt BIR examiners.
“When we look at the net, net minus deduction... in the end, the examiner will tell you, that is not allowed and after some computations, the tax to be paid will be huge. The examiner will then say we will assess you at P5 million. You give us P2 million, you pay P3 million,” Duterte said.
Maybe this is why Duterte wants P4 billion in intel funds for his office? Better watch out BIR! Duterte is coming for you! Just like he came for the Bureau of Customs and rooted out all the corruption there.
The suspect, 32-year-old John Paul Mabilin, was arrested inside a fastfood chain along the service road of Circumferential Road-5 in Barangay Ususan at 4:50 p.m.
Police said Mabilin’s modus consisted in bloating the tax amount to be paid by his client, after which he would offer to “help reduce” the amount.
The authorities came up with an entrapment following a complaint lodged by one Jonathan Ablang against the suspect whom he accused of asking him P100,000 in exchange for tax reduction.
Skimming off the top. Pretty standard scam.
The President has spoken and his words prevail.
Malacanang on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s strong opposition to the release from jail on good conduct time of rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez, former client of Presidential Spokesperson and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo, should put the controversial issue to rest.
“The boss has already spoken so it’s already settled. We have nothing to discuss anymore,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a radio interview.
“It’s final. Since the President has spoken, everybody just follows because this concerns the executive branch,” he said.
The boss? This is not how justice works. The President doesn't speak and a man remains in jail. Sanchez would remain in jail based on what the law says and Duterte is not the law.
Banac added that the PNP has embraced the legacy of valor, service and sacrifice as its main principles as its core values in serving and protecting the public.
“The PNP mission to serve and protect our country and people offers great opportunity for every hero to rise among the 195,000 brave souls in the PNP. Even if it needs to happen everyday, the PNP will never run out of heroes,” Banac said.
The PNP remains one of the most corrupt agencies in the country. What a sick joke!
“If there is a mafia I will dismantle that mafia, that’s one of my initiatives,” said Morales in an interview with ANC.
“I put together a team in PhilHealth. I have been also joined people in the industry from the accounting, management and services, who are now working in PhilHealth. They are now conducting this internal probe but we are not yet ready to reveal the results because it’s still ongoing,” he added.
If. IF!!! The existence of this "mafia" has been attested to by others and this guy says IF there is a mafia he will dismantle it. A misleading headline and it will probably be a whitewashed investigation.
Marcos said in 1995, the Philippine National Heroes’ Committee has officially recommended several figures to be designated as national heroes —Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino, and Gabriela Silang.
“However, the issue deteriorated into a debate involving regional interests that never was resolved,” said Marcos, whose father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani at the insistence of the family and on orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, a beneficiary of an unspecified amount of campaign donation by the Marcos family.
Marcos, in her statement timed for National Heroes’ Day, said the only measure seeking to proclaim a national hero had been filed in 2014 yet by Bohol Rep. Rene Relampagos, seeking to officially name Jose Rizal as the Philippines’ hero.
The bill, however, remained pending at the House committee on revision of laws, said Marcos.
It seems Imee Marcos is right. The Philippines does not have any "official heroes" which means those approved by the government. Not surprisingly the discussions deteriorated into debates about regional interests. I guess every region wants their man to be proclaimed hero.
An officer of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) was shot dead by an unidentified armed man in Muntinlupa City on Tuesday afternoon.
In a report from Col. Gerardo Umayao, Muntinlupa City police chief, the victim was identified as Ruperto Traya Jr., 53, a chief administrative officer 3 of BuCor at the Type B National Bilibid Prison Reservation in Muntinlupa.
Traya had just alighted from his motorcycle to open the gate of a parking lot in front of Amparo Street in Barangay Poblacion when an unidentified gunman on board a motorcycle shot Traya in the head at around 1 p.m.
Another government employee shot dead by a motorcycle assassin.
The family of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez, a former mayor of Calauan town in Laguna, revealed Tuesday that a release order dated Aug. 20 had been issued.
Allan Antonio Sanchez, the former mayor’s eldest son, explained that an unnamed individual informed them that a release order had been released, setting their father free from prison after over 20 years in jail.
Somebody, he said, called the family to inform them of the release order. So they went to the New Bilibid Prison to pick up their father.
Just as some of the family members arrived at the NBP parking lot, they received a text message informing them that the release orders were put on hold as news of the ex-mayor’s possible release broke out in the media.
“So we wondered: If the release order had already been issued, why was my father’s release put on hold? So that’s a big question. Why?” Allan Antonio said.
He said his father had already been fingerprinted as part of the release procedure.
Sanchez’s kin said they were surprised on hearing Faeldon’s seemingly changing pronouncements as the issue continued to draw public attention.
According to Anthony Collioni, another son of Sanchez, when they arrived on Aug. 20 at the NBP, the other officials there congratulated them.
“That means those inside Bilibid already knew that our father will be getting out,” he said.
Asked about their reaction when Faeldon said in a press briefing that Sanchez might not be eligible for an early release, Allan Antonio said he was unsure if Faeldon succumbed to pressure or if indeed the intention was to keep the former mayor in prison.
“We were shocked because the first time we talked [with BuCor officials] they said he was included. Mayor Sanchez will be able to get out within two months,” Allan Antonio said. “Then things changed somewhat. I don’t know if he was pressured or something or if they just didn’t want my father to be released.”
“Sir Faeldon, we talked,” he added. “You said, you promised that you will release my daddy according to the GCTA, for which he was qualified. We believed that my daddy will be among those who will be released.”
But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that no release order was issued for Sanchez.
“I have been informed that BuCor Chief [Nicanor] Faeldon denies having signed a release order for Sanchez,” Guevarra said.
This story continues to get more and more complex. What a whole lot of intrigue. Clearly there is some high level corruption happening. Did Sanchez bribe people? Would he really have been released had not the public gotten wind of the story? Who signed the order for his release? Who is the anonymous person that told these people their father would be released?
Senator Bong Go fumed at Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman after the latter called the Malasakit Centers, Go's pet project when he was still the President's aide, a "partisan tool."
On Tuesday, August 27, Go spent about half of his 20-minute privilege speech getting back at the opposition congressman, particularly ridiculing the latter's looks. Malasakit Centers, he said, can't do anything to help repair Lagman's facial features. It was his first privilege speech as senator.
(There's no legal basis for helping you have your face fixed. I will be frank with you, your image is beyond repair. Standing against the interests of Filipinos won't fix your face.
During the House of Representatives hearing on the proposed 2020 budget of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office on August 23, Lagman questioned the funneling of funds to Malasakit Centers. He requested a thorough investigation into Malasakit Centers after receiving complaints that the one-stop shops are not functioning as they should.
Congressman Lagman wants to know who is funding these centres and within what legal framework they operate. But instead of answering those questions Senator Go responds with invective and ad hominem. No only that but his fellow Senators agree with his reply which answered no questions.
Local government officials in Marikina City are implementing new local laws to make sure roads are accessible to all.
In a statement, Marikina officials announced that the local government will remove the gates of subdivisions to allow the public to use their roads.
"Ang totoo niyan ang roads kasi ay hindi naman owned by neither of the residents living or operating a business in the area. Wala sa kanila ang pagmamay-ari nun, pagmamay-ari noon ay nasa gobyerno," said Marikina City Councilor Donn Favis in the statement.
[Translation: Roads are not owned by the residents or the businesses in that area. They don't own them, the government does.]
What a horrible law. People move to gated communities for privacy and safety and now the local government has deemed they shall have neither!
No dial tone, no payment.
But a Malacañang communication service still paid PLDT Inc. some P100,000 for landlines that were not working, clearly an imprudent use of public funds.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has directed the Bureau of Communications Services (BCS) to recover the P110,081.51 it had paid to the telecommunications giant.
In its annual audit report, the COA said the bureau paid bills for seven months although nine out of 12 lines for key officials had bogged down and were virtually unusable starting June 2018.
“As there was no repair or maintenance made by the agency, the nine lines fully bogged down in October 2018. Despite the situation, BCS paid and [is] … still paying the monthly service fees for the inoperative lines,” the report said.
It was only in November 2018 that the BCS reached out to its parent agency, the PCOO, to request a telephone technician to fix the problem.
“It was diagnosed that the problem was caused by worn-out telephone wires and telephone units of BCS, and by faulty cabling from the PLDT main distribution frame,” the audit report said.
It said that while “concerned maintenance personnel” reported the issues to PLDT, the company had not solved the faulty cabling, “to the disadvantage of the agency and the government.”
Even the government has issues with PLDT!
Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has filed charges against incumbent Mayor Edgardo Labella and his men in the Office of the Ombudsman for stopping the “restoration” of the mayor’s office.
In his complaint affidavit, Osmeña filed raps of Usurpation of Official Function, Grave Misconduct, and Conduct Unbecoming of Public Officials against Labella, City Administrator Lawyer Floro Casas Jr., and City Legal Officer Laywer Rey Gealon.
Osmeña argued that Labella was still the vice mayor when his men, Casas and Gealon, intervened in the restoration of the Mayor’s Office being conducted on the midnight of July 28, 2019, or two days before Osmeña was set to step down.
The former mayor said that this act was an usurpation of his authority as incumbent mayor at that time because they took over the mayor’s office when Labella had not been officially inducted as the new mayor.
He reiterated that his purpose of stripping down the mayor’s office was to restore it to its 2016 state, before he renovated it with his own money amounting to P2 million.
What a ridiculous, time wasting, and petty lawsuit from a man so ridiculous and petty that he stripped the Mayor's office to the bare concrete when he lost the election claiming he owns all the furnishings and tiles since he paid for them.
A recent news story said a barangay in Quezon City released about 1,000 frogs into an estero as part of its anti-dengue campaign. Despite his good intentions, the barangay captain may have created a bigger problem in his area.
Sanguila told Rappler that what the barangay released were not bullfrogs but cane toads. “Based on the video, these are not frogs, but are invasive Central American Cane Toads of the species Rhinella marina previously taxonomically known as Bufo marinus,” she said.
In order to kill mosquitoes and reduce the spread of dengue a barangay captain released 1,000 poisonous cane toads mistakenly thinking they were bullfrogs. But where did he get 1,000 toads???
Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) allowed three contract of service personnel to hold managerial positions and travel abroad in violation of Civil Service rules, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.
A government-owned and controlled corporation, CEZA is tasked to manage and supervise the development of Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport.
In the annual audit report on CEZA, state auditors noted at least three of CEZA’s contract of service employees respectively occupied the posts of acting senior deputy administrator, deputy administrator for Regulatory and Compliance, and corporate secretary in violation of COA, Civil Service Commission and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Joint Circular No. 1 s. 2017.
The circular covers the Rules and Regulations Governing Contract of Service and Job Order Workers in the Government which states that “contract of service and job order workers should not be designated in positions exercising control or supervision over regular and career employees.”
In response, the CEZA management argued that the current manpower of CEZA could hardly cope up with the fast-paced business expansion and development within the Economic Zone and Free Port, and that the technical expertise in emerging technological and market advancement among organic CEZA personnel is wanting.
“While awaiting for the DBM’s approval of CEZA’s proposed new organizational structure, CEZA opted to engage COS personnel who possess the experience, proven track record and expertise needed to achieve with dispatch the lofty goals and objective of the agency,” CEZA told state auditors.
It sounds like there is a lot of red tape preventing CEZA from hiring regular employees. The solution would probably be to hire contact employees as regular employees.
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