It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
The Court of Appeals (CA) has revived the murder charge against former Palawan Governor Mario Joel Reyes over the 2011 killing of broadcaster-environmentalist Gerry Ortega.
In its 17-page amended decision dated November 28, the appellate court also ordered a Palawan court to issue a warrant of arrest against Reyes.
Reyes and his brother, former Coron town mayor Mario Reyes, were among the primary accused in the death of Ortega, who was shot and killed by a lone assailant while shopping in a used-clothing store in Puerto Princesa City in 2011.
The former Palawan governor was released from jail in January 2018, after the CA ruled to stop of the trial due to lack of evidence.
However, the latest CA decision, penned by Associate Justice Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob, set aside its January 2018 ruling, reinstating the case and directing the Palawan Regional Trial Court (RTC) to issue a warrant of arrest against Reyes.
In issuing the decision, Azcarraga-Jacob argued that it was too early for the Court to decide whether or not there was enough evidence to pursue the trial.
“Thus, the proper course of action is not to dismiss the case but to proceed to trial. The Court, at this particular stage of the proceedings, cannot arrogate upon itself the task of dwelling on factual and evidentiary matters,” the decision reads.
First the CA says there is not enough evidence to go to trial. Now they say it is too early to decide if there is not enough evidence and it's best to go to trial! The flip-flopping of justice in the Philippines.
A former Negros Occidental congressman is asking President Duterte and the Ombudsman to investigate what he calls a “very anomalous” and “secretive” contract entered into by the Cadiz City Water District (CCWD) and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. of the Villar group.
“I am having my legal consultants look into the possibility of also filing cases against those involved, before the Ombudsman,” said former second district representative Manuel Puey on Thursday.
“I will use whatever resources I have to uncover whatever anomaly exists,” Puey added.
Puey, a resident of Cadiz City, said what he found very anomalous was that the agreement “was so secretive nobody knew anything about it.”
On Wednesday, he demanded a meeting with the officers of PrimeWater and CCWD, and among those present were the water district’s general manager Jesus Pedro Zaldarriaga, chairman of the board Sergio “Acute” Tabanao, and director Angelo Vargas.
Puey said he did not know the contents of the contract since it was not made public during the meeting. No bidding was also conducted, he said.
He said the CCWD officials intimated that they entered into a service contract, but no details were provided.
“The water district officials are accountable to the people and should disclose what was contained in the contract they signed with PrimeWater,” Puey said.
The Villar Group is owned by Manule Villar who is the husband of Senator Cynthia Villar. The Villars are oligarchs. Since Duterte is against oligarch it would only seem to reason that he would go after them but in this case it is a former Congressman who has vowed to investigate this anomalous contract.
Go admitted that the President is having difficulty in choosing the next PNP chief as all candidates are qualified.
Duterte is not looking for the best one, but the most honest one, Go added.
(All the candidates are qualified. The President is having a hard time choosing. He is looking for the almost perfect candidate, the most honest.)
They say a good man is hard to find. In the Philippines an honest public servant is impossible to find!
The number of Cebu City Hall employees found positive for illegal drug use has reached 57.
Jonah John Rodriguez, head of the Cebu City Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap), said 56 employees tested positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu while one tested positive for marijuana.
The random drug test was conducted by the Cosap since Nov. 11.
Rodriguez said they have submitted the results of the drug test to a laboratory in Manila for confirmation, as well as to the City Legal Office.
“These employees will be called to the city legal office, and it is up to the city legal office what to do with them,” he said.
That's 57 people who will soon be out of a job.
In an open letter, unidentified and “concerned BuCor officials and employees” have called on President Duterte to fire Gerald Bantag for committing “other forms of graft and corrupt practices in the highest order,” citing instances in which he allegedly abused his authority.
“This will be your greatest Christmas gift to BuCor, Mr. President, Sir!” they said.
In particular, the group said they felt offended by Bantag’s “sweeping generalization” that “95 percent” of the around 31,000 BuCor officials and employees were corrupt, “without any bases or facts to support it.”
According to them, during staff meetings, Bantag “keeps on cursing BuCor officials and employees and displays unprofessional and unethical conduct.”
“Let it be known that the BuCor officials and employees fully support the changes that DG Bantag is undertaking. But equally, we resist and condemn the wanton violations that he committed and is continuously committing in carrying out said changes,” they said.
Asked for comment, Col. Gabriel Chaclag, BuCor spokesperson, said they “would look into the group’s claims” although he dismissed the open letter as being written by “disgruntled [BuCor] officers who were relieved from their posts.”
“The mere fact that they did not identify themselves make their claims questionable,” he stressed.
The BuCor chief accuses BuCor officials and employees of being corrupt and an anonymous group of BuCor employees accuses the BuCor Chief of being corrupt. The circle of life?
Unidentified gunmen riding on a motorbike ambushed Tuesday Vice Mayor Akmad M. Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, police said.
Technical Sgt. Omar Dirangaren, Shariff Aguak police desk officer, said Ampatuan, the father of Shariff Aguak Mayor Marop Ampatuan, was on board a red Toyota Innova(LFT-737) heading home from the town hall when the suspects opened fire around 1 p.m. along the national highway in Barangay Poblacion.
Attempted assassination on a Vice Mayor by motorcycle assassins.
A police chief and his driver were killed during an ambush by armed men past 6 p.m. Monday Pagayawan town, Lanao del Sur, an official said.
Lanao del Sur police director, Col. Madzgani Mukaram, identified the police officer as Executive Master Sgt. Amen Lucman Macalangan, the police chief of Binidayan town, while the driver is identified as Ramel Pangcatan.
Murakam said their two companions on the vehicle--police non-uniform personnel Asliah Adiong and another police, Patrolman Nasser Arafat-- were unhurt.
Mukaram said the victims were returning to Binidayan from a weekly oversight meeting at the provincial police headquarters in Marawi City when they were waylaid.
Ignes said few days after Macalangan was assigned as officer-in-charge of the Binidayan town police, the latter had sought help from the military after he received threats that his police station would be harassed because of the smuggled cigarettes and illegal logs the police had seized.
Police Chief assassinated likely because he confiscated smuggled cigarettes and illegal logs.
A rookie police officer and his friend died in a shooting incident during a drinking and videoke session in Victorias City, Negros Occidental on Christmas Eve.
Police identified the fatalities as Patrolman Dionel Lutao, a member of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion - Western Visayas Reconnaissance Company; and James Karl Sernal, both 26.
Lt. Col. Mary Rose Pico, chief of the Victorias City Police Station, said witnesses told investigators that during the group’s get-together in a friend’s residence at about 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Lutao’s firearm went off, hitting Sernal in the process.
Lutao then went outside, was heard firing his gun three times, and was found sprawled on the ground bloodied.
“There was no exchange of words, argument, fight or commotion,” Pico said in a radio interview.
Sernal’s body was still undergoing autopsy and post-mortem examination, but an initial report indicated that he was hit in the mouth.
“So far, based on our investigation, nobody can tell how it happened. Nobody has seen how the gun was fired that led to the situation,” Pico said.
This is a rather strange case but the fact is this cop should not have been at a videoke bar and drinking while in possession of his gun. What was he thinking!?
A personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) here died while another was wounded after they stabbed each other following the station’s Christmas party that ended around 2 a.m. on Monday.
The fatality was identified as Isaac Cabana and the wounded, Cornelio Silva, who both have the rank of Fire Officer 3.
Initial police investigation showed the two firefighters remained at the venue, just in front of the city fire station on San Juan Street, Barangay 8, after the celebration ended.
Maj. Sherlock Gabana, chief of Police Station 2, said Cabana sustained a wound in the neck and was declared dead at a hospital.
Silva is being treated for abdomen and back wounds, he added.
Gabana said their other colleagues saw them “hugging” each other, and then found the two already injured.
Whatever happened alcohol was probably involved. I don't know for sure but I would imagine firefighters are not allowed to consume alcohol at the station. What if a call comes in and they have to break up the party to go fight a fire?
A total of 2,352 inmates convicted of heinous crimes and ordered by President Duterte to surrender have been released through the good conduct time allowance (GCTA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday.
The number of inmates released was 428 more than the original list of 1,914 names provided by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
“Of that number, the DOJ assisting the BuCor confirmed the release of 463 PDLs (persons deprived of liberty). BuCor, based on their own assessment released 364 (PDLs). So, in total, 827 have been actually released from the 2,352 who surrendered,” DOJ Assistant Secretary Neal Vincent Bainto said.
However, Bainto said he could not confirm if the remaining 1,525 PDLs were unqualified to benefit from the GCTA.
“Actually the process is still ongoing. But we think that probably a good number of the remaining surrenderers will be re-incarcerated,” he added.
That is a lot of criminals released and then surrendered. And out of this number only 825 have been re-released. But that is not the whole story. Rappler wrote a whole exposé on this travesty of justice. The BurCor was overwhelmed and many surrenderers have died in custody. Read it here.
The original number on the return list was 1,914. As of December 13, there were 2,352 who returned to prison. Of them, 827 were set free – some just a week ago – because they turned out to be qualified for freedom after all.
The implementation of Duterte's arrest order was doomed from the beginning.
At the BuCor offices in Bilibid, documentation chief Ramoncito Roque and his staff scrambled to prepare a list of prisoners who should be returned to prison. They had to comb through over 22,000 names who were granted GCTA.
Duterte gave them 15 days.
Meanwhile, cops who had watched the broadcast waited. The President was unequivocal in saying that they could only make arrests 15 days later. But when the deadline came and cops began their hunt at midnight, the list they had been given led them mostly nowhere.
Tagged by a squad of reporters, the cops dove into a maze of shanties, knocking and pleading for information. By sunrise, they found only one. Another's home had already been torn down years before. One was already living in Bulacan, according to residents who knew him. Another one was dead.
There is too much to quote from here. Read it.
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