It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
Philippine National Police chief, Police Gen. Archie Gamboa has ordered the Directorate for Police Community Relations under PMGen Dionardo Carlos to investigate reports that official police social media accounts were used to post victim-blaming statements.
Victim blaming, as defined by the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, is "a devaluing act that occurs when the victim(s) of a crime or an accident is held responsible — in whole or in part — for the crimes that have been committed against them."
The PNP specifically mentioned the controversial Lucban Municipal Police Station which drew widespread backlash over the past week for a post that said women should not wear short clothing and then report sexual harassment to them.
“Recently, the Lucban Municipal Police Station social media post drew flak from netizens for allegedly being sexist,” read the Saturday PNP release.
“The PNP strongly advocates the protection of women and children and maintains a strict set of guidelines for its personnel on the use of social media. Violators may face administrative and even criminal charges, if evidence warrants,” Gamboa said in the release.
PNP posts on Facebook blaming women who are sexually harassed on wearing short clothing. Facebook privileges denied!
“And when we get older still. Or maybe it’s not just age, rather as we get more experience, see the world and gain more wisdom, we begin to see that true freedom is knowing and understanding the limits of what we can do yet still knowing that we are Free,” he added.
“Yes, freedom has responsibility as an essential ingredient. One’s freedom is tied to the freedom of others. Our rights are not limitless, but is bounded on all sides by the rights of others,” he said.
“With knowledge and responsibility we can move freely in that space. Without knowledge and responsibility, our actions affect the freedom of our fellowmen. Or their’s affect ours. And thus the evils of discrimination, prejudice, hate — destroy, rather than prove freedom,” he added.
Cayetano's point is that you can't just run around doing whatever you want. Not that anyone is equating freedom with anarchy. Over all he comes off as very wishy-washy definition of freedom. He is no Patrick Henry that's for sure. "Give me liberty or give me death."
Police are investigating an attempt on the life of Raul Palino, the mayor of Teresa, Rizal, who was previously named by President Duterte as among local officials tied to illegal drugs.
Col. Renato Alba, Rizal police director, in a text message Tuesday, said Palino was unharmed, but his bodyguard Ruel Santos and driver Joel Balajadia were hurt in the shooting incident.
According to a police report, the mayor was on board his van, and was on his way home, when the vehicle was shot at around 5 p.m. Monday at E. Rodriguez Ave. in Barangay Poblacion.
Based on the initial investigation, the lone shooter escaped on foot towards Antipolo City.
In 2019, Palino was included in the list of 46 politicians, who according to President Duterte were involved in the drug trade.
Palino had denied the allegation and even sought out the regional police headquarters to clear his name.
Another assassination attempt on a mayor tagged on Duterte's narco-list.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday said close to 400 barangay and local government officials are facing criminal charges for anomalies in the distribution of cash aid for families whose livelihoods were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apart from this, a total of 663 individuals have been subjected to investigation by the police, including 267 elected barangay and local government officials.
"The rest, 396, are other government employees or civilian accomplices of those elected local officials," said DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año in a statement.
Año said of the total 663 individuals, the DILG has filed criminal cases against 397.
Are these new cases or part of the hundreds already filed?
AUTHORITIES arrested on Monday, June 15, a former policeman allegedly involved with the group behind the kidnapping-for-ransom of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officials since 2019.
Police Officer 3 Allan Encina Formilleza, who was formerly assigned at the Quezon City Police District but went on absence without leave (Awol) in 2019, was arrested around 11 a.m. in Las Palmas Subdivision, Barangay Caypombo, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) spokesperson Major Rannie Lumactod said law enforcers served on Formilleza three arrest warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court National Capital Judicial Region for charges of murder, theft and estafa.
Lumactod said Formilleza is a member of what they called the “gapos gang” which operates in the National Capital Region and Central Luzon, primarily targeting wealthy BIR officials.
An ex-cop involved with a kidnapping gang but not charged with kidnapping. Maybe that will be forthcoming.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires has ordered an investigation on Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other officials and employees of the Department of Health (DOH) over alleged irregularities on the agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I directed the creation of two more investigating teams who will jointly investigate alleged irregularities and anomalies committed by DOH officials and employees, including Health Sec. Francisco Duque, in relation to the response of the DOH during this pandemic,” he added.
He said the two additional investigating teams will focus on the delayed procurement of personal protective equipment and other medical gear for healthcare workers, and alleged lapses and irregularities that led to the death of medical workers and the rising number of deaths and infected medical frontliners.
The investigation will also focus on the alleged inaction in the release and processing of benefits and financial assistance for medical frontliners who have contracted COVID-19 and those who have died of the disease, as well as the “confusing and delayed” reporting of COVID-19 related deaths and confirmed cases, according to the Ombudsman.
Duque did said he accepted ultimate responsibility. He will probably issue a statement that he is innocent and welcomes the investigation.
A village chief in this city was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen while he was on duty outside the village outpost on Tuesday night.
Harrison Gonzales of Barangay 1 (Tinago) was gunned down by a lone gunman, who was accompanied by four other men, onboard separate motorcycles in front of village officials and watchmen, who had been on duty with him to implement the nightly curfew in the village.
Gonzales’ death was the second consecutive shooting incident in this city this week.
On Monday morning, unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen also shot and killed a businesswoman in front of her husband in Barangay Mangnao, Dumaguete City.
Another assassination of an LGU official.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. on Tuesday sought the delay of the implementation of the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Law, as collections this year took a downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The state insurance agency in a joint hearing recommended the postponement of the implementation of the UHC and its primary care benefit expansion due to lack of funds.
PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales said the agency was "taking a very prudent approach" on the delivery of new packages under the UHC as its collection of contributions was "about 10 percent" compared last year.
"The collection from the direct contributors has dropped significantly kasi wala hong negosyo (there's no business). We are falling back on our reserve which we anticipated is going to take a hit," he said.
"As we get more data, as we see how this pandemic develops, maybe we can begin to plan to deliver packages in the primary healthcare package depends on how things turn out with the COVID-19."
Excuse taxes certainly dropped. But if UHC is relying on booze, cigarette, and lotto taxes then there is definitely going to be a problem. That is not very sustainable.
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has been flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for its failure to finish 24 research projects amounting to P81.23 million within the supposed timetable.
According to COA’s 2019 audit report of the government-owned agency, the backlog was largely due to delays that PIDS encountered in interacting with other government agencies and with problems in hiring qualified staffers.
“According to Management, the causes of the non-completion of the projects within the original timetable indicated in the projects’ work plans could be attributed to, among others, delays encountered from other government agencies in processing PIDS’ requests for data and difficulty in hiring qualified project staff,” COA said.
“PIDS requested for time extension in consultation with the partner agencies, in the case of externally-funded projects,” it added.
However, the COA report showed that at least one of the projects left unfinished dated back to 2017, while eight others started in 2018. Of the P81.23 million fund, PIDS has already spent P56.32 million.
COA advised PIDS to exert more care in formulating a project plan, to ensure that research projects could be completed within a feasible timeframe.
So PIDS could not hire qualified people and had problems working with other government agencies. Sounds like the red tape culture has not abated.
A Maguindanao village official and his son were killed while another was wounded in an ambush in the North Cotabato town of Midsayap on Wednesday.
Lt. Col, John Miridel Calinga, Midsayap municipal police chief, said police and elements of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion have launched a manhunt to get the perpetrators of the the incident.
Calinga identified the victims as Paitin Lando, 53, a village official of Datu Piang, Maguindanao, and his 18-year-old son, Noron Mulod. They both instantly died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Injured was Sued Kalambo, 21, driver of the motorbike hired by Lando and his son.
“The attack could be related to a ‘rido’ involving the village official’s family and that of the ambushers,” Calinga said.
So there were three people riding the motorcycle. Just anther LGU shot dead.
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