It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
The Sandiganbayan has convicted a retired bank branch manager of fraud and graft charges for allegedly conniving with a former city accountant of Meycauayan City, Bulacan in altering checks issued by the city to contractors.
In its 42-page decision written by Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez released on Friday, the Sandiganbayan's Third Division found Alberto Victoria Reyes guilty of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and, sentenced him to six to eight years in prison and to pay the government PHP2,006,218 representing the undue injury that it suffered; and to pay the costs.
In separate cases for seven counts of estafa arising from the acts committed by Reyes in 2007, the court likewise sentenced him to four to 10 years imprisonment for each count and a fine of PHP100,000 for each count.
Meanwhile, the anti-graft court also ordered the arrest of former Meycauayan City accountant Ma. Victoria Z. Atienza, who remains at large.
"In the meantime, let alias warrants for the arrest of accused Atienza be issued forthwith," the court said.
Atienza and Reyes were accused of conspiring with each other on a check rediscounting scheme where Atienza would approve checks of the city which had been altered with a new payee and in excess of the true amount to be paid by the government to a contractor.
The check was "rediscounted" by the Philippine Business Bank branch where Reyes was the manager and confirmed he would sometimes get a share in the exchange for the rediscounting his bank allowed for the check.
A banker who conspired with the Meycauayan City accountant to alter checks has been convicted. The accountant remains at large.
Two policemen were killed by still unidentified assailants in San Isidro town, Northern Samar on Saturday evening.
Patrolmen Jessie Golondrina, 30, and Fernando Velarde, 25 — both members of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion — succumbed to gunshot wounds on their bodies.
Based on the report from the San Isidro Municipal Police Station, the two police officers were on their way to Barangay Buenavista at around 10:40 p.m. on Saturday to verify reports about the presence of armed men who were transporting illegally cut lumbers.
When they arrived in the area, they saw a group of armed men who, without provocation, fired at them.
Two cops assassinated by unknown men. Sounds like its related to illegal logging but it could be another matter altogether.
Jennifer Mercader, a high-risk inmate and former Barangay Captain of Lugo in Borbon town, Cebu, was killed in a police operation in Barangay Minoyan, Murcia town, Negros Occidental on Monday morning, September 28, 2020.
Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), told reporters that Mercader, who escaped from the Medellin jail facility in March 2019, was killed in a shootout as police defended themselves in the armed confrontation.
“Naay nahitabo nga armed confrontation, the police were defending themselves… the long hand of the law will surely get you if you are a criminal. So that’s the only time that justice will be served if you will be able to arrest them,” said Ferro.
Two loose firearms and P472,000 worth of illegal drugs were reportedly found in Mercader’s rented home after the shootout.
Mercader was arrested for possession of illegal drugs last 2017 and was jailed. Before he escaped in 2019, Mercader admitted he was once a hitman.
He was later linked to the killing of then Police Lieutenant Colonel Joie Yape, who was shot dead along Molave Street in Cebu City last November 21, 2019.
A former barangay captain was arrested on drug charges in 2017, escaped in 2019, and was killed in a shoot out this week. She also admitted she used to be a human and is linked to the assassination of a PNP officer in November 2019.
A town councilor was killed in an ambush perpetrated by still unidentified gunmen in Guindulungan, Maguindanao past 7 a.m. Monday, police said.
The Guindulungan police, in a report submitted to Col. Arnold Santiago, provincial police chief, identified the victim as Morsid Lauban, a councilor of the municipality.
The victim was on board his black Toyota pickup truck going towards the municipal hall for the flag-raising ceremony when waylaid along a secluded section of the highway along the border of Guindulungan and Talayan towns.
The councilor died on the spot. Two other companions of the councilor, whom police declined to identify for security reasons, were injured.
Another town councilor assassinated.
Sandiganbayan found officials of the National Printing Office (NPO) guilty for awarding a PHP1.2 million contract without public bidding in 2010.
In a ruling, the Sandiganbayan Third Division convicted officials of the NPO of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019).
The charges filed in 2016 were in connection with the 2010 awarding of a contract for printing services of 1,000 boxes of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) travel clearance certificates for PHP1.2 million.
The contract was awarded to Advance Computer Forms Inc. without conducting a competitive bidding or public bidding nor justified by the condition provided for by law in resorting to alternative method of procurement in violation of the Procurement Act.
Prosecutors said the transaction “deprived the government of the opportunity to obtain the lowest calculated responsive bid or the most advantageous and beneficial contact, to the prejudice of the government”.
In 2010 the NPO awarded a printing contract without public bidding. In 2016 charges were filed. This week in 2020 they have finally been found not guilty. A very long road to justice.
The Sandiganbayan has acquitted the governor of Camarines Norte of graft charges stemming from the local government's refusal to comply with a 2012 order from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to reinstate the provincial veterinarian back to his post.
In a ruling dated Sept. 25, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division found provincial legal officer Sim O. Mata Jr. guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him to six to 10 years in prison.
The court cleared Gov. Edgardo Tallado, saying that while he may have been negligent in heeding the recommendations of Mata, "the prosecution evidence fail to unequivocally show that his reliance on his subordinates was coupled with an ulterior, fraudulent and dishonest purpose".
The complainant, provincial veterinarian Edgardo S. Gonzales was dropped from the rolls after Tallado, Mata and supervising administrative officer Mario T. de la Cruz ignored CSC's orders to reinstate him.
Tallado, for his part, claimed he had relied solely on the advice of his staff in deciding Gonzales' case.
“It was the mandated duty of accused Mata Jr. as provincial legal officer, to soundly advise accused Tallado on all legal matters involving the province," the ruling read.
In convicting Mata, the court said “the removal of Gonzales from the rolls of service without supporting documents, and without adherence to the procedures …shows evident bad faith and the criminal design" on his part.
Carmine Sur Governor Edgardo Tallado did not heed an order from the Civil Service Commission to reinstate the provincial veterinarian to his post. He failed to do so at the advice of provincial legal officer Sim O. Mata. The court says Tallado had no ill motive but only followed bad advice while Mata exhibited bad faith and criminal design.
Anti-drug enforcers have so far arrested over 1,000 high-value targets this year, including 33 elected officials and 11 uniformed personnel.
During the Senate hearing on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Director General Wilkins Villanueva said 1,121 high-value targets were nabbed from January to July in 2020.
Based on the table Villanueva presented to senators, the arrested high-value targets included 33 elected officials, 11 uniformed personnel, 54 government employees and 57 foreign nationals.
98 out of 1,121 HVT's arrested for drugs are government employees at various levels.
An Air Force man was shot and killed and two others were wounded in a gun attack at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) on Tuesday (Sept. 29), police said.
The suspect has been identified as Airman 2nd Class Christopher Lim, who allegedly used an M-16 Armalite rifle in the attack on two Army soldiers inside the B-1022 EP Barracks around 4:30 a.m., according to initial investigation reports.
Investigators identified the fatality as SSgt. Joefrey Turqueza while wounded was SSgt. Vivencio Raton. Both were with the Philippine Army.
Raton managed to stop Lim from continuing to fire the assault rifle during a scuffle, wounding Lim, too.
Police said the three had a heated argument prior to the attack.
The Sandiganbayan has found three officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and a private individual guilty of corruption in connection with irregularities in the procurement of decorative lamp posts along several thoroughfares of Mandaue and Lap-Lapu City in Cebu for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in 2007.
In a separate criminal information filed before the prosecutors, it showed the four conspired to corner a contract for 120 sets of decorative park lamp assembly worth PHP35.63 million without competitive bidding to Surla's Gampik Construction and Development Inc.
The Office of the Ombudsman computed that the project was priced in excess by PHP12.6 million and was undertaken without competitive bidding.
The other criminal charge sheet involved a contract of 300 sets of decorative park lamp assembly between DPWH and Gampik worth PHP24.9 million, which was in excess of PHP17.4 million based on the Ombudsman's computation and in excess of PHP11.03 million as against the Commission on Audit's cost evaluation of comparable imported lamps.
Overpriced decorative lamp posts and the whole project was undertaken without public bidding. Imagine going to prison over a lamp post.
The National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) regional office here is optimistic that President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to extend the term of the body tasked to oversee recovery efforts for Super Typhoon Yolanda-affected areas would ensure the completion of housing projects.
The extension would give enough time for the national and local governments to work together to complete still ongoing resettlement projects, especially in Leyte and Samar provinces, NEDA 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Meylene Rosales said.
“All recommendations have been discussed and raised to the top through a series of consultation with beneficiaries and local officials. We hope that through the term extension, all housing units will be completed and occupied before the end of the President’s term,” Rosales told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview on Tuesday night.
Administrative Order 33, signed by Duterte on September 16 but was released only on Monday, extends the term of Inter-Agency Task Force Yolanda until June 30, 2022, unless earlier terminated by the President.
The task force's term expired last August 12.
It is absolutely pathetic that the Philippines is still recovering from super typhoon Yolanda seven years after it hit.
A 50-year-old public school teacher was collared with PHP1.7 million worth of suspected shabu during a drug sting on Tuesday night in Nabua town, Camarines Sur.
Maj. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Police Regional Office-5 (PRO-5) spokesperson, on Wednesday said arrested was Tirzo Rolando Duran of Barangay Sto. Domingo in the said town.
The suspect, a high-value target (HVT) illegal drug pusher, was caught selling shabu to an undercover police agent in the village at around 8:50 p.m.
The drug operation yielded two knot-tied and several medium-sized sachets of shabu approximately worth PHP1.7 million and the PHP75,000 marked money.
A school teacher is also a high-value target drug dealer. He was caught ager selling to an undercover.
Roland Delos Reyes, who previously filed a complaint against Mabatid for anti-graft and corrupt practices, said he had to file the case to protect his family against her allegations over his work ethics.
This after the councilor allegedly tagged him “alcoholic” and “lazy” in her defense over his complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman that he was fired for refusing to sell dressed chickens and work for her “side-business.”
The statements Mabatid released to the media did not sit well with Delos Reyes, saying the statements were an attack to his persona, especially since Mabatid said he would never be hired by any other employer.
The councilor also allegedly mentioned his parents as well, further damaging their reputation when they were not involved in the controversy.
(I filed the charges for my parents because in the first interview with another media outlet, she made a statement that she knew my parents. It’s a lie because my parents never met her. They don’t like her.)
Mabatid brushed off the case and said it was just another attempt to smear her name.
(Well that is his prerogative. But it is public knowledge, especially government employees that he is one. He shamed himself for what he has done? Would he have been fired if he was not lazy? No one else would employ him. The mess will come out later.)
There is certainly a lot of drama surrounding Mabatid and her alleged corrupt practices of selling dresses chickens on the side. Funny how she digs in asserting that Delos Reyes is in fact lazy and everyone knows it.
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