It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2021/01/08/assailants-in-face-masks-gun-down-brgy-councilor-in-cagayan/ |
A barangay councilor died of multiple gunshot wounds as he was about to meet with purported visitors at his home in Zone 1, Barangay Babayuan here on Wednesday, January 6.
Police Regional Office 2 (PRO-2) Information Officer Lt. Col. Andree Abella identified the victims as Ferdinand Javier, 46, councilor of Barangay Babayuan.
According to Amulung Police, Barangay Babayuan Chairperson Dennis S. Mallilin called them at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, to report the shooting incident.
The police said Javier was in front of his house, and was about to meet some strangers in face masks, who were looking for him, when he was shot as he was walking towards them.
The suspects reportedly fled onboard a black pick-up truck, which did not bear any license plate.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/01/08/2069028/14-dpwh-district-engineers-relieved |
Fourteen district engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways have been relieved in connection with allegations of corruption, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said yesterday.
He said the relief of the DPWH personnel was in response to the recent order of President Duterte to immediately relieve the district engineers for alleged involvement in corrupt practices of some lawmakers.
“Actually, those who were mentioned by the President have already been relieved. There were fourteen,” Villar said.
Last month, Duterte ordered the district engineers listed by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to vacate their posts.
Duterte asked Villar to give him a list of all district engineers in the country after claiming that several of them worked in connivance with congressmen for kickbacks.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1381591/town-councilor-in-maguindanao-survives-ambush |
Unidentified gunmen ambushed on Friday a councilor of South Upi town, Maguindanao, the Army said.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Pondanera, commander of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion said councilor Basit Kamid was on board a vehicle with his armed escorts when they were fired upon near the Lamud Elementary School in the village of Lamud, South Upi.
A five-minute clash ensued as Kamid’s armed escorts were able to exchange gunfires before the undetermined number of assailants fled.
“The town councilor escaped unhurt,” said Pondanera.
“He was safe, and nobody in his group was hurt,” Pondanera said in a report to the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based here.
Initial investigation pointed to the possibility the ambush was due to a long standing land conflict in the area that the local government was trying to address to prevent bloodshed.
4 men died after being shot in Sitio Bakud, Barangay Banah, Tipo-Tipo town in this province Saturday afternoon.
According to Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, one of the victims was the chairman of Barangay Matata, Ungkaya Pukan town.
The slain Bin Saudi Sarakil and the 3 others were identified as Usop Abdul Majid, Kain Manisan and Ibrahim Abdulkarim.
The victims were in the car when they were ambushed by unidentified men.
Police are already investigating the motive and identity of the perpetrators.
A councilor of Sta. Catalina town in southern Negros Oriental was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assassins on Sunday morning, Jan. 10.
Rude Anthony Melodia, 29, was having his car washed along the national highway in the town’s center when three still unidentified gunmen boarding two motorcycles suddenly shot him twice, according to Major Rolan Aliser, acting police chief of Sta. Catalina.
The assassins fled to Bayawan City while Melodia was rushed to the Bayawan District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physicians.
Four empty shells from a caliber .45 pistol were recovered from the crime scene.
Police have yet to determine the identity of the perpetrators and the motive behind the killing.
Sources close to the victim said Melodia had been receiving death threats before he was gunned down.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1382121/mayor-in-dutertes-drug-list-driver-slain-in-cotabato-town-gun-attack |
Town mayor on Duterte's drug lists is shot dead in second assassination attempt.The town mayor here and his driver was shot dead by an unidentified gunman at 11 a.m. Monday.
Libungan Mayor Christopher “Amping” Cuan was shot dead near a cockfighting arena in Barangay Cabaruyan, only a few meters from his home, according to Colonel Henry Villar, Cotabato province police director.
The mayor, who was in his cargo pants and shirt, was inspecting a cockfighting arena that was under construction when attacked by the armed men.
He and his driver died on the spot.
Cuan’s name had been on President Duterte’s list of drug suspects in 2016, but he had vehemently denied he was involved in illegal drugs and sought out the help of the then Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Gen. Ronaldo Dela Rosa in Camp Crame to clear his name.
Reports said his name was delisted but on Jan. 8, 2019, he was shot by unidentified gunmen in front of the Libungan town hall but survived.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1382610/npd-launches-task-group-to-probe-killing-of-malabon-village-chief |
(Based on the report, the victim was busy with his gardening in the backyard. The two assailants then pushed the gate to enter the backyard and then from there shot Velasquez.)
In an updated police report, Malabon police said the two shooters fled from the crime scene, each onboard two motorcycles driven by two other men.
Rejano said witnesses brought Velasquez to the hospital, where he later died. Recovered from the crime scene were 11 fired cartridge cases of an unknown firearm.
In a 2018 Inquirer report, Velasquez was included in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s drugs watchlist released on April 30, 2018.
More police checkpoints were set up around Maguindanao following the ambush-slay of an employee of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Region 12 in Datu Odin Sinsuat town on Monday.
“This is to put an end to the rash of highway shooting incidents in the province recently,” Col. Donald Madamba, Maguindanao police director, said in a media interview here on Tuesday.
Gunmen onboard a motorbike trailed and fired on Apinton Ibrahim, an engineering assistant in DPWH-12, while the latter was driving his red Toyota Innova vehicle (ZTK-5591) along Barangay Pinguiaman around 11 a.m. Monday.
“The victim died on the spot,” Maj. Rommel dela Vega, Datu Odin Sinsuat town police chief, said.
Witnesses said the gunmen sped off toward an unknown direction following the shooting.
"We have yet to establish the motive of the killing and the people behind it,” dela Vega said.
On Jan. 6, motorcycle riding-in-tandem suspects also shot dead in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat town Police Cpl. Mark Tendero, 24, while he was on his way home to Libungan town in North Cotabato.
On Dec. 29 last year, riding-in-tandem gunmen also fired upon Army Cpl. Rosendo Oplino of the 37th Infantry Battalion as he was passing through Barangay Gang, also of Sultan Kudarat town, on board his motorcycle, going to this city from his home in Alamada, North Cotabato.
Oplino died while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Madamba said the additional checkpoints, most of which are established along the national highway traversing the province, will stay until the string of road shootings stop.
Riyadh Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa has been placed under preventive suspension after he filed a cyberlibel case against a Filipino couple in Saudi Arabia, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh announced.
“The recommendation to recall is based on acts committed by Mustafa that are inimical to the national interest, i.e. to serve and protect the rights and welfare of Filipinos overseas,” it said in a statement.
Last year, Mustafa filed a cyberlibel complaint against a husband and wife who worked for recruitment agencies in Saudi Arabia after they accused him of sexual harassment and bribery.
The embassy said the filing “directly violated the mandate of all Philippine government officials assigned at Foreign Service Posts to protect the welfare of Filipinos overseas.”
It added that Mustafa filed the charge without informing Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Adnan Alonto, or seeking approval from the Department of Foreign Affairs beforehand, “which undermined the One Country-Team Approach.”
Mustafa was also accused of causing confusion among Saudi authorities since his view on the cyberlibel case differed from that of the embassy, compromising “the credibility of the Philippine government’s commitment to protecting its own nationals residing within the Kingdom.”
The embassy also said an employee of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), who was under the command responsibility of Mustafa, made a Facebook post on the POLO’s page that “once again undermined the One Country-Team Approach.”
Under the one country-team approach, all Philippine government workers posted abroad are required to act as a “one country-team with a mission under the leadership of the ambassador.”
A police officer who heads the anti-drug unit of the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) is now facing dismissal proceedings after testing positive for illegal drug use.
In a statement Wednesday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas said he has already ordered the conduct of a pre-charge investigation and summary dismissal proceedings against Maj. Jivertson D. Pellovello, head of the ZCPO's City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU).
"Anybody who will test positive for drug use does not deserve to stay in the service any minute longer,” he said.
Pellovello has been placed under restrictive custody and was reassigned to the Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Section of Police Regional Office 9 while the pre-charge investigation and summary dismissal proceedings against him are ongoing.
Former Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president and CEO Ricardo Morales and other senior executives of the state health insurer had “conspired” with officials of a private dialysis center that received P33.8 million in emergency funds specifically earmarked for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, according to the National Bureau of Investigation.
The NBI said Morales and his subordinates also ignored policies that they themselves set for the use of the P30-billion interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) in providing “unwarranted benefits” to B. Braun Avitum Philippines Inc., a dialysis center.
These findings prompted the NBI to bring an administrative and criminal complaint alleging corruption against Morales and more than 20 others in the Office of the Ombudsman.
The village chief of Barangay Poblacion in Santa Maria town in Davao Occidental was shot on Monday afternoon inside his home.
In a statement on Wednesday, Governor Claude Bautista of Davao Occidental said the province “mourns the assassination” of Barangay Captain Alex Abe inside his home along Jassi Street in Barangay Poblacion at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.
“He religiously echoed the guidelines issued by the President on the conduct of anti-drugs operations. He successfully declared his barangay as drug free,” Claude said.
He added that Abe had received death threats when he arrested two known drug dealers in the village.
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