Retards in the Government 232

It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1510894/village-head-slain-while-resting-in-hammock-in-samar

A village chief in Pinabacdao town, Samar, was shot dead Thursday by still unidentified assailants while resting in a hammock.

Carlito Pacayra, 37, chairman of Barangay Canlobo, suffered a gunshot wound on his head.

His 17-year-old nephew James Ryan, who was with him at that time, was hit on his left foot and is now recuperating at the town health center.

Police Sergeant Ricardo Lucero said investigators have yet to establish the motive and identity of the perpetrators.

“The victim [and] his nephew were resting on a hammock near a window when three gunshots were fired at them. One shot hit the head of the barangay chairman,” said Lucero in a phone interview.

Pacayra was in his father’s house in Barangay Parasanon, resting after visiting the cemetery with his wife in Basey, Samar.

A village chief was assassinated by unknown me for unknown reasons after returning home from visiting a cemetery.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1511270/cop-cohort-arrested-for-alleged-kidnapping-in-manila

A policeman and his cohort were arrested in Manila on Friday for allegedly kidnapping a man accused of possessing shabu.

A report from the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Ermita Police Station (PS-5) released on Saturday identified the suspects as Patrolman Wilfredo Mindanao, currently assigned at the Police Security Protection Group, and a certain Romeo Aday.

Initial investigation showed that at about 6:30 a.m. on Friday, Aday approached the victim Jovito Abejo who was then under the Trece De Agosto Bridge, introduced himself as a member of the National Bureau of Investigation, and said that he saw Abejo holding a sachet of suspected shabu.

“Thereafter, victim was brought by the suspects to their abode (residence) and extorted money in exchange of his liberty,” the police report read.

According to Ermita police, a vendor reported the alleged kidnapping to the Paz Police Community Precinct (PCP) at about 8 a.m. and said the suspects were demanding P50,000 for Abejo’s liberty. Her relationship with the victim was not immediately identified.

A cop has been accused of extorting a man in exchange for his liberty.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1158885

Former Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) chairperson Greco Belgica on Friday emphasized the need to introduce legal reforms to strengthen institutional arrangements for the effective investigation and prosecution of corruption, as well as the aggressive enforcement of anti-corruption laws. 

In a virtual media forum. Belgica said this includes the creation of a specialized anti-corruption police that would be responsible for enforcing anti-corruption laws. 

"(We need to have an anti-corruption police solely focused on implementing the anti-corruption law because the country's major problem is corruption. That's why we are suffering, deteriorating, and progressing slowly)," said Belgica, who is running for senator under the ruling party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). 

He added that the government's fight against corruption can further be strengthened by hiring more prosecutors, hiring more lawyers, and building more investigative and prosecutorial offices for the successful deterrence of corrupt practices. 

"We need to hire more prosecutors, more lawyers, build more offices para mapabilis ang imbestigasyon (to speed up the investigation)," Belgica said. "Palakasin po natin ang batas para ang ating prino-prosecute ay siguradong nakukulong (We need to strengthen the [anti-corruption] laws so that those that we prosecute would be put to jail)." 

Belgica noted that there are layers of processes that need to be done to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials, highlighting the need to simplify the system in the pursuit of corrupt officials and put them behind bars.

The former President of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission says corruption in the Philippines is so great that it is the number one problem and is what is keeping the country back from progress. Furthermore he says there needs to be a police forced focused solely on implementing anti-corruption laws. Then he says the nation needs to hire more lawyers. As if more lawyers will solve anything. Check out this next story.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1158883

The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court has acquitted a government bank auditor on charges of malversation of public funds and graft in connection with anomalous transactions in 1999.

The graft court’s Seventh Division said the prosecution “was not even able to introduce basic evidence” against Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Lucena’s Maria Prima Abrigo, who appealed the 14-year imprisonment imposed by the Lucena City Regional Trial Court.

The 25-page decision dated October 21, written by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta, however, found Abrigo civilly liable and directed her to pay the amount of PHP891,000 to DBP-Lucena.

The anti-graft court said the criminal liability “should have been based not on her admissions alone, but on separate and independent proof to establish the crimes”, noting that only Abrigo’s admissions of her part in the irregularities were used.

“To reiterate, an extrajudicial confession will not support a conviction where it is uncorroborated. There must be such corroboration that when considered in connection with the extrajudicial confession, would show the guilt of accused beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Sandiganbayan ruled.

Abrigo admitted to her part during a COA probe and executed a sworn statement without counsel.

The Sandiganbayan said there is no question that it is admissible as evidence considering that the confession was made voluntarily, but it does “not automatically spell a conviction” since “much has to be proven by the prosecution but which, haplessly, it failed to do at this instance”.

For one, the court noted none of the checks involved in the case was presented in evidence.

“Ostensibly, there is confusion in the facts laid out by the prosecution which cannot sustain a solid judgment of conviction no matter how easy it became for the accused-appellate to come forward with her wrongdoing,” the court said

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former government employee for malversation of funds because the government prosecutors could not even produce a single piece of evidence. All they had was the woman's confession but nothing corroborate that confession. Clearly the problem here is not the lack of alwyers but the lack of competency.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1159427

Police have launched extensive pursuit operations against a rookie policeman who killed a female college student and wounded two others using a high-powered service firearm in a boarding house in Koronadal City early Thursday.

Lt. Col. Maria Joyce Birrey, the spokesperson of the Police Regional Office in Soccsksargen (PRO-12), said police teams have been dispatched in parts of the region to locate and arrest suspect Patrolman Roland Roquero Lopez of the South Cotabato Police Mobile Force Company (PMFC).

A police report said Lopez, 29, reportedly opened fire at the victims around 2:50 a.m. using an M16 Armalite rifle through a window of a rented room at the Oca boarding house in Gatuslao Street, Barangay Zone 3 in Koronadal City.

Charmaine Rose Canlas, 21, a graduating student of the Notre Dame of Marbel University, died on-the-spot as a result of the shooting.

Her two companions, Joana Saptula and Debie John Franco, both 21 years old, were wounded and currently undergoing treatment at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Koronadal City.

Witnesses said the victims were inside the room and already preparing to sleep when the incident happened.

Lt. Col. Joedy Lito Guisinga, Koronadal City police chief, confirmed that the three initially came to the city police station past 11 p.m. Wednesday to file a report after allegedly being harassed by Lopez.

He said it stemmed from a quarrel between the suspect and his reported girlfriend Saptula, a roommate of Canlas.

The suspect was allegedly jealous of the perennial presence of Franco, who is a boyfriend of Canlas, at the boarding house, he said.

Guisinga said Lopez, who was reportedly drunk, later returned to the area, proceeded to the room situated on the second floor of the boarding house, and fired at the victims using a Philippine National Police-issued firearm.

“That’s the initial information that we received. We’re still validating this and we will get a clearer picture once the two other victims (Saptula and Franco) become stable,” he told reporters.

A drunk rookie cop jealous that a man was always at the boarding house where his girlfriend was living used his PNP-issued firearm to shoot at his girlfriend and her roommates killing one and wounding two others.