Retards in the Government 240

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

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1534019/tabuk-city-vice-mayor-suspended-over-illegal-land-conversion

Vice Mayor Bernard Glenn Dao-as of Tabuk City in Kalinga province on Tuesday accepted his 1-year suspension without pay, which was handed down by the Office of the Ombudsman after he was found guilty of “conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

The Ombudsman said Dao-as was “administratively liable” for the illegal conversion of agricultural land into a commercial lot, which he bought when he was the village chief of Appas Centro in Tabuk several years ago. The case was lodged by a certain Jude Clint Escario against Dao-as.

Councilor Zorayda Wacnang temporarily replaced Dao-as based on the rule of succession.

Dao-as did not issue any statements about his suspension but his camp said he already filed a motion for reconsideration, which is pending at the Ombudsman.

A vice mayor has been suspended because he illegally converted agricultural land into a commercial lot.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1534386/cavite-prosecutor-shot-dead-in-front-of-house

An assistant city prosecutor in Trece Martires City in Cavite province was shot and killed on New Year’s eve in front of his home in his city.

Lawyer Edilbert Mendoza, 48, was at his yard at 7:38 a.m. at the Elysian Field Subdivision in Cabuco village when shot by a lone gunman. He died instantly, the city police said in a report.

A close circuit television (CCTV) camera footage released by the police showed that Mendoza, wearing a pink shirt and red shorts, was exercising with jumping ropes when a man in a black shirt, denim jeans, and a white hat ran towards him and shot him from behind.

The suspect immediately fled on foot carrying the weapon, police said.

Staff Sergeant Rene Bibon, the case investigator, said they were looking at the killing as either work-related or caused by a personal grudge.

An assistant city prosecutor was assassinated by an unknown man for an unknown reason.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1916949/cebu/local-news/12-cebu-city-brgys-face-probe-for-snubbing-clearing-ops

FROM three barangays, now it is 12 barangays in Cebu City that are currently under investigation for not participating in the city’s “Oplan Barug Sugbo” on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021, a city official said.

But lawyer Gerardo Carillo, who heads the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CCDRRMC), said they won’t provide the identities of the nine other barangays until such time that a complaint will be lodged against them before the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Oplan Barug Sugbo was initiated by Mayor Michael Rama to hasten the clearing operations of the city from the debris and garbage caused by the onslaught of Typhoon Odette.

Carillo said these certain barangays did not mobilize their dump trucks and did not give assistance to the personnel coming from the city government.

“We will just remind them, sunod ana it will be administrative sanctions,” said Carillo.

12 barangays in Cebu declined to participate in clearing operations and now face sanctions. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2022/01/02/2151336/ex-pangasinan-town-mayor-slain

A former mayor of Anda town in Pangasinan was gunned down in Barangay Namagbagan yesterday.

According to an initial police report, Aldrin Cerdan, 50, was resting in his farm when William Cagampan arrived on a motorcycle and shot the former mayor following a conversation.

Cagampan is said to be a former driver and bodyguard of Cerdan.

Cerdan died while being treated at the rural health unit.

The suspect was arrested in a pursuit operation led by Pangasinan police chief Col. Richmond Tadina in Barangay Tondol. The firearm that De Asis allegedly used was recovered.

Initial investigation showed the suspect was drunk when he went to see Cerdan to ask the former mayor to lend him money.

A former mayor was shot dead by his former driver apparently after he refused to lend him money.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1164681

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) in Kidapawan City is asking its clients for understanding as it cannot fully serve them due to a lack of electricity.

“Please bear with us, for more than a week we have no electricity at the Hall of Justice due to unpaid electric bills,” said the PAO-Kidapawan in an advisory on Thursday.

“This is being addressed and in due time power will be restored,” it added.

In the meantime, no court hearing has taken place since January 3 when government work resumed.

However, the PAO said that it still renders services like legal counseling and notarization of ready-made legal documents like Personal Data Sheet (PDS) and Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for notarization that no longer need printing or photo-copying.

The Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco) shut off power lines to the Kidapawan justice hall building that houses regional trial courts and the PAO after it failed to settle its electric bill amounting to more than PHP300,000.

“We have no choice but to cut the power supply,” Engr. Godofredo Homez, Cotelco general manager, said in a radio interview Thursday.

“We considered previous delays in payment due to the pandemic but the time has come that we need to cut off power in compliance to cooperative policy,” he added.

Local government cannot pay its electric bill.