It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1556483/councilor-bet-in-sto-tomas-city-in-batangas-shot-dead |
A lawyer running for office was assassinated by unknown men for unknown reasons.A lawyer aspiring to be a councilor in Sto. Tomas City in Batangas province was shot dead Thursday, Feb. 17, inside his office, police said.
The Calabarzon police reported Friday that Reginald Michael Manito, 42, and his secretary, Aira Vargas, 20, were inside the law office at Governor Malvar Avenue in Barangay Poblacion 1 when two still-unidentified men barged inside at 11:20 a.m.
One assailant with a 9-mm pistol shot the lawyer twice on his head and right shoulder.
The gunman and his cohort fled on foot after the shooting and left Vargas unhurt.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168179 |
A member of the Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) was arrested in Laguna Sunday night for driving a stolen vehicle, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported on Monday.PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos identified the arrested officer as Chief Master Sgt. Allan Casañas, who was nabbed by members of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) Calabarzon office and the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG).
Casañas was driving a stolen silver Toyota Innova when he was apprehended along Chipeco Ave. in Barangay Halang, Calamba City at around 7:20 p.m.
Carlos said that based on the report, IMEG undercover officers placed the PSPG member under surveillance amid information that he was using a stolen motor vehicle.
IMEG and PNP-HPG officials stopped Casañas and placed him under arrest after a check with the HPG Vehicle Information Management System showed that he was in possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168194 |
The mayor of Iligan City was found guilty of usurpation of public functions by the Sandiganbayan, committed while he was in jail for murder charges.The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division sentenced Mayor Celso Regencia, 61, to up to 20 months in prison for usurpation of official functions.
In its February 11 decision, the Sandiganbayan said Regencia, among other things, issued directives and memoranda, signed checks and vouchers, and made appointments to various positions in the city government while jailed in Iligan City for murder charges from 2015 to 2017.
Regencia, a former town police chief who is in his third consecutive term as mayor, was suspended in 2015 on multiple murder and frustrated murder charges.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/02/21/sandiganbayan-affirms-graft-conviction-of-ex-dot-sec-joseph-durano-5-others/ |
The Sandiganbayan has upheld the conviction of a former DOT Secretary and 5 others for graft.The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the graft conviction of former Tourism Secretary Joseph Felix Mari “Ace” Hotchkiss Durano and five others due to the anomalous purchase of the P2.7 million Department of Tourism (DOT) Wall Calendar in 2008.
Durano and former Undersecretary Oscar Policarpio Palabyab, Financial Management Service Director Grace Reyes Yoro, bids and awards committee (BAC) members Eduardo Alvarez Jarque Jr. and Adriana Mesa Flor, and Legal Affairs Office Director IV Evelyn Respicio Cajigal were found guilty of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
They were sentenced to six to 10 years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office in a decision promulgated on Nov. 26, 2021.
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| https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1921450/cebu/local-news/ex-sibonga-village-chief-shot-dead |
A FORMER village chief of Barangay Candaguit, Sibonga town, southern Cebu died after she was gunned down by unidentified men on board a motorcycle on Saturday morning, Feb. 19, 2022.Agnes Mendaros, 63, was watering the plants at her garden when two men onboard a purple motorcycle suddenly stopped in front of her home at around 7 a.m.Staff Sgt. Leon Gesim of the Sibonga Police Station said witnesses told them the backrider suddenly disembarked from the vehicle, approached Mendaros then shot her several times.Despite being wounded, Mendaros was able to run towards her house but the gunman reportedly chased her and continued shooting her until she collapsed.The gunmen then hurriedly returned to his companion and the two fled from the crime scene.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/02/20/2162071/masungi-georeserve-deplores-attack-forest-rangers |
Masungi Georeserve on Saturday asked for protection and support from the government following an attack on seven forest rangers.
"We deplore in the strongest terms yesterday’s horrific attack on our park rangers by people associated with illegal resorts in the Upper Marikina Watershed," Masungi Georeserve said in a statement.
What happened: On February 18, the park rangers based in the watershed were eating at a carinderia when they were attacked by about 30 people, according to Masungi.
- Two rangers were injured and sent to the hospital after the mob of 30 people surrounded the rangers' vehicles. One of the vehicles of the rangers was smashed with a large rock.
Masungi, a conservation area in Baras, Rizal, said the harassment and attack on rangers likely stemmed from "underhanded moves" from the DENR to endorse clearances to the illegal resorts.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/02/21/2162261/group-hits-da-over-vegetable-smuggling |
Peasant group Anakpawis has slammed the Department of Agriculture (DA) over the supposed continuous smuggling of vegetables and other agricultural products.“Whatever happened to the anti-smuggling measures of the government? It appears that almost a year after the creation of the anti-smuggling task force, the government’s efforts to prevent smuggled agricultural products from entering the country are still weak and insubstantial,” Anakpawis party-list national chairperson Rafael Mariano said.
Mariano was referring to the Sub-Task Group on Economic Intelligence created in May last year purportedly to curb rampant entry of agricultural contraband in the country.
The task group is co-chaired by the DA and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Mariano, former secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform, said farmers deserve an explanation from the government as “this rabid smuggling of vegetables is driving down the farm gate prices and forcing tens of thousands of farmers to bankruptcy.”
Last week, farmers from Benguet held a protest caravan to denounce the flooding of major local markets of supposedly smuggled vegetables from China.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/426197/16-mandaue-city-hall-employees-fail-surprise-drug-test |
Sixteen employees of the Mandaue City Hall have tested positive for illegal drugs during a surprise drug test conducted last Wednesday, February 16, 2022.Mandaue City Councilor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, the focal person of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC), on Monday, February 21, 2022, said the 16 employees were from the different offices.Ruiz said these employees and their department heads were already notified of the results.“It is frustrating that we have been carrying out a drug-free workplace because we have an ordinance of a drug-free workplace for government offices. The role model should be Mandaue City but there are still those who test positive so I think we need to strengthen our program. We have gone through the barangays and yet here in our own yard, we still have those who test positive,” said Ruiz.If proven positive for illegal drugs, contracts of job order employees will be immediately be terminated while regular employees will undergo due process based on the city’s drug-free workplace ordinance.They would also undergo drug rehabilitation.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1557687/10-cops-charged-for-slay-of-former-biliran-reps-bodyguard-yield-to-legazpi-police |
Ten police officers wanted for the 2018 killing of a bodyguard of former Biliran representative Glenn Chong and a female companion in Cainta town in Rizal province surrendered Monday to the Legazpi City police.
Major Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, identified the police as Staff Sergeants Julius Villadarez of Quezon City, Richard Raagas, Corporal Arthur Gerard Ignacio, Patrolmen Napoleon Relox, Jordan Antonio, Marvin Santos, and Terry Anthony, members of Rizal police; and Corporals Merwin Macam, Diogenes Barrameda Jr., and Patrolman Efren Areola, members of the Highway Patrol Group of Region 4A (Calabarzon).
She said in a report that the police hid for the past three years after they were reportedly involved in the ambush-slaying of Richard Red Santillan, an aide of Chong, and Gessamyn “Minmin” Casing on Dec. 10, 2018.
The suspects, who sought refuge in this city, have decided to surrender and give their testimonies around 10:30 a.m. Monday regarding the case to the city police.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1557995/oriental-mindoro-cop-faces-attempted-robbery-gun-ban-violation-complaints |
Criminal complaints have been filed before the provincial prosecutor’s office in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro against a police officer tagged in a foiled robbery attempt and gun ban violation.
Police Corporal Leonell Maranan, 31, assigned at the Technical Support Company, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 4B, was arrested by village watchmen of Barangay (village) Sta. Maria in Gloria town on Friday, Feb. 18, at about 10 p.m. after he allegedly entered a hardware supply store and tried to rob it.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168359 |
The Sandiganbayan has convicted a former Cebu town mayor of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for using municipal funds to buy food items from a bakeshop owned by his family in 2010.
In a 38-page decision dated February 22, the anti-graft court’s third division found former Aloguinsan, Cebu Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno guilty and sentenced him to up to 20 years in prison.
The same penalty was handed down by the court to Moreno's co-accused Evangeline Manigos, a member of the municipal government's Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
Moreno’s wife, former Aloguinsan mayor Cynthia Moreno, and five other municipal officials were charged by the Ombudsman for allegedly buying a total of PHP287,725 worth of food supplies in a bakeshop owned by Cynthia.
“In fine, the Court finds that the prosecution has successfully proven all the elements of the crime,” the tribunal said.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/426564/5-policemen-linked-to-baringui-an-couple-killing |
At least five policemen were linked to the killing of an aspiring councilor in San Fernando, Cebu and her husband.Officials from the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, said they filed criminal cases against four police officers who voluntarily surrendered over the killing of Ma. Louela Baringui-an and her husband, Pedro.The suspects, identified as Police Staff Sergeants Rene Abella Catamora, Junrey Papaya Ypil, Junrey Batobalonos, and ex-police Esmeraldo Obleanda Quillosa, are facing charges of robbery with double homicide.“A criminal complaint for robbery with double homicide… dated February 23, 2022 has been filed against the four policemen and one dismissed officer by the San Fernando Municipal Police Station,” said Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, head of the Regional Police Investigation and Detective Management Division.
5 cops have been charged with murdering a barangay councilor.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168400 |
A mayoralty aspirant in one of the towns in Zamboanga del Sur cheated death when a man with alleged mental disorder opened fire while the former was passing by, a top police official disclosed Wednesday.
Col. Diomarie Albarico, Zamboanga del Sur police director, identified the would-be victim as Leonard Mandeg Sindod, a mayoralty aspirant in the municipality of Lapuyan.
Albarico said the suspect was identified as Danilo Kehek Balabad, who is allegedly suffering from a mild mental disorder.
The incident happened around 10:50 a.m. Tuesday in Barangay Maruing, Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, according to Albarico.
He said that Balabad, who was armed with a caliber .45 pistol, fired three successive shots in front of their house while Sindod was passing by driving a motorcycle.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1558852/court-orders-arrest-of-cagayan-town-vice-mayor-over-2018-murder-of-councilor |
A regional trial court here has issued a warrant of arrest against Vice Mayor Joel Ruma of Rizal town, Cagayan province who was linked to the murder of a town councilor in 2018.
Judge Vilma Pauig of the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 ordered the arrest of Ruma and five other people who were implicated in the killing. Ruma is running for mayor in the upcoming elections.
Maj. Raymund Baggayan, Rizal town police chief, said a manhunt operation was already underway to arrest Ruma and some of his alleged cohorts who remained at large. They were identified as Simeon Baloran, Jessie Labang, Dalden Guiyawan, Jose Batang and Jocel Sacayle.
Ruma, who could not be reached for comment, was not present during the unity walk and peace rally for local candidates on Monday.
The vice mayor was tagged as the mastermind in the killing of 64-year-old Alfredo Alvarez, who was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assailants, in this city.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1558287/pnp-chief-confirms-crashed-chopper-bound-for-balesin-to-fetch-him-after-private-time |
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dionardo Carlos on Tuesday confirmed that the helicopter that crashed in Quezon province was on its way to Balesin Island to fetch him after spending some “private time” at the famous tropical island paradise.
Carlos said he regrets that the accident happened. He assured the public that a thorough investigation of the incident is underway.
“I regret that the accident happened and never wish harm to my personnel nor losses to the organization,” said Carlos in a statement.
“Rest assured that a thorough investigation is being undertaken,” he added.
According to Carlos, he traveled to Balesin Island – an exclusive, members-only, world-class recreational destination off the east coast of the Philippines – for private time on Sunday afternoon and was scheduled to return to Manila on Monday via private transport.
“However, I was informed that due to unforeseen circumstances, said private transport would only be available in the evening of Monday,” he explained.
Because of this, Carlos said he requested an “admin flight” so he could return to the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Monday morning.
“The flight directive was allowed and issued following PNP rules and regulations,” he said.
But the PNP helicopter – an H125 Airbus – that was assigned to fetch Carlos on Monday morning crashed in the vicinity of Purok (zone) Mayaog in the mountain village of Pandan in Real town, according to the initial report.
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary and National Police Commission chairperson Eduardo Año assured in a separate statement to reporters that Carlos’ supposed trip was legal even if it was for a personal function.
“He’s the CPNP (chief PNP) and as the CPNP attending to official functions, it is just rightful for him to use the PNP chopper,” Año told reporters.
(You cannot separate private time from an official time. As CPNP, it’s included in his privileges as head of the organization.)
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