Retards in the Government 269

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

  

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179534

Armed with an arrest warrant, authorities arrested a soldier facing criminal cases in a remote barangay in this southern port city, police officials said Friday.

Col. Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) director, said Private 1st Class Gilbert Paje was arrested around 12:16 a.m. Friday in Barangay Tictapul here.

Lorenzo said Paje, 33, has standing warrant of arrest for three counts of rape with no recommended bail and violation of Republic Act 7610 otherwise known as the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.

Maj. Jamar Tagayan, ZCPO’s Station 1 chief, said the suspect is listed as the top 3 most wanted regional level, top five most wanted city level and top one most wanted provincial level due to the criminal cases he is facing.

A solider has been arrested on 3 counts of rape.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1632493/cagayan-town-vice-mayor-3-others-charged-with-murder-of-trader

Vice Mayor Matthew Nolasco of Gattaran town, Cagayan province, and three others were charged with murder in connection with the killing of a local businessman in December last year.

The Cagayan Provincial Prosecutor’s Office lodged the murder case before the Regional Trial Court in Aparri town on July 13. Details were released on Wednesday, July 20, to the media.

Nolasco and his alleged three cohorts were accused of killing on December 5 last year Jefferson Torricer, a 29-year-old trader inside a resto-bar at Barangay Magapit, in Lal-lo town, also in Cagayan.

Nolasco, who was a mayor at the time of the killing, allegedly shot Torricer. His cohorts reportedly manhandled the victim. No bail was recommended.

A Vice Mayor and three others have been charged with murder.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1632337/court-upholds-graft-conviction-of-ex-pnp-chief-five-other-officials

The Sandiganbayan has upheld the 2021 graft conviction of former Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa and five other retired police officials in connection with the purchase of rubber boats and outboard motors for the PNP in 2009.

The antigraft court’s Third Division denied the motions for reconsideration filed by Verzosa and the other officers involved in the P131.5-million transaction, namely retired police Lieutenant Generals Benjamin Belarmino Jr. and Jefferson Soriano; retired Major Generals Luizo Ticman and Romeo Hilomen; and retired Brig. Gen. Villamor Bumanglag.

In their motions filed last year, the former PNP officials sought the reversal of the court’s June 25, 2021, decision that sentenced them each to six to eight years of imprisonment and barred them from public office.

In the 2021 decision, Verzosa and the other officials—all former members of the national headquarter’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC)—were found guilty of graft for proceeding with the procurement of the boats and the motors, which were later found to be incompatible.

They were found to have conspired with one another to give “unwarranted benefit, advantage and preference’’ to three suppliers—EnviroAire Inc., Geneve SA Corp. and Bay Industrial.

The graft convictions of a former PNP Chief and 5 other retired PNP Officers has been upheld.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1632691/four-govt-officials-guilty-of-fraud-in-negros-occidental-sandiganbayan

The Sandiganbayan found two current and two retired officials of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental guilty of “frauds against the public treasury” in connection with a heavy equipment lease contract with a private firm in 2008.

The Sandiganbayan, in a decision promulgated on July 15, ordered Sipalay City treasurer Renato Manilla, engineer Porferio Calderon Jr., retired budget officer Fernando Balbin, and general services officer Elizer Balbin to pay a fine of P40,000 each.

Four government officals have been convicted of fraudin realtion to an equipment lease contract from 2008.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/22/ex-vice-mayor-of-quezon-town-ambushed-in-san-pablo-city/

A former municipal vice mayor of Quezon town was ambushed by unidentified gunmen while driving his sports car on Friday afternoon at Barangay San Francisco in San Pablo City, this province.

San Pablo City Police report identified the victim as Danilo Amat, businessman, and former municipal vice mayor of Dolores town in Quezon province.

Based on the initial police report, the victim was driving his sports sedan around 6:30 p.m. when he was attacked by the suspects who shot him several times. He was hit on the back.

The suspect fled on foot right after the incident.

The victim was brought by a concerned citizen to San Pablo City General Hospital but was declared dead on arrival by Dr. Rowena Rovillos.

A former vice mayor has been assassinated.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/23/cop-dies-in-accidental-firing-in-iloilo-city/

A 30-year-old policeman died after he accidentally shot himself with his wife’s gun in Jaro, this city, Friday, July 22.

The victim was identified as Police Corporal Paul Eric Uyaco, assigned to the San Miguel, Iloilo police station. 

“He allegedly was killed while checking a firearm at home,” said Police Capt. Eduardo Siacon, chief of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO)-Jaro district.

The gun that killed Uyaco was owned by his 32-year-old wife, Police Corporal Louise Kate Uyaco, assigned to the Iloilo City Mobile Force Company.

Initial investigation showed that Mrs. Uyaco told Paul Eric that her gun was malfunctioning at past 7 a.m. Mr. Uyaco went to the third of their house to check the gun.

His wife heard a gunshot on the third floor while preparing breakfast. She went upstairs and saw her husband with a bullet wound in the right temple.

A cop accidentally killed himself while checking his wife's gun.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1632862/p-48b-in-pnp-gear-arms-undelivered-since-2016

Bomb-sniffing dogs and assorted police equipment worth nearly half a billion pesos have not yet been delivered by the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) since it received a P1.348-billion fund for the procurement from the Philippine National Police six years ago, the Commission on Audit (COA) has reported.

In 2016, the PNP transferred the fund to the PITC to purchase, among others, utility trucks, genetic DNA analyzers, tactical or handheld radios, light personnel carrier, generators, motorcycles, ponchos and automatic grenade launchers, the COA said in its 2021 audit report on the PNP that was published on its website this week.

“Although completion of deliveries is expected in 2022, delays in the procurement by PITC and the schedule of deliveries by suppliers affected the operations of PNP and deprived its personnel of timely use of the equipment,” the audit body said.

The PITC is a state-owned and -controlled corporation, which provides, among others, the “most efficient and cost-effective procurement services” to other government agencies. It is attached to the Department of Trade and Industry.

During the years 2018 to 2021, the PITC delivered and liquidated some of the requested items worth P744,848,393.32, the COA said.

This left a balance of P602,768,059.58, or about 44.7 percent of the original amount handed to the PITC, as of end-December 2021, it said.

The balance included P486,291,674.21 for other items that had not been delivered, P56,059,825.00 items that were delivered but not yet liquidated or distributed to PNP sites and P60,416,560.37 in savings, the COA said.

“Although the fund was made available in 2016, the noted procurement backlogs in the PITC occurred because contracts for the requested items were only awarded in 2021,” the audit body said.

The PITC is expected to complete the deliveries to the PNP this year.

The COA observed that in 2016, the PNP’s national bids and awards committee (BAC) “seemingly lacked proficiency and capability to procure the equipment, which paved the way to transfer the procurement activities to PITC.”

The COA has flagged the PITC for not delivering equipment ordered by the PNP in 2016.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179647

Three died in a shooting incident at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City on Sunday afternoon while the suspect, a doctor, is under police custody.

According to the report of the Anonas Police Station, the fatalities were Rosita Furigay, former mayor of Lamitan City in Basilan province; Victor George Capistrano, the executive assistant of Furigay; and a certain Bandiola Jeneven.

The incident happened at about 2:55 p.m.

Hannait, reportedly Furigay's daughter who was supposed to join the graduation ceremony of the School of Law, is undergoing treatment.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) identified the alleged shooter as Dr. Chao Tiao Yumol, 38, and a resident of Basilan.

He allegedly resented Furigay for allowing the proliferation of illegal drugs, according to an update from the NCRPO.

It appears that this ex-mayor was targeted for allowing illegal drugs to proliferate and also for bringing cyber libel charges against the shooter which resulted in his suspension as a physician. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179661

Members of the Philippine National Police-Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) recently arrested six erring police officers in separate operations for their involvement in illegal activities.

In a statement Monday, IMEG acting chief Brig. Gen. Samuel Nacion, said these operations are part of the PNP's relentless internal cleansing.

On July 17, IMEG operatives arrested Pat. David Bolor Jr., who is wanted for frustrated murder in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.

Meanwhile, the IMEG nabbed dismissed police officer, Rodrigo Sanoy, the top eight most wanted person in Malabon, along Roxas St. Sampaloc, Manila on July 15.

Nacion said Sanoy, who is wanted for murder, is also known in the area to be involved in various illegal activities such as gambling and is facing "complaints in the barangay for sorts of local ordinance violations.”

In Calabarzon, three active members of the Biñan City Police Station (CPS) allegedly involved in a shooting on July 14 surrendered to authorities.

The July 15 surrender of Cpl. Mark Jefferson Arzola, Cpl. Gerald Casanova and Pat. Amiel Howell Alcantara, was facilitated by the IMEG's Team Calabarzon.

On July 19, Pat. Karl Mikhail Almazan, a member of the Highway Patrol Group's (HPG) Intelligence Division, was nabbed by the IMEG Central Luzon members together with the Bulacan police.

Almazan has a standing arrest warrant for violation of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

Six cops have been arrested for various crimes including murder and child abuse. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179681

An official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was killed in an accidental firing at his rented home in Zamboanga Sibugay province, a top police official said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Franco Simborio, Police Regional Office – Zamboanga Peninsula (PRO-9) director, said Akmad Sampang, the provincial NBI chief of Zamboanga Sibugay, was fatally hit on the chest while cleaning his service firearm, Glock 40 pistol around 8 a.m. Saturday at his place in Purok Golden Mango, Barangay Poblacion of Ipil town.

His live-in partner told investigators that Sampang, 59, asked her to go out and buy coconut water.

“Upon returning home, she was surprised when the victim was already lying with blood with a gunshot wound on his chest while his issued firearm was beside him,” Simborio said in a statement.

An NBI official accidentally killed himself while cleaning his gun.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1633111/coa-costly-airport-x-ray-machine-cant-even-detect-guns-in-cars

The agency managing the country’s second leading gateway was singled out by state auditors for buying a pricey X-ray machine that proved incapable of detecting firearms and ammunition that are concealed in vehicles.

“The purchased Mobile X-Ray Screening System amounting to P196.382 million cannot detect or scan guns and ammunitions placed inside vehicles,” the Commission on Audit (COA) said in an “executive summary” posted on its website early this month regarding the year-end financial statements of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA).

The machine, therefore, “cannot serve MCIAA’s purpose of enhancing its security posturing against terrorists,” the COA report said.

The airport authority bought the equipment, the X-ray Backscatter, from Ad Lib International Sales Inc. in January 2020.

According to the MCIAA, the machine underwent inspection that month and was found to be in working condition.

But the COA said that in three separate inspections conducted by its personnel the following year, the machine could not even “scan the inside of an armored vehicle.”

“[T]his condition is a clear manifestation that there was a lack of rigid inspection of the equipment before accepting it,” the COA said as it called on the airport management to “submit … a written explanation [as to] why this transaction shall not be disallowed….”

Cebu's airport bought an expensive X-ray machine which does not work properly according to the COA.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1936003/bacolod/local-news/5-opa-employees-facing-probe-for-allegedly-holding-drinking-session-on-official-travel

FOR allegedly having a drinking session while on official travel, five employees of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) of Negros Occidental are under investigation.

Atty. Alberto Nellas Jr. said yesterday, July 25, that the employees including a division head, three engineers and a staff member have been issued with show cause orders so that they can explain their side.

A formal complaint for Misuse of Government Property and Grave Misconduct was filed by a Capitol employee who serviced them while on official travel to Victorias City on July 15, 2022.

The complainant, a driver, claimed that he waited for the respondents until 8 p.m. but was later informed that they were at a restaurant allegedly having a drinking session.

The senior employee allegedly uttered bad words against the driver when he informed them that he waited for them.

Nellas said that the division head involved could face additional charges for conduct unbecoming because of allegedly bad mouthing the employee.

“We will be getting their side and they have to answer the investigation report against them," Nellas said.

Five government employees are accused have having a drinking session while on the job and one is accused of bad mouthing the driver. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179797

Backed by the police Special Action Force, anti-narcotics agents arrested an employee of M’lang town and his father for possession of illegal drugs and firearms, an official reported Tuesday.

Director Naravy Duquiatan of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency–Soccsksargen said operatives implemented a search warrant against two high-value targets in Barangay Dungguan at past 5 a.m. Monday.

The suspects were identified as Mohar Talimbo, 34, a civil security unit officer assigned to the M’lang District Hospital, and his father Jimmy, 62, a farmer.

Both are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Seized during the operation were suspected shabu with a street value of PHP81,000, an M16 rifle, a Bushmaster rifle, a  component of an improvised explosive device, firearm magazines, and ammunition.

A government employee who is also a MILF terrorist and his father have been arrested on drug charges. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179675

The Sandiganbayan turned down the plea of a former lawmaker and a former town mayor of Sulu to junk their graft charges arising from an allegedly anomalous PHP5-million agriculture project in 2004.

In a resolution dated July 22, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division denied the motion filed by former Sulu 1st District Rep. Hussin Amin and former Hadji Panglima Tahil mayor Nedra Burahan, who are facing multiple counts of graft.

Also accused are regional agriculture officials Oscar Parawan, Samuel Simbajon, and Ma. Perlice Socorro Julian, and Commission on Audit’s Abduljamar Ingui.

They are implicated in the alleged questionable release in three tranches of PHP5 million for the Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Program of Amin -- PHP3.25 million, PHP700,000, and PHP1.05 million.

Amin, Burahan and Parawan entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the procurement of farm inputs and implements while Simbajon, Julian, and Parawan processed and approved the disbursement “without reviewing the work and financial plan of the project contrary to the provisions of the MOA.”

The local government, through Burahan, made a pact with Sunny Marketing Supplies, a supplier of farm inputs and implements without public bidding, progress reports, and proof of implementation.

Ingui was indicted for allowing the transactions without proper liquidation.

The court ordered the initial presentation of defense on Tuesday as it denied for “utter lack of merit” the motions for leave of court to file demurrer to evidence.

A demurrer filed by an accused seeks the outright dismissal of the case, citing the prosecution’s failure to make a case even without the defense having to give their side.

Graft charges against a former Sulu Representative and a former Mayor will proceed. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1635246/tarlac-cops-face-raps-over-tinang-83-arrest

At least 30 policemen from Concepcion town in Tarlac province are facing multiple complaints at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the mass arrest of 83 farmers and their supporters while conducting a community cultivation at a disputed agrarian property in Barangay Tinang last month.

Members of the so-called Tinang 83 on Tuesday lodged criminal complaints against Lt. Col. Reynold Macabitas, chief of the Concepcion police, and his men who arrested them on June 9, accusing the police officers of violating the rights of those arrested, detained, and under custodial investigation.

Tinang 83 refers to the farmers, activists, journalists, and students who occupied a 2-hectare section of a disputed property and were detained by Concepcion policemen for allegedly destroying sugarcane planted there.

Complaints for perjury, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, physical and mental/psychological torture, and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment were also lodged against the policemen.

The group also filed administrative complaints against the policemen for grave and serious misconduct when the lawmen allegedly failed to bring them to a medical facility or a doctor for medical examinations before they were detained.

According to the complainants, they were put in a detention cell that was “very crowded and cramped.”

Another administrative complaint for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service was filed against the policemen for alleged “gross ignorance of the law” that “tainted the image and integrity of the police force.”

The complainants also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to remove the policemen from service and issue a preventive suspension against them while the investigation is ongoing.

Macabitas on Tuesday reiterated that they were prepared to answer all complaints filed against them in relation to the arrest of Tinang 83. “As law enforcers, it’s inherent for us to respond to complaints. They (Tinang 83) destroyed a property and there was a complaint [filed against them]. We will respond to the case,” he told the Inquirer in a text message.Macabitas said they had exhausted all means to stop what the farmers and their supporters were doing before they were arrested.

“We’re just doing our job to keep the peace and order within our jurisdiction. We had a complainant, evidence and witnesses saying the property was damaged. What we did was not illegal,” he said.

30 PNP officer are facing complaints from the 83 people they arrested over a land dispute back in June. These people were eventually set free and several of the charges were dismissed.