Retards in the Government 285

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

  

 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1694928/quezon-town-councilor-gunned-down-2

A municipal councilor of Dolores town in Quezon province was gunned down early Friday (November 18), police said.

A spot report from Dolores police said Orlando Barsomo, 47, was shot by a still unidentified assailant using an unknown gun caliber at 3:15 a.m. while doing his walking exercise in Barangay Dagatan.

Investigators said the gunman fled and left his target dead.

The victim, a bachelor who was on his third term as a town councilor, was also a former village chieftain of Dagatan, located five kilometers away from the town proper.

An investigation was underway to establish the motive behind the incident.

Police also launched a manhunt operation to arrest the killer.

A town councilor has been assassinated by an unknown man for unknown reasons.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1695021/2-village-execs-7-others-in-bicol-held-for-illegal-drugs-guns

Two village officials and seven others were arrested for illegal drugs and guns in separate buy-bust and search operations on Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Bicol region.

In a report, Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, said Jose Conje, 46, a councilor at Barangay Putingbato in Esperanza town, Masbate province, was arrested around 6:30 p.m. in the area.

During the search, police confiscated a .45 pistol, a steel magazine for the same gun, a .22 revolver with four rounds of live bullets and an improvised airgun.

Calubaquib said Charlie Manlangit, 45, a village councilor in Barangay Tominawog in San Andres town in Catanduanes province, was also arrested at 5:05 a.m.

Authorities recovered six grams of shabu worth P40,800 from his residence.

Two village councilors in Bicol have been arrested. One on drug charges and the other on gun charges.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1695532/ex-town-councilor-slain-in-camarines-sur-shooting

A former councilor of Pili town in Camarines province was shot and killed on Saturday night (Nov. 19), a report said Sunday (Nov. 20).

Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib, the Bicol police spokesperson, said when Raul Delfin Divinagracia arrived at his apartment, he was shot several times by an unidentified gunman in Barangay (village) Cadlan at around 9 p.m.

The victim died while being taken to the hospital.

An investigation is ongoing.

A former barangay councilor has been assassinated. 

https://mb.com.ph/2022/11/19/ex-mayor-tagged-in-murder-of-isabela-prosecutor-in-2021-surrenders/

A former mayor tagged in the killing of the deputy prosecutor of Isabela in Conner, Apayao in 2021 surrendered to the police in Apayao on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

Capt. Marnie Abellanida, information officer of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera, said Leonardo Daodaoen Dangoy, 65, former mayor of Conner, surrendered at Camp Gov. Elias Bulut Sr. and Training Center in Luna after learning that he had an arrest warrant for murder.

Abellanida said the warrant was issued by Judge Neljoe Cortes of Branch 26, Regional Trial Court in Luna with no bail recommended.

Dangoy was listed as the No.1 Most Wanted Person in Apayao in the fourth quarter of this year.

On June 23, 2021, two men allegedly barged and shot to death Atty. Victor Domingo Begtang Jr., 49, inside his house in Barangay Malama.

The suspects fled while Begtang was taken to the Conner District Hospital where he was declared dead.

A former mayor accused of killing a deputy prosecutor has turned himself in. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/11/23/2225898/caloocan-cop-convicted-torture-planting-evidence-carl-kulot-drug-war-cases

A Caloocan court convicted police officer Jeffrey Perez of torture and planting of evidence in the killings of teenagers Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman, whose cases were believed to be carried under the Duterte government’s bloody “war on drugs.”

In a decision released by the Public Attorney’s Office on Wednesday, the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 122 said it found Patrolman Perez “guilty of beyond reasonable doubt for all the crimes charged against him.”

The court convicted him of violation of Section 4 and 14 of Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 against Arnaiz and De Guzman. He was also found guilty of Planting of Evidence under RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and RA 10591 or Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act in the case of Arnaiz.

Presiding Judge Rodrigo Pascua Jr. sentenced to reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years of imprisonment for the torture conviction on De Guzman and planting of evidence in the case of Arnaiz.

The court also ordered Perez to pay the heirs of Arnaiz and De Guzman moral damages amounting to P1 million and exemplary damages amounting to P1 million, or a total of P2 million for each of the victim’s heirs.

A PNP officer has been convicted of torture and planting evidence. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/23/22/sandiganbayan-upholds-pdaf-conviction-of-ex-n-cotabato-lawmaker

The Sandiganbayan denied the motion for reconsideration of former North Cotabato Second District representative Gregorio Ipong, who was found guilty of graft and malversation in connection with his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2007.

The court's Sixth Division also denied the appeal of Ipong’s co-accused, Marivic Jover, former chief accountant of the defunct Technology Livelihood and Resource Center.

"The court maintains its ruling holding that the prosecution was able to prove the criminal culpability of both accused beyond reasonable doubt," the court said in a resolution penned by Associate Justice Kevin Narce Vivero, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Sarah Jane Fernandez and Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto.

In the Sept. 13, 2022 decision of the court, Ipong, Jover, and former TLRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan were sentenced to 6 to 10 years imprisonment for graft and 10 to 17 years plus a fine of P4.9 million each for malversation. 

The conviction of a former member of the House of Representative over the PDAF scandal has been upheld by the Sandiganbayan.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1189281

Two former police officers were arrested in an anti-drug operation here, a top police official said Wednesday.

Col. Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) director, said Abdulgafar Turadji Jr., 41; and Lejer Abbilani, 42, were arrested by ZCPO’s Station 6 operatives in an anti-drug operation around 11:23 p.m. Tuesday in Sitio Talon-Talon Loop, Barangay Talon-Talon.

Police said Turadji is a high-value suspect being a member of the local Adas drug syndicate, while Abbilani is a newly-identified drug personality.

Both were discharged from police service for drug-related charges.

Lorenzo said the anti-drug operation was launched against the two after they agreed to transact with an undercover cop.

The operation resulted in the seizure of two grams of suspected shabu packed in five plastic sachets worth PHP13,600 and other pieces of evidence.

The suspects, who will be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, were placed under the custody of the ZCPO.

Two ex-cops who were received on drug charges have been busted for drugs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1189270

Ten members of the Drug Enforcement Group of the Philippine National Police (PDEG) have been relieved amid an ongoing investigation into an anti-drug operation in Manila that yielded nearly 1 ton of shabu and led to the arrest of a police officer last Oct. 8.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Wednesday that among the relieved officers were some PDEG team leaders and the immediate supervisor of the suspect Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., a PDEG intelligence officer and the owner of Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. in Sta. Cruz, Manila which was raided by authorities.

They were temporarily transferred to the Personnel Holding and Accounting unit (PHAU) at Camp Crame.

“No less than the Chief PNP (Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.) ordered to really investigate this and right now some vital information has been shared that this policeman was caught and his immediate supervisors, immediate team leaders, and other drug enforcement personnel were temporarily relieved and transferred at the PHAU of the PNP Camp Crame while the investigation is being conducted and hopefully before the end of November we will get a definite result on the investigation done by SITG,” Fajardo told reporters in an interview in Camp Crame.

Fajardo said the measure was implemented under the doctrine of command responsibility.

“We are not saying they are directly involved with Mayo, who was caught in possession of large amounts of shabu, but for transparency and accountability and command responsibility, they are being temporarily relieved from the DEG to give way to the SITG's investigation,” she stressed.

Earlier, two police sergeants assigned with the PDEG allegedly sneaked out some 42 kilos of shabu from the 990 kilos of shabu seized during the Oct. 8 operation.

PDEG chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo himself discovered the incident after a review of the closed circuit television camera (CCTV) footage before and after the raid at the Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. in Sta. Cruz, Manila which was owned by Mayo.

In the footage, a man was seen going out of the lending agency office and was later seen loading two bags inside a car.

When one of the police sergeants was asked to shed light on the incident, the cop admitted that there were 30 kilos of shabu still in their possession and that the car is owned by another PDEG operative.

When the other PDEG operative was asked to appear before the PDEG headquarters, he informed his superior instead that he would just leave the illegal drugs near Camp Crame in Quezon City.

During the inspection, it was found that there were 42 kilos left by the PDEG operative which has an estimated street value of PHP285.6 million.

10 anti-drug cops have been relived as the PDEG investigates missing shabu from a bust in October.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/11/24/abc-president-in-lemery-batangas-ambushed/

A 59-year-old barangay captain and an ex-officio member of Sangguniang Bayan was ambushed while on board his Sports Utility Vehicle by unidentified riding-in tandem assailants on Tuesday afternoon, Nov.22 in this town.

The victim, Enrico Renwick Razon, Barangay Chairman of District 3 and president of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) in this town, was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Investigation said that around 5:30 p.m., the victim, who was with three others inside his SUV car, was traversing the barangay road of Barangay Ayao-Iyao, Lemery when the suspects shot him several times. 

Investigation added that the suspects tailed the victim’s vehicle and were able to shoot Razon as they got closer on the right portion of the SUV.

The victim sustained gunshot wounds at his back and died at Metro-Lemery Medical Center, while his passengers who were all women were unhurt.

Suspects fled as police conducted a manhunt operation. The police have yet to determine the motives in the killing.

A barangay captain who was president of the Association of Barangay Captains has been assassinated.