Retards in the Government 324

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

 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1818060/government-employee-nabbed-in-pagadian-city-drug-ops

Authorities arrested a local government employee in a drug buy-bust operation Tuesday afternoon inside a travelers’ inn at San Pedro District here.

Police Capt. Dominic Dalena of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit-IX identified the alleged drug peddler as Wahab Acob aka Benzar, an employee of the City Engineer’s Office and a resident of Muricay village.

Dalena said they have been monitoring Acob before they conducted the operation along with the city police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Recovered during the operation were one medium-sized transparent heat- sealed plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu with estimated market value of P20,000, the buy- bust money and other personal items.

The confiscated drug items were brought to the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Forensic Unit for examination while the suspect was temporarily detained at the lock-up cell of the city police station. 

A local government employee has been busted for drugs.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208140

Nine officials at the Philippine Ports Authority’s (PPA) Port Management Office Bohol ((PMO Bohol) have been sacked after they were caught having a party and drinking alcohol inside the port’s multi-purpose hall on Wednesday.

In a statement on Friday, the PPA said an investigation of the office’s surveillance video revealed PMO Bohol employees, officials, members of the port police, and a guest band joining the party led by Acting Port Manager Lord Tyrone Agaton.

Those sacked include Agaton, PMO Bohol Port Services Division Manager Julius Jumangit, lawyer Sherlito Columnas Jr. from the legal department, Safety Officer Romeo Cabading II, and port police officers Edcel Epan, Victor Cagulada, Mary Maricka Aguirre, Meljann Oronan, and Emily Ross Tubio.

PPA General Manager Jay Santiago said the individuals failed to show respect to office facilities and abused their power as government officials.

“There is no place in the government for officials who hold drinking sessions at the office, whether for birthdays or any other occasions,” Santiago said.

He emphasized the PPA’s resolve in ensuring proper monitoring of the 130 PPA ports nationwide.

“This proves that we are committed to our responsibility of putting our ports and its personnel in order” he said.

9 Bohol Port officials have been fired for holding a party in the office. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1818447/village-official-nabbed-in-anti-drug-ops-in-zamboanga-del-sur-town

A 55-year-old village official in Salauagan of Dimataling town in Zamboanga del Sur was nabbed by authorities in a buy-bust operation on Friday afternoon.

Police Capt. Dominic Dalena of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit-IX identified the village official as Abdul Mama Musa aka “Dol.”

Dalena revealed that Musa was listed as a “high-value individual” on the agency’s top priority targets for illegal drugs at the regional level.

The operatives recovered 13 small sachets of a substance suspected to be crystal meth with an estimated P15,000 market value, buy-bust money, and other personal items.

The suspect is temporarily detained at the Dimataling municipal police station’s lock-up cell while charges for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared against him.

A village official has been busted for drugs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208203

The Supreme Court has ordered the forfeiture of the retirement and other benefits of a court worker and perpetually disqualified her from reemployment in government after her conviction in criminal cases for issuing bad checks.

The SC said former Makati Metropolitan Trial Court clerk  Edith Haboc, having been already convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, would have been dismissed from service had she not been earlier dropped from the rolls.

"We reiterate that court employees, from the presiding judge to the lowliest clerk, being public servants in an office dispensing justice, should always act with a high degree of professionalism and responsibility. Their conduct must not only be characterized by propriety and decorum, but must also be in accordance with the law and court regulations," read the Aug. 14 decision shared online over the weekend.

A Supreme Court employee has had her retirement benefits forfeited and has been preptually disqualified from office for bouncing checks. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/08/21/2290298/motorcycle-riding-cop-dead-lanao-del-norte-road-mishap

A motorcycle-riding policeman died instantly after hitting a dump truck parked along an unlit stretch of a highway in an interior barangay in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte before dawn Sunday.

Col. Sandy S. Vales, Lanao del Norte provincial police director, said Monday that the fatality, Patrolman Jhon Ryan Guardaquivil Baylan, belonged to the 1005th Mobile Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion under the Police Regional Office-10.

In an initial statement dispatched late Sunday the Kapatagan Municipal Police Station said Baylan was riding his motorcycle without a crash helmet when he rammed a dump truck parked ahead in a portion of the highway in Purok 2 in Barangay Taguitic at past 2 a.m. Sunday.

A cop who was not wearing a motorcycle helmet died in a motorcycle crash. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/523353/barangay-councilor-caught-with-p20400-worth-of-shabu-in-bohol

A barangay councilor, who is a former drug surrenderer, in Barangay Alegria Norte, Bohol landed in jail after getting caught with P20,400 worth of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation on Tuesday evening, August 22, 2023.

The alleged suspect was identified by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) in a press release, as 45-year-old Jonardo Gamil Apduhan Sr., a resident of Barangay Alegria Sur.

The suspect is an incumbent barangay councilor of said village.

The buy-bust was a joint operation by personnel from PDEA Bohol Provincial Office, Philippine National Police (PNP) Bohol Maritime Police Station (MARPSTA), Naval Forces Central (NAVFORCEN), and the Loay Municipal Police Station.

The operatives conducted the anti-illegal drugs operation along the road in Purok 3, Barangay Alegria Sur at around 7:26 p.m. and apprehended the suspect who is the subject of the operation. 

According to PDEA-7, the buy-bust operation was the result of a one-month case buildup.

Leia Alcantara, spokesperson of PDEA-7, told CDN Digital in a phone interview, that the alleged suspect was a drug user who surrendered to police in 2016.

She added that Apduhan completed the Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Program (CBDRP) in 2021.

However, she also said that Apduhan allegedly started selling illegal drugs this year based on their monitoring. The alleged suspect disposes of around 10 grams of illegal drugs per week, she added.

Apduhan has already submitted his certificate of candidacy to run for barangay captain in the upcoming elections, according to Alcantara.

The operatives seized a total of six packs of suspected shabu weighing around three grams from the suspect.

The confiscated suspected shabu had a Standard Drug Price (SDP) of P20,400.

Also confiscated were buy-bust money, one mobile phone, and a motorcycle during the buy-bust operation.

The pieces of drug evidence have been submitted for chemical analysis.

The authorities will conduct a follow-up investigation to determine the alleged suspect’s supplier of shabu and illegal drugs, said Alcantara.

She also said that the suspect is now detained at the Loay Municipal Police Station and that he will be facing charges of possession and selling of illegal drugs.

Alcantara added that as part of their protocol, they will also be filing an administrative case against Apduhan for his disqualification from running for any position in the government in the future.

A barangay councilor has been busted for selling drugs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208397

The Police Regional Office-5 (Bicol) has started to dig deeper into the killings of a barangay official and her husband in Libon, Albay on Tuesday night.

Relly Saraba Mata, councilor of Barangay Nogpo in the said municipality, and her husband Alfredo Bazar Mata were gunned down while onboard a motorcycle on their way home after attending a wake in Bariw village of the same town.

In a message to reporters, Lt. Col. Malu Calubaquib, PRO-5 spokesperson, said, "The victims sustained multiple gunshots in the different parts of their body, resulting in their untimely demise."

She said Bicol regional director Brig. Gen. Westrimundo Obinque has issued directives to all concerned units to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the shooting incident.

Calubaquib said assigned investigators have been deployed to the scene of the crime to gather the necessary information that will help identify the perpetrators and determine the motive behind the crime.

She also said PRO-5 condoled with the families of the victims as they denounced the killings.

"The organization is committed to extending necessary assistance to the bereaved family and ensuring that justice will be served," she added.

A barangay councilor and her husband have both been assassinated. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/879920/ombudsman-orders-filing-of-graft-raps-vs-lao-ex-dbm-officials-pharmally-execs/story

The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of three counts of graft charges against former Budget undersecretary Christopher Lao, two other former Budget executives, and Pharmally officials in connection with the government’s purchase of P4 billion worth of RT-PCR test kits.

“There is no doubt that without the individual acts of the aforementioned respondents, the procurement of the test kits would not have materialized. Respondents concerted and conspirational acts enabled the award of the multi-billion worth of contract to Pharmally, notwithstanding the existence of other corporations that are financially and technically capable to supply and deliver test kits at lower prices,” the Ombudsman said in its 37-page resolution.

Aside from Lao, also ordered indicted for three counts of graft were former DBM procurement director Warren Liong, DBM procurement management officer Paul Jasper de Guzman, and Pharmally officials Twinkle Dargani, Linconn Ong, Justine Garado, and Huang Tzu Yen.

The Ombudsman said Pharmally got the huge P4 billion government contract even if its paid up capital is only P625,000.

“Said award to Pharmally was a complete disregard of the provision that the procuring entity should directly negotiate or procure from a legally, technically and financially capable supplier, distributor, manufacturer, contractor or consultant as embodies in the Government Procurement Policy Board and the Procurement law,” it added.

Likewise, the Ombudsman said that public officials accused in this case allowed the further delay of delivery of test kits, even though they alleged of its urgent need to ramp up the testing capacity due to the spread of COVID-19 throughout the country.

“Allowing the several delays of delivery provided Pharmally an excuse and additional period to comply with its obligation. This act is clear evidence of public respondents’ manifest partiality toward said company,” it further said.

Finally, the anti-graft body said the public respondents favored Pharmally over One Top Medical Systems Resources which offered the same prices as the former and Biosite Medical Instruments, Inc., one of the suppliers included in the suppliers directory of the government.

“They apparently acted with manifest partiality and in bad faith for unlawfully and willingly awarding the contracts to a newly incorporated corporation and without any business experience with the government,” it said.

In response to the Ombudsman’s decision, the camp of Pharmally officials maintained that they are not liable for graft or any form of corruption.

Several officials have been charged with graft over the procurement of RT-PCR test kits.