Retards in the Government 329

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

 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/09/24/2298558/ex-bi-officer-pastillas-scam-fined-p5000

A former Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer ended her legal battle in connection with the so-called “pastillas” scam with a fine of P5,000.

During the proceedings on Thursday, former immigration officer Asliyah Maruhom was allowed by the Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division to plead guilty to a lesser offense of “prohibited acts and transactions” under Section 7 (d) of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

In a decision issued on the same day, the Seventh Divison said that since Maruhom entered her guilty plea before the formal presentation of evidence by the prosecution panel of the Office of the Ombudsman, this “mitigating circumstance” shall work in her favor.

The court also ordered the release of the P30,000 bail bond that Maruhom previously posted for her provisional liberty and lifted the hold departure order it earlier issued against her.

Maruhom was among the 50 former BI officials and employees charged by the ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan with violating Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which carries a sentence of six years to 10 years in prison and perpetual disqualification from public office.

An ex-BI official involved in the pastillas scheme has been charged with a fine. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1836433/leyte-village-chief-survives-slay-try

A village chief escaped death on Sunday after motorcycle-riding assailants tried to kill him in Barangay Poblacion, Leyte town, Leyte.

Edgar Dela Rosa, 52, a barangay captain of Baco, was on his way home on board his Toyota Hilux when the suspects fired at the vehicle on Mabini Street in Barangay Poblacion, Leyte town, Leyte.

Captain Rush Alvarado, chief of the Leyte town police, said Dela Rosa managed to hide inside his vehicle and evaded the bullets.

Local police immediately conducted a hot pursuit operation to arrest the suspects.

A village chief has survived an assassination attempt. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/25/3-pro-6-lawmen-test-positive-for-drugs

Only three out of the 13,201 police officers tested positive for illegal drugs in Western Visayas.

The Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 said 99.56 percent of policemen tested negative in the massive drug test ordered by Police Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor since he took over as Western Visayas police chief.

“It is my desire to ensure that those under my watch are free from any involvement in illegal drugs,” said Villaflor on Monday, September 25.

Their names were withheld but their places of assignment were the Antique Police Provincial Office, Capiz Police Provincial Office, and Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office.

“They will face appropriate charges and possible dismissal from the service,” Villaflor said. “We will implement the highest penalties to those who will fall short of the expectation of the police and the people of Western Visayas,” added Villaflor.

Three cops have tested positive for drugs. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/25/traffic-enforcer-nabbed-in-drug-bust

A traffic enforcer was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Maasim, Sarangani on Friday, September 22.

Police Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, Police Regional Office-12 director, identified the suspect as Salihim Dulaham, 48, a traffic enforcer of Maasim.

Police seized from the suspect several grams of suspected shabu.   

Dulaham was tagged as a high-value drug trafficker operating in Sarangani.

A traffic enforcer has been busted for drugs.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1210487

A security screening officer (SSO) has been dismissed from his post for allegedly stealing chocolates from a passenger, an official of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) said Monday.

The OTS said the screener was served a dismissal order on Sept. 23 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2, "for taking things from the luggage of a departing passenger while conducting baggage inspection last Sept. 13."

In an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA), OTS spokesperson Kim Marquez said the screener claimed that the chocolates were given by the passenger.

Marquez, however, clarified that they are not allowed to receive anything as part of their "no gift/tipping" policy.

She admitted that the OTS has not received a complaint from the passenger, but said they received a report from an OTS supervisor, prompting them to probe the incident.

Asked why the subject was not suspended between Sept. 13 and 23, Marquez claimed that the CCTV footage they requested from the Manila International Airport Authority was delayed.

"As soon as we got the evidence, the personnel involved was dismissed the next day," she said, adding that the screener was a job order personnel. "They could be dismissed outright if they commit violations in their contractual obligations."

She said the OTS is calling on the passenger involved to shed light on the incident so they could further pursue charges against the personnel. 

An NAIA screener has been axed for allegedly stealing chocolates from a passenger. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1210565

Members of the anti-scalawag unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have arrested a Manila police officer who has been convicted of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and physical Injuries.

In a belated report on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon, chief of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG), said 40-year-old Cpl. Mark Manuel Co, assigned at the Manila Police District, was arrested while on duty at the Police Community Precinct 1 in Pritil, Tondo, Manila on Sept. 20.

Co was sentenced to up to five years imprisonment based on the order issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 29 on Sept. 15.

The IMEG said Co was charged in 2012 after a pursuit operation against a minor who died in an accident after trying to evade a police checkpoint.

Co is temporarily detained at the IMEG Headquarters in Camp Crame for documentation before the turnover of the arrest warrant to the issuing court. 

A cop convicted of murder has been arrested. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1837134/dotr-19-airport-security-screeners-fired-for-stealing

A total of 19 personnel of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS), an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), have been fired since July 2022 after they were caught stealing from airline passengers, according to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.

“Actually, we have investigated 60 cases [of theft incidents] at the airports [involving OTS employees],” Bautista said on Tuesday during the Senate deliberations on the DOTr’s budget request of P214 billion for 2024.

The cases included the Sept. 8 incident at Ninoy Aquino International Airport where an OTS screener was spotted on a security camera allegedly swallowing $300 in bills that she supposedly stole from a Chinese tourist.

The viral video was yet another black eye on the country’s main international gateway, which had been tagged before by a vacation rental management firm as among the world’s worst airports.

19 OTS personnel have been dismissed for theft.

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/27/sandiganbayan-orders-90-day-preventive-suspension-of-antique-gov-cadiao-on-graft-charge

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the 90-day preventive suspension of incumbent Antique Gov. Rhodora J. Cadiao on a graft charge filed against her involving the alleged illegal reassignment of a provincial employee and non-payment of the employee's salaries and allowances from 2016 to 2018.

The complaint against Cadiao was filed by Antonio dela Vega, head of the Provincial General Services Office, who was transferred to the Culasi satellite office. The transfer had been invalidated by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the prosecution said in the graft charge. 

Dela Vega then asked the payment of his salaries and representation and travel allowances amounting to P1.665 million from 2016 to 2018.  Cadiao allegedly denied the payment.

The anti-graft court's preventive suspension order stated: "Wherefore, pursuant to Section 13 of Republic Act No. 3019, accused Rhodora J. Cadiao is preventively suspended from her position as Provincial Governor of the Province of Antique and from any public office which she may now or hereafter be holding for a period of 90 days."

"The Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government is requested to inform this court of the dates to which Provincial Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao started serving her preventive suspension and the date of its termination," the court said. 

It stressed that "the preventive suspension of the accused (Cadiao) shall be automatically lifted upon expiration of the 90-day period from the implementation of this Resolution," the court added. 

The Governor of Antique has been suspended while being investigated for graft. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/27/coa-recommends-filing-of-charges-against-former-silang-lgu-officials-contractors-over-unfinished-projects

The Commission on Audit (COA) on Tuesday, Sept. 26, recommended the filing of charges against former officials of the Silang, Cavite local government after finding several unfinished and allegedly anomalous projects.

According to COA, it has recommended the filing of charges against former Silang Mayor Silang Mayor Socorro Poblete and the contractors of the projects which have already cost losses to the local government unit (LGU) in millions of pesos.

A COA Audit Observation Report (AOM) dated Dec. 28, 2022 found an overreporting in the Statement of Work Accomplished (SWA) on two projects. These projects include the construction of the new Rural Health Unit (RHU) and the 12-classroom building of Lucsuhin Elementary School.

According to the AOM, the RHU building was only 65.51 percent completed, as opposed to the 98.34 percent reported on the SWA, while the 12-classroom building at Lucsuhin Elementary School was only 21.07 percent complete, a huge difference from the reported SWA of 94.09 percent.

Silang Mayor Kevin Anarna had earlier expressed his disappointment after inspecting the school and seeing the students holding their classes with umbrellas to cover their heads.

Anarna said Lucsuhin Elementary School students attend classes holding umbrellas at the partially open covered court when it rains. He added that some students have started getting sick after being soaked in the rain during class.

The Special Education Building (SPED) has also reportedly been left hanging by the contractor, leaving educators with no choice but to teach SpEd students in the school canteen.

Another COA AOM dated Jan. 23, 2023 found that the rehabilitation project of the drainage system in Metro Silang that cost more than  P12 million was only 75 percent complete when it was “abandoned without valid grounds by the contractor.” Advance payment made to the contractor amounting to P484,261.26 was not returned.

Another contract entered into by Poblete on Aug. 4, 2021 was for the construction of a Special Education Building (SPED) in Silang Central School worth P6,601,666.40. 

According to COA AOM No. 23-004 (2022) dated Jan. 1, 2023, the project was reported to be 100 percent complete as per the last SWA and Certificate of Completion and Final Acceptance attached to the project’s disbursement voucher.

The same report stated that “the release of the retention money was allowed despite the fact that the consecution was not on schedule and satisfactorily undertaken, in violation of the earlier discussed provision of RA 9184” and  that the retention money deducted from the progress billings was “deficient by P175,698.38.”

COA also flagged 13 infrastructure projects under Poblete's administration that started in December 2020 until April 2022 and that were reported completed by the end of 2022. 

It had observed that these projects costing more than P72 million reached 95 percent accomplishment “without undergoing preliminary inspections” and with the contractor not receiving any punch-lists, which contain “remaining works, work deficiencies for necessary corrections, and the specific duration/time to fully complete the project considering the approved remaining contract time.

The COA AOM dated Feb. 22, 2023 said “The existence, completeness, reliability and accuracy of the reported year-end balances of the Property, Plan and Equipment (PPE) accounts aggregating P2,758,890,226.22 cannot be fully ascertained due to the inability of the Municipality to conduct complete physical count of PPE and the noted discrepancies of P2,304,537,018.80 between accounting records and the Report on the Physical Count of Property, Plant and Equipment (RPCPPE), contrary to Section 124 of the Manual on the New Government Accounting System (MNGAS) for Local Government Units (LGUs), Volume I, and Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 2020-006.”

The agency also discovered five more projects that were found "problematic" which include the drainage project in Barangay Malaking Tatiao, the Home Economics Building of Silang Central School, the Storm Drainage System along Metro Silang, and the construction and installation of traffic signalization along Aguinaldo Hi-way corner P. Caramanzana Intersection T-Junction at San Miguel II, Silang.

The COA has recommended charges to be filed against several former city executives over unfinished projects.

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/28/cop-arrested-over-death-of-2-people-in-malabon-illegal-drugs-related-motive-eyed-1

Operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) have arrested a policeman in connection with the killing of two people and the wounding of another person in Malabon City.

NCRPO director Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez, Jr. said the arrest of Patrolman Zenjo R Del Rosario was made around eight hours after the latter allegedly barged into the house of Alexis Guitierez in Barangay Acacia and engaged in a shooting spree on Wednesday, Sept. 27. 

Guiterez was declared dead in the hospital along with his companion Jay Bacusmo Apas due to fatal bullet wounds they suffered. The third victim, Baby Tadiamon, was taken to the hospital after she was hit on her body and left leg.

Nartatez said the operation was immediately conducted after the victims’ neighbors sought police assistance. 

 “Through the backtracking of CCTV footage in the area and interview of possible witnesses, the tracker team was able to uncover the identity of the suspect,” said  Nartatez.

The possible suspect who was wearing a bullcap and a jacket, was later identified as Del Rosario, assigned to the Station Drug Enforcement Unit- Malabon City Police Station. 

Nartatez has ordered an extensive investigation of the incident since the possible motive of the crime could be drug-related. 

A cop has been arrested for the murder of two people. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/09/27/2299279/psa-statistician-shot-dead-quezon-city

A statistician of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was killed while two others were wounded after they were shot by unidentified gunmen in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Namer Ariate, 54, a special statistician of the PSA, and two others were riding a tricycle when the shooting took place in Barangay Payatas.

Police investigators said two men blocked the tricycle at the corner of Sampaguita and Santan streets at around 6:30 a.m.

The suspects, armed with handguns of unknown caliber, shot Ariate multiple times.

The two other passengers, both women, were hit by stray bullets.

The gunmen then boarded a motorcycle and fled toward Santa street.

Ariate and the other victims were brought to a hospital for medical treatment, but the statistician was pronounced dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Police investigators retrieved four deformed fired bullets and a metal fragment at the scene.

A statistician for the PSA has been assassinated.