Retards in the Government 334

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

 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1845015/cops-nab-ph-coast-guard-personnel-for-allegedly-smuggling-cigarettes

Authorities nabbed a Philippine Coast Guard personnel Tuesday in a checkpoint along the national highway in Kumalarang town, Zamboanga del Sur after it was discovered that his car was loaded with 400 reams of smuggled cigarettes.

Lt. Col. Juliuxar Asdani, commander of the 2nd Zamboanga del Sur Police Provincial Mobile Force Company, identified the suspect as 32-year-old Seaman First Class Nasrin Sangsangan who is assigned at the coast guard station in Pagadian City.

Sangsangan is a resident of Zamboanga City.

The suspect was randomly flagged at a checkpoint when authorities found the cigarettes inside his Toyota Vios car. When asked for relevant documents, Sangsangan failed to show any, hence the goods were presumed contrabands.

Sangsangan was arrested and detained at the Kumalarang municipal police station.

A member of the Coast Guard has been busted for smuggling cigarettes. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1211730

Operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) have arrested an active cop and another police officer declared absent without official leave (AWOL) after they were caught selling suspected shabu in a buy-bust operation in Muntinlupa City.

In a statement released on Friday, NCRPO chief Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. identified the suspects as Patrolman Rey Palomar Baldonasa, 25, currently assigned at the Drug Enforcement Unit of the NCRPO, and Carlos Rivera Navarro, 31, declared AWOL from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and previously assigned at the Caloocan City Police Office.

Nartatez said the two suspects were arrested by operatives of the Station Drug Enforcement Unit of the Muntinlupa City Police during a buy-bust operation conducted in Purok 10, Amparo Street, Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City at about 11:50 p.m. on Oct. 11.

Seized from the suspects during the sting were two 9-mm. Canik pistols, two Canik magazines with live ammunition, two PNP-issued identification cards, and suspected shabu weighing 10 grams with an estimated street value of PHP68,000.

Baldonasa and Navarro will be charged with violation of Article II, Sections 5, 11, and 26 of Republic Act (RA) 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, and RA 10591, or the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition, in relation to Batas Pambansa 881, or the Omnibus Election Code.

The arrested cops are in the custody of the Muntinlupa City Police.

Two cops have been busted for drugs. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/13/73-immigration-personnel-dismissed-suspended-on-corruption-charges

Seventy-three employees of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have either been dismissed or susended this year on charges of corruption, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said on Friday, Oct. 13.

Also, Tansingco said there are a total of 72 pending cases before the Board of Discipline (BOD) against erring immigration personnel since he assumed office.

He said he has been enforcing a "one strike policy” wherein personnel involved in controversies are immediately removed from the frontlines pending investigation.

He pointed out that corruption "has been a long problem of the Bureau, and we are making significant strides to catch corrupt employees and prevent other personnel from being tempted to go the rouge path."

He expressed hopes that the technological upgrades at the BI will be able provide another layer of security and prevent corruption.

73 BI employees have been dismissed due to corruption. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/14/sandigan-affirms-conviction-of-ex-water-district-official-in-lanao-del-sur-town

The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of former acting general manager Jamaloden H. Faisal of the Tugaya Water District in Lanao del Sur for graft and malversation of public funds in the P10 million water supply improvement project in 2011.

Affirmed were Faisal's six to 10 years prison term for graft and a maximum of 40 years imprisonment (reclusion perpetua) for malversation of public funds.  

On top of perpetual disqualification to hold public office, also upheld were the anti-graft court's orders for Faisal to pay a fine of P10.07 million and to return P10.07 million to the Bureau of Treasury.

Faisal's co-accused, Nascon Builders General Manager Alkahin Ebrahim, remains at large. The case against him has been ordered archived pending his arrest.

In filing the cases before the Sandiganbayan, the prosecutors said that the construction for the water supply improvement project was never implemented, and that the whole project was fictitious and non-existent. 

The prosecutors also said that Faisal liquidated the amount of P10,074,680, which was received from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), through the Physical Accomplishment Report as of July 2011 prepared by Ebrahim.

In his motion for reconsideration, Faisal told the court that he was never appointed general manager of the water district and that there was falsification of his appointment documents.

In denying his motion, the court said that Faisal had waived his right to file the motion because he failed to appear during the promulgation of judgment of conviction. It pointed out that there was no justifiable cause for his absence, and, thus, he had lost his standing in court.

"Considering that accused-movant Faisal was out of bail during the trial, he is deemed to have jumped bail when he failed to appear at the promulgation of his sentence. It is settled that once an accused escapes from prison or confinement, jumps bail, or flees to a foreign country, he loses his standing in court," the court explained in its resolution.

"Unless he surrenders or submits to the jurisdiction of the court, he is deemed to have waived any right to seek relief from the court," it stressed. 

At the same time, the court said it was not inclined to change its decision of conviction because the issues raised by Faisal "were a mere rehash of the basic issues which were already exhaustively passed upon, duly considered, and resolved in the assailed decision."

The conviction of an ex-water official for graft and malversation of public funds has been upheld.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1212037

Members of the anti-scalawag unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested two former police officers for malversation of public property and failing to attend court hearings in relation to theft charges.

In a statement Wednesday, PNP-Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) chief Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon said the suspect Luis Jomok III was arrested inside the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City on Monday.

The suspect is detained at the facility after he was arrested in June 2022 on homicide charges over his involvement in a shooting incident in August 2008 in Pasay City that resulted in the death of victim Billy Lozada.

Jomok was ordered arrested by the Antipolo City, Rizal Regional Trial Court Branch 71 in February this year for two counts of theft, with a total recommended bail of PHP68,000.

The arrest warrant stemmed from the complaint of a certain Herminio Tan, owner of a gas refilling plant, who accused the suspect of taking several items and equipment worth PHP70,000 from the plant.

Also on Monday, IMEG members arrested Joel Jasareno, a police master sergeant who went absent without official leave (AWOL), in Tondo, Manila.

Jasareno has a standing warrant of arrest issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 81, with a recommended bail of PHP60,000.

De Leon said the malversation complaint was filed by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) against Jasareno for failing to return the Galil long firearm that was issued to him. 

2 cops have been arrested malversation of public property.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1848025/coa-flags-davaos-inappropriate-expenses

The local government of Davao City made “inappropriate” expenditures after it charged P6.45 million against its 20-percent development fund, which goes against rules for such funding, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

Citing the COA’s audit compliance report on Davao City, specifically on the utilization of the 20-percent development fund for 2022, state auditors said the city government appropriated a total amount of P2.1 billion for the fund.

However, their observations cited expenditures “not allowed” to be charged under the P2.1-billion development fund, including catering services (P125,000), financial assistance for centenarians (P3.2 million), payment for prizes of Davao Sports Festival 2022 (P1.9 million), meal allowances (P802,964) and payment of badminton court rental (P56,700), among others.

Overall, the city government spent P6.45 million from the development fund, which state auditors noted was “not in accordance” with the guidelines under a joint memorandum circular of the departments of budget and management, finance, and interior and local government.

Under these guidelines, the development fund should only be spent on development projects and programs that are “essential to the promotion of the general welfare of the people.”

Auditors said they inquired with Davao City’s budget office and the city accountant’s office, which both told the COA that the expenditures were “due to management’s (Davao City) misinterpretation” that the expenses were allowed.

“As a result, the purpose for which the fund has been established was defeated, and the optimal utilization of the fund was not achieved,” the COA said in its compliance report on Davao City.

It also pointed out that if the Davao City government had “properly identified” the projects and had it “carefully evaluated” the expenditure items, the expenses could have been avoided and could have been used for the city’s priority projects.

Other cities with appropriated development funds had been commended by the COA after showing how they properly utilized the allotted budget. Among these cities are Manila, Makati, Pasig, Taguig, Mandaluyong, Parañaque and Quezon in Metro Manila, and Cebu and Mandaue in Cebu province.

The Davao City government had earlier committed that it would use its development fund for social development projects like the construction of buildings and bridges, general public services, economic development program, and environmental development.

State auditors, in their recommendation, asked the city government of Davao to stop its practice of charging such non-related expenditures to the 20-percent development fund.

It also told the city government to require its budget office to review and evaluate the expenditure items under the development fund and to prevent any expenses of “disallowable items.”

Davao City has been flagged by the COA for inappropriate expenditures. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/19/immigration-officer-convicted-for-fabricating-travel-records-of-fugitive-wirecard-exec

A Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer has been convicted in the falsification of travel records which showed that former Wirecard chief operating officer Jan Marsalek was in the Philippines although he did not arrive and leave the country in 2020.

In a statement, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that BI officer Marcos S. Nicodemus has been found guilty by the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) of violations of Republic Act No. 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act, and RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

An official copy of the RTC decision was not given by the NBI.  It said that Nicodemus "was sentenced by the court to a maximum imprisonment of nine years for each of the criminal cases with perpetual disqualification to hold public office."

A BI officer has been convicted of falsifying immigration records.