It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1213393 |
Members of the anti-scalawag unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested two active police officers and a dismissed police officer for various crimes.
In a statement Thursday night, PNP - Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) chief Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon said Master Sgt. Joey Cauila, assigned at the Gattaran Municipal Police Station (MPS) in Cagayan province, was arrested in Tuguegarao City on Nov. 7 for a complaint of violation of Republic Act 9262 (Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004).
De Leon said the complaint was filed by Cauila’s wife sometime in 2022 due to his failure to give financial support.
The complainant's identity was withheld.
The accused is currently detained at the Gattaran MPS.
Also on Nov. 7, Pat. Micheal Angelo Basa was arrested by the IMEG Luzon Field Unit (LFU) while on duty at the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija on charges of grave threat under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code.
Basa is detained at the Cabanatuan City Police Station for documentation and disposition pending the issuance of a commitment order from the court that issued the warrant of arrest against him.
On Nov. 6, the IMEG-LFU and other PNP units arrested dismissed cop Marvin Jay Pagulayan in Quezon town in Isabela for estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code.
The complainant said Pagulayan defrauded him by promising to process the titling of his land in exchange for PHP16,000.
The suspect, however, did not fulfill his promise and did not respond to messages after receiving the money.
The suspect is now detained at the Quezon Municipal Police Station in Isabela.
Two active duty cops and one dismissed cop have been arrested for various crimes.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1213354 |
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now probing an election officer in Masbate who allegedly failed to follow an order involving a candidate in the recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
In a message, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia told reporters Thursday that the poll body's law department recommended the investigation on Aroroy, Masbate Election Officer Magdie Moran for reportedly failing to remove the name of a disqualified bet from the certified list of candidates for the Oct. 30 polls.
Based on an excerpt from the minutes of the Comelec’s executive session, Moran was directed on Oct. 25 to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Aniano Pancho Capinig, who was running for chairperson of Aroroy town's Barangay Cabas-an.
The Comelec's Second Division, in a resolution dated Oct. 9, disqualified Capinig after he was convicted of violating Section 31 of Republic Act 10591 (illegal possession of firearms).
Capinig got the most number of votes in the BSKE but the Comelec declared them as “stray votes.”
The poll body said the candidate who garnered the second highest number of votes will be declared as the Barangay Captain of Cabas-an.
It noted that COC of Capinig was administratively canceled and that his name should have been deleted or removed from the official list of candidates.
The Comelec added that Moran failed to implement its order “despite having enough time to delete/remove/cancel his name in the certified List of candidates.”
Garcia, meanwhile, said the election officer may be dismissed from the service if found guilty.
“Removal from office due to gross insubordination,” he added.
The Comelec is also looking at other cases of non-implementation of the poll body's rulings by field officers.
The COMELEC is probing an election officer for not removing a disqualified candidate's name from the ballot.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1857688/erc-flags-ngcp-for-pr-expenses-recouped-as-pass-on-charges |
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Thursday flagged the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) for spending billions of pesos on public relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR), representation and entertainment, advertising, COVID-19 donations, charitable contributions, and other miscellaneous items that should not be included in the operating and maintenance costs it passed on to consumers from 2016 to 2020.
According to the ERC, these expenditures, which the country’s lone power grid operator had collected from consumers, were disallowed and were among the expenses it had taken out of NGCP’s maximum annual revenue (MAR) for the period.
MAR is the maximum amount approved by the ERC as regulator that NGCP is allowed to earn to recover its operating expense and capital expenditures.
The ERC has flagged the NGCP for gross expenditures which were not allowed and were passed on to the consumers.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/11/11/lgu-employee-shot-dead-in-batangas |
A municipal government employee was shot dead in Barangay District 5 here on Friday night, November 10.
Police identified the victim as Melchor Sale, 53, single, resident of Barangay Carenahan, this town.
Investigation said the victim was driving his motorcycle when he was shot in the head by two men onboard a motorcycle tailing him from behind.
Suspects fled and the victim was taken to the Metro Balayan Hospital here where he was declared dead.
Recovered from the crime scene were two fired cartridge cases for caliber .45 and two slugs of the same caliber.
Police are conducting follow-up operation.
An LGU employee has been assassinated.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/11/13/village-chair-nabbed-for-shooting-drinking-buddy |
An outgoing barangay chairman was arrested for shooting his drinking buddy in a drinking spree in Barangay Bolbok here on Sunday afternoon, November 12.
Police identified the suspect as Barangay Bolbok Chairman Herman.
Investigation said the suspect and the victim, Franco Tenorio, 62, a government employee, also a resident of Barangay Bolbok, were having a drinking spree when a misunderstanding erupted.
At the height of the argument, the pointed a gun to the victim but he lifted the suspect’s hand.
Herman fled with the gun but was nabbed in a follow-up operation in his house by the Taal Municipal Police Station.
However, the firearm was not recovered.
Suspect faces a complaint for attempted murder.
A barangay chairman has been arrested for shooting his drinking buddy.
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| https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/11/13/2311182/drunken-cop-kills-niece-shooting-rampage |
A drunken police sergeant shot his niece dead in a rampage in a residential area in Kidapawan City on Sunday morning, causing panic among villagers.
The Kidapawan City Police Office, in a report to Region 12 police director Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, on Monday said that the 13-year-old Yuki Maangue died instantly from a bullet wound in the throat
Citing accounts of witnesses, the local police reported that his uncle, Cpl. Roy Soliva Maangue, 36, first had an altercation with other relatives amid a drinking session in Sitio Mateo in Barangay Birada in Kidapawan before he pulled out a Glock 9 millimeter pistol and opened fire. This hit his niece fatally and sent people in the scene running for their lives.
Maangue, who is a member of the municipal police force in Magpet, an upland town in Cotabato province about 20 kilometers from Kidapawan, immediately scampered away but was eventually arrested by pursuing personnel of the Kidapawan CPO and barangay tanods.
He is now locked in a detention facility of the Kidapawan CPO, to be prosecuted for his criminal offense.
Macaraeg, whose office is in General Santos City, told reporters that he has ordered the filing of an administrative case against Maangue for him to get booted dishonorably from the police service.
A drunken cop in an altercation with relatives at a drinking session fired his gun and accidentally killed his niece.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/11/13/criminal-admin-charges-filed-vs-leyte-town-mayor-3-others |
Criminal and administrative complaints have been filed against Mayor Ramon C. Oñate of Palompon town in Leyte and three other persons before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) for their alleged "environmental transgressions" in 2017 that reportedly favored the business interest of the mayor.
Also named in the complaints were former municipal planning and development coordinator and now consultant Isagani A. Jaena, former forest ranger and now contract of service worker Terence S. Osmeña, and former municipal and environment resource officer (MENRO) Raoul T. Bacalla.
The complaints were filed last Oct. 18 by Palompon resident Henry I. Encarnacion who wanted them charged criminally with graft. In the case of Oñate, Encarnacion wanted the mayor also charged with violations of the Revised Forestry Code, the Expanded NIPAS Act, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, and the Water Code of the Philippines.
On the administrative complaint, Encarnacion claimed that Oñate's actions constituted grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
The complaints stated that those charged initiated the updating and passing of the "defective" Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) even without the approved Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP).
Barangay San Joaquin was even erroneously classified as an Industrial Zone, which Encarnacion alleged was done to accommodate Oñate's business interest in DBSN Farms and Agriventures Corporation in Lot No. 5143 of the said barangay.
Citing the CLUP from 2003 to 2013, Encarnacion alleged that the land use of Barangays Rizal, Taberna, Lat-osan, Cambacbac, and San Joaquin was timberland. However, he claimed that a reportedly new altered map covered some communities from the municipality of Villaba, the barangays of Sabang, Tinabilan, San Isidro, San Miguel, Tinago, Liberty and Santiago, Tinubdan, Himarco, Masala and Lomonon, which are all of the municipality of Palompon. The barangays, he alleged, are actually outside the coverage of Palompon Watershed Forest Reserve (PWFR).
Only barangays San Joaquin, Tambis, Cambacbac, and Mabini are within Palompon, he said. "The altered maps run counter to the concept of watershed in that it is defined not by political boundaries but the natural characteristics and physical features," he alleged.
"As a consequence, the land areas situated in Barangay San Joaquin and other barangays that were originally part of the PWFR were declared as Industrial Zone," he also alleged.
When ownership of Lot 5413 was finally transferred to DBSN in 2018, Encarnacion claimed that the property was subdivided into two parcels of land and issued with new Tax Declarations with "astronomically high land valuations."
"From the sequence of events..., it is as clear as daylight that despite prior knowledge of the facts that said barangays (including barangay San Joaquin) were classified as timberland and originally formed part of the PWFR, Oñate, being the local chief executive of the municipality... initiated, through his MPDO Jaena and in connivance with Bacalla... the updating of the said 2018 to 2027 CLUP without the required Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP) and where the land use of barangay San Joaquin was conveniently and erroneously classified as Industrial Zone to accommodate his business interest at Lot No. 5143 in the said barangay," the complaints stated.
"By misrepresenting that Lot 5143 is located within an industrial zone, deliberately disregarding the environmental transgressions and refusing to take appropriate actions, Mayor Oñate, Jaena, Bacalla and Osmeña exhibited manifest partiality and extended undue favors to Zachary Farms and DBSN Breeder Farms at Barangay San Joaquin, Palompon," the complaints also stated.
Criminal charges have been field against the Leyte town mayor and three others for entering into agreements that favored the mayor's personal business interests.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1213569 |
A kidnapping case was filed Monday against four persons, including a police officer, in connection with the disappearance of beauty pageant candidate Catherine Camilon in Batangas City.
In a press briefing held at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 4A (Calabarzon) said those charged before the Batangas Provincial Prosecutor's Office were Maj. Allan Avena de Castro, Jeffrey Magpantay and two John Does.
Fajardo said the prosecutor will have at least 10 days to evaluate whether the cases referred by the CIDG will reach preliminary investigation.
"As we speak, the RFU (Regional Field Unit) 4A of the CIDG is preparing other documents to support the case they have filed. We filed a kidnapping case because the victim was reported missing from Oct. 12 and until today, we are still uncertain whether she is still alive or not. If we find additional evidence in the coming days, these will not preclude us from filing additional cases or at least upgrade the case to another offense,” Fajardo said.
De Castro, assigned to the Police Regional Office- 4A and who is allegedly in a relationship with Camilon, is under restrictive custody at the PRO - 4A headquarters.
De Castro was chatting online with Camilon before she disappeared, according to a testimony by the latter’s friend.
A cop and three others have been charged with the disappearance of a former beauty queen candidate.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/11/15/three-rizal-cops-arrested-for-extortion |
Agents of the police’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) arrested on Wednesday morning, Nov. 15, three police sergeants assigned in Rizal for allegedly extorting money from the husband of a woman they failed to arrest during their operation in Rodriguez town.
The three policemen were identified as Police Senior Master Sgt. Jose Reyes, Police Staff Sgt. Ramel Delorino and Police Staff Sgt. Glenn Libres, all assigned to the Rodriguez Municipal Police Station.
IMEG director Police Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon said the operation stemmed from the complaint of the victim that he was being forced to pay P100,000 in exchange for not arresting his wife.
De Leon said the three cops went to the house of the victim on Tuesday, Nov. 14, to serve a supposed arrest warrant against his wife.
When they found out that their subject was not around, the three cops handcuffed the victim and dragged him to the police car where he was allegedly mauled and threatened.
The victim said he was released later but with an agreement that he would produce the P100,000 on Monday morning. It was then that he sought the assistance of IMEG.
An entrapment was then conducted which resulted in the arrest of the three policemen at around 8 a.m. on Monday in Montalban, Rizal, according to de Leon.
They are now facing charges of Robbery, Extortion, Illegal Detention, Trespass to Dwelling.
De Leon said administrative cases will also be slapped against the three policemen.
Three cops have been arrested for extortion.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1860312/solons-order-detention-of-ex-mayor-tumang-for-violation-of-house-rules |
Former Pampanga’s Mexico town mayor Teddy Tumang has been cited for contempt and ordered detained for 30 days at the House of Representatives facility for leaking details supposedly mentioned during an executive hearing.
During the House committee on dangerous drugs’ hearing on Wednesday, Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop moved to cite Tumang for contempt, to be fair with people cited for the same due to violation of House rules.
This was for publicly talking about details mentioned in a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and select anti-drug officers regarding the two drug busts conducted in Pampanga last August and September 2023.
Committee chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers approved the motion.
Last October 13, Barbers said that Tumang may be cited for contempt after he held a press briefing where he discussed one of the points raised during the closed-door meeting.
Barbers initially did not reveal what Tumang said in the briefing, but in the video uploaded on Facebook, the former mayor said Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. was supposedly asking National Bureau of Investigation agents if Tumang is really involved in the drug issue.
A former mayor has been ordered held in contempt and detained at he House of Representatives for leaking information at a closed door hearing.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/11/16/sc-cites-maguindanao-del-norte-vice-gov-sinsuat-in-contempt-requires-explanation |
Maguindanao del Norte Vice Governor Bai Fatima Ainee L. Sinsuat has been ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) to explain why she should not be cited in contempt for not promptly informing the court of her appointment, oath taking, and assumption as vice governor of the province.
Sinsuat filed a petition with the SC when she was acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte. On April 28, 2023 she accepted her appointment by President Marcos as vice governor of the province and assumed the post while her petition was pending with the SC.
She did not inform the SC of her appointment and assumption as vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte. The SC ruled in favor of her petition which she filed as acting governor of the province.
In a resolution issued last Monday, Nov. 13, Sinsuat was ordered to submit a written explanation on contempt citation within 10 days from receipt of the resolution.
A press statement issued by the SC’s public information office (PIO) said that Sinsuat’s “silence and omissions appear to constitute intentional concealment which tends to disrespect the Court’s authority as final dispenser of justice.”
“Her actions tend to cripple the Court’s authority to render an informed and just resolution of the case,” the PIO quoted from the resolution which has yet to be made public in the SC’s website.
Sinsuat won as vice governor of Maguindanao during the 2022 national and local elections or four months before Republic Act No. 1550, the Charter of the Provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, was ratified in a plebiscite conducted by the Commission on Elections.
Sinsuat then assumed the post of acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte. She asked the Bureau of Local Government Finance - Regional Office No. XII (BLGF Region XII) to designate Badorie M. Alonzo as provincial treasurer.
When informed that the designation needs the clearance of the BGLF Central and the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Sinsuat filed with the SC a petition to compel the designation of Alonzo or any qualified person as provincial treasurer.
On June 26, 2023, the SC granted Sinsuat’s petition and ordered the processing of Alonzo’s designation.
In its resolution, the SC affirmed the clear legal right of Maguindanao del Norte, represented by Sinsuat as acting governor, to recommend the appointment of its provincial treasurer.
However, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), representing the BLGF Region XII and BLGF Central, filed a motion to set the petition for oral arguments and that the June 26, 2023 ruling of the SC be reversed.
In its motion, the OSG told the SC that on April 26, 2023, President Marcos had appointed several officers for the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte with Sinsuat as vice governor.
With her appointment and assumption as vice governor on April 28, 2023, the OSG said that Sinsuat effectively abandoned her claim as acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte and relinquished the authority to appoint its provincial treasurer.
Through Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, the SC said that Sinsuat is deemed to have abandoned her claim to the position of governor of Maguindanao del Norte when she accepted her appointment, took her oath, and assumed office as vice governor of the newly created province.
With her assumption as vice governor, the SC said that the issues raised in Sinsuat’s petition have been rendered moot since her authority to represent Maguindanao del Norte had ceased.
Since Sinsuat abandoned her claim to the position of governor of Maguindanao del Norte, the Court ruled that the issues raised in the petition have been rendered moot and her authority to represent the province of Maguindanao del Norte had ceased warranting the dismissal of the case.
The SC then reversed its June 26, 2023 ruling for being moot.
The SC pointed out that while the court takes judicial notice of the official acts of the President in appointing Sinsuat, the parties should have at least informed the court of the supervening events which significantly altered the possible outcome of the case.
A former acting governor is being held in contempt for not informing the SC that she was appointed and assumed the post of vic-governor of a newly created province by President Marcos.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1860495/maguindanao-del-sur-school-head-teacher-slain-in-sultan-kudarat |
The head teacher of a school in Maguindanao del Sur was killed in an ambush on Wednesday afternoon in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat, police said.
Major Jethro Doligas, Lambayong police chief, said Hermielex A. Kapusan, head teacher of Tukanakuden Elementary School in Barangay Tukanakuden in Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao del Sur, was ambushed by two gunmen at past 5 p.m. along the national highway in Barangay Tinumigues, Lambayong.
Doligas said Kapusan, 40, was heading home aboard his Yamaha NMAX motorbike when he was attacked.Responding militiamen rushed Kapusan to a local hospital where he was declared dead upon arrival.
Doligas said they are still investigating the possible motive of the attack.
The head teacher of a school has been assassinated.
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