Retards in the Government 346

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

 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1216465

The Department of the Interior and Local Government - Central Visayas (DILG-7) suspended a city councilor of this Negros Oriental capital for nine months allegedly over a graft complaint involving a construction project at Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) - Bais City campus.

DILG-7 legal officer Michael Bandal and Director Farah Diba Gentuya served the suspension order Friday on Councilor Joe Kenneth Arbas.

Bandal said Arbas received the order while confined at a local hospital.

The suspension without pay will take effect immediately, Bandal said.

He added that they are not privy to the facts of the case against Arbas, except that they have been directed by the Office of the Ombudsman to serve the suspension order upon receipt of a copy of the graft complaint filed by one Michael Daniel.

Arbas countered the complaint was not related to his job as a councilor, but involved a construction project at the NORSU - Bais City campus which he is a part.

The case, he added, was the same case filed before the Bais City prosecutor’s office which had already been dismissed. 

The suspension as cited in the Ombudsman ruling is “conduct prejudicial to the public interest”, Bandal said.

A councilor has been suspended over a graft complaint. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1884849/maguindanao-del-sur-governor-suspends-town-mayor

Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu has ordered the 60-day preventive suspension of Datu Salibo Mayor Solaiman Sandigan after an administrative case had been filed against him.

The suspension took effect on Dec. 28 as contained in Administrative Order No. 23-001 series of 2023, according to provincial administrator Cyrus Torreña.

He said Mangudadatu issued the suspension order while the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is hearing the administrative case against Sandigan who allegedly appointed a new member of the Sangguniang Bayan after a regular member was killed in an attack last year.

The 64-year-old mayor was arrested last October after he was linked to the murder of Datu Salibo councilor Demson Silongan last April. But Sandigan was granted temporary liberty by the Cotabato City regional trial court.

Under the Local Government Code, the power to appoint a new member of the municipal council to fill a vacant seat rests with the provincial governor.

A local mayor has been suspended after an administrative case was filed against him. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/01/07/2324019/taguig-road-rage-bi-officer-attacks-cabbie

A Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer was arrested on Friday for reportedly punching a taxi driver in a road rage incident in Taguig.

Abumelhaq Linog, 41, was caught on closed-circuit television footage attacking taxi driver Celso delos Santos, 53, in front of a mall in Bonifacio Global City at around 5 p.m.

According to the Southern Police District (SPD), Linog and Delos Santos were driving along McKinley Parkway when the taxi driver allegedly cut into the lane of Delos Santos, who was driving a sport utility vehicle.

Linog had to quickly step on the brakes, causing his wife – who was in the front passenger seat – to nearly hit the dashboard, the SPD reported.

The BI officer got out of his vehicle and confronted Delos Santos.

Mall guards had tried to intervene, but Linog threw a container of juice at Delos Santos’ face, while Linog’s wife threw a bottle of water at the taxi driver, ABS-CBN reported.

Delos Santos said in Filipino that the suspect “must have thought I would attack his wife, so he punched me.”

The taxi driver claimed that Linog tried to force him to settle the case, but he still plans to file charges, according to ABS-CBN.

“We work for a living. They think they are rich. They have money, but not that much,” Delos Santos said in Filipino.

Linog faces charges of physical injury.

A BI officer has been caught on camera punching a taxi driver in a fit of road rage.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/01/06/2323897/cop-cohort-yields-p4-m-worth-shabu-cotabato-city-sting

Anti-narcotics agents confiscated P4 million worth of shabu from a policeman and an accomplice, entrapped along a busy thoroughfare here on Friday night.

Staff Sgt. Mujeeb Bitayo Sepi and his companion, Farida Alim Alfonso, both yielded peacefully when they sensed that they had sold P4 million worth of shabu to non-uniformed agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and police personnel in a tradeoff along Quezon Avenue here.

In separate initial reports on Saturday, Gil Cesario Castro, director of PDEA-BARMM, and Bangsamoro police director Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza said that they are both thankful to tipsters who reported the duo’s drug trafficking activities, enabling personnel of the agency and policemen to plot the sting that led to their arrest.

Sepi, who belongs to the municipal police force in nearby Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, and Alfonso are now locked in the detention facility of PDEA-BARMM here.

Castro said they are to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 using the shabu seized from them as evidence.

A cop and his companion have been busted for selling drugs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1216555

A former village councilman in Talisay City’s coastal village was arrested during a buy-bust operation after yielding PHP1.3 million worth of suspected shabu Sunday night.

Romeo Santillan, 44, a former councilman of Tangke, Talisay City, was arrested in neighboring village of San Roque, while transacting with a police officer who posed as a buyer, said Lt. Francis Russue, Cebu Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) officer.

Santillan yielded 200 grams of suspected shabu and drug paraphernalia.

“His name emerged based on information we gathered. We placed the suspect under surveillance and we confirmed his illegal drug operation,” Russue told reporters here on Monday. 

A former councilor has been busted for drugs. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/01/09/2324404/ex-afp-member-faces-raps-socmed-report

A retired military man is facing cybercrime charges for using an image of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. in his vlog about an alleged ouster plot against President Marcos that went viral.

PNP public information office chief Col. Jean Fajardo said at a press briefing yesterday in Camp Crame that Acorda had already filed a complaint with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office against vlogger Johnny Lacsamana Macanas Sr. for dissemination of false information using a photo of the PNP chief in a viral vlog regarding an alleged destabilization plot by disgruntled military officers and personnel.

Fajardo said the vlogger is a retired AFP member, but it was not immediately clear what his rank in the military was.

“We expect that the prosecutor’s office will send summons to the accused to give him time to respond to the complaint,” Fajardo said in Filipino.

She said the complaint against Macanas is for violation of Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act 10591, in connection with Section 6 of the Cybercrime Law. She said an investigation is still ongoing to determine other possible case against Macanas.

“Misusing social media to spread false information for personal or political gain is unacceptable,” Fajardo said in Filipino.

A retired AFP soldier is facing cybercrime charges for spreading disinformation on his vlog. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1886191/ex-cop-nabbed-in-drug-buy-bust-operation-in-cauayan-city

A 34-year-old dismissed police officer was arrested early Tuesday after allegedly selling “shabu” (crystal meth) to an undercover agent in this city, authorities said.

The suspect was identified as Rodolfo Duazo Jr., who went absent without official leave and was dismissed from service in 2020, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Nebalasca Jr., Cauayan City police chief.

Seized from Duazo were a pack of alleged shabu worth P10,000, a 22-caliber handgun, and assorted drug paraphernalia.

Duazo has been under police surveillance since late last year.

He is facing charges of violating Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) and Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).

A cop dismissed for going AWOL has been busted for drugs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1216560

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has started a probe into one of its junior officers for alleged reckless driving in a viral video at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) during the first week of January.

In a statement on Monday, PCG Commandant, Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, ordered the investigation after the Coast Guard Intelligence Force received a letter from the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The letter identified PCG Ensign Alain Anthony Agpalo as the rider of a Suzuki motorcycle that illegally entered SLEX and refused to stop when flagged down by enforcers.

“We assure the public that we will cooperate with the LTO investigation. We will also conduct a parallel investigation and sanction CG Ensign Agpalo based on the evidence,” Gavan said.

The LTO summoned Agpalo and was ordered to appear before their office on Monday and submit a written explanation as to why he should not be administratively charged for disregarding traffic signs and reckless driving, and why his driver’s license should not be suspended or revoked.

“Here in the Philippine Coast Guard, we do not tolerate officers or personnel violating existing laws and regulations implemented by other agencies. They must face the consequences of their actions,” he said.

Ensign-ranked PCG officers are considered junior officers who have served for one to five years.

Agpalo completed his Coast Guard training in October 2019, after which he formally took oath as an official member of the PCG.

In a deleted video posted by Agpalo himself on the X Vlogs Facebook page, he entered SLEX despite knowing that his Suzuki Raider 150cc motorcycle was prohibited from the tollway due to the minimum 400cc displacement requirement for motorcycles.

He was also seen driving over 140 kilometers per hour (kph) despite the 100 kph speed limit at SLEX. 

A PCG officer is being probed for reckless driving. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1216629

An education official escaped a murder attempt, but his wife was slightly injured when gunmen opened fire on his parked vehicle at 4:45 p.m. in Barangay Kalawag 2 here Monday.

Lt. Col. Richelu Alucilja, town police chief, said Eric Balancio, 51, education program supervisor of the Sultan Kudarat schools division office, had just alighted from his car (MAQ 3509) and entered the cooperative office when the motorcycle-riding attackers arrived and opened fire.

His wife, Norilyn, 51, who was inside the car, sustained minor injuries from glass debris.

Alucilja said the attackers immediately fled.

Police are determining if the attack was work-related or a case of personal grudge.

A DepEd official has survived an assassination attempt. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/08/24/ombudsman-oks-graft-charges-vs-ex-comelec-commissioner-guanzon

The Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to indict former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon for two counts of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

 

The Ombudsman Resolution, a copy of which ABS-CBN obtained from Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, who is one of the complainants, alleged that Guanzon prematurely disclosed confidential information during two interviews.

 

Guanzon was the Presiding Commissioner of COMELEC’s First Division that handled the disqualification cases against then Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

On January 27, 2022 she granted an interview with GMA News’ Sandra Aguinaldo where she said she had voted to disqualify Marcos Jr. from the elections.

 

On January 28, 2022 she told Rappler’s Paterno Esmaquel II the name of the ponente in charge of writing the Resolution, and discussed her separate opinion.

 

COMELEC Commissioner Aimee Ferolino was the ponente.

 

“Respondent’s contention that the information disclosed by her is not considered a confidential information fails to convince,” the Ombudsman Resolution read.

 

Based on COMELEC Resolution No. 10685 entitled “In the Matter of People’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Manual,” the Ombudsman said “all information acquired by respondent in the exercise of her quasi-judicial powers are considered confidential information.” 

The Resolution also cited the Supreme Court’s prohibition on the disclosure of a ponente’s identity and internal deliberations, which supposedly applies to other branches of government such as COMELEC.

“With respondent’s improper disclosure of confidential information, this Office finds probable cause to indict her for violation of Section 3 (k) of Republic Act No. 3019,” the Resolution further stated.

The former COMELEC commissioner has been indicted for graft for disclosing confidential information. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1886064/fwd-bbm-on-cops-with-drug-charges

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said that his administration has charged 177 police officers in Metro Manila with drug-related offenses in 2023.

These charges include the planting of evidence and the use of excessive force, said Marcos in a video message on Facebook.

“Alam naman natin na kung minsan, nadadala ang ating mga opisyal at syempre hindi natin maaaring pabayaan yan. Kaya ang nangyari ay 177 police officers have been charged with drug-related offenses, including the planting of evidence, unlawful arrests, and excessive violence, dito palang sa NCR (National Capital Region),” said Marcos.

(We know that sometimes, officials get carried away, and of course, we cannot tolerate that. That is why 177 police officers have drug-related offenses, including the planting of evidence, unlawful arrests, and excessive violence, just here in the NCR.)

Marcos said that the fight against illegal drugs will not slow down.

177 cops in the NCR alone have been charged with drug offenses in 2023.