It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/3/vice-mayor-in-maguindanao-del-sur-aide-shot-dead-in-ambush |
The vice mayor of South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur was killed in an ambush on Friday afternoon, August 2.
Police identified the fatality as Roldan Benito.
His nephew, who was a security aide, was also killed.
Benito's wife, the chairwoman of Barangay Pandan, South Upi, and one of their children, 11, were wounded. The other child, 13, was unharmed.
Investigation said the incident happened at 5 p.m. in Sitio Linao, Barangay Pandan, South Upi.
The victims were traveling in a mountainous area onboard a pickup truck when their vehicle was fired at by unidentified gunmen.
The perpetrators fled afterwards.
The Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and South Upi Mayor Reynalbert Insular condemned the ambush.
"The Police Regional Office-BAR extends our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time. We assure the public that justice will be served, and the perpetrators will be held accountable," the PRO-BAR said.
Municipal police are conducting follow-up investigation and pursuing the suspects along with the 57th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.
The vice mayor of South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur and an aide was killed in an ambush.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1230415 |
The chief of Barangay Marungko in Angat, Bulacan was shot dead Saturday morning.
The Police Regional Office-Central Luzon report identified the victim as Wenceslao Bernardo.
He was killed by two still unidentified suspects onboard an unmarked motorcycle.
The victim and his constituents were taking part of the simultaneous nationwide cleanup drive in Sitio Tugatog when shot at around 6:30 a.m.
He sustained two gunshot wounds to the head.
The victim was taken to Twin Care Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A barnagay chief has been assassinated.
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| https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/barangay-tanod-shot-dead-in-barili-cebu |
A barangay tanod was shot and killed in Barangay Patupat, Barili, Cebu, at 6:40 p.m. on Friday, August 2.
The victim was identified as Palconaire Trinidad Pasiluna, 43, married and resident of the aforementioned location.
According to Barili police led by Captain Gerald Casalme, the relatives of the victim claimed that Pasiluna and Renante Ewican, 55, who is also his neighbor, got into an argument because the latter's motorcycle was parked nearby without turning off its engine, making noise.
But the suspect—who was taken into custody following the incident—claimed that their trouble started when the victim turned off his motorcycle’s ignition switch.
At the height of their quarrel, Ewican shot the victim in the left chest with a 357 magnum revolver and the bullet exited through the back.
The victim was rushed to the Barili District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
A barangay tanod has been killed during an argument.
The misreporting of police blotters to sanitize Davao City’s real crime statistics was among the reasons for the reassignment of 19 police station commanders here, Police Brig. General Nicolas Torre III, director of Police Regional Office 11, said on Sunday.
Torre showed to reporters two books of police blotters that the blotter validation officer recovered from the Calinan police station shortly after he assumed office in June.
Both books of blotter, covering 2022 to 2023, appeared identical although some entries contained in the first book did not appear in the other.
Randomly skimming through the entries of one of the books, Torre read an entry on lost items last March 2, when a certain Jessica Galleros Jawa, 29, reported that her dark blue sling bag containing her wallet, debit card, and several IDs, was missing and believed to be stolen in Beep Plaza near Jollibee Calinan.
Instead of marking it as theft, the entry was reported only as a “lost item” and was marked “for recording purposes.”
“[They put there] ‘lost item,’ so that you don’t have to put that in the crime statistics pero kung binasa mo (but if you read it), it says, ‘it’s believed to be stolen inside Beep Plaza’ so, that’s theft. It’s not recorded so, peaceful pa rin ang Davao City. Dinoktor,” Torre said.
(So Davao City is still peaceful. It was misreported.)
Torre said it is important to report the crime correctly so that the police could take necessary actions about it.
“By misreporting it, or reporting it as if the crime did not happen, the police cannot put in place programs to address the problem. You can’t deploy operatives in the area because you can’t see it in the record, ” he added.
Torre noted that several entries in the book, which could have been reported as petty crimes, were only reported as “for the record,” which meant they were not included in the city’s crime statistics.
In another entry, at 12:30 a.m. also on March 2, a complainant reported how a drunk 22-year old resident of Purok 35 Lagazo Calinan district had a heated confrontation with her and had grabbed a knife in the middle of their argument, prompting her to call the police.
Although the police briefly took custody of the youth, the incident was tagged merely as “for [the] record, when it could possibly lead to more serious crimes,” Torre said.
He added that they discovered the sanitized books of blotter during their blotter validation, a standard procedure within the police force, but the police considered misreporting the blotter as a serious offense that could lead to dismissal from service as it constitutes false reporting and perjury.
“There’s a criminal case for it,” Torre said.
However, he said he would no longer pursue any further cases against the police station commanders involved.
Torre also suspended four police officers who handled the case of a 14-year-old girl who reported to the Calinan police station on July 15 that she was raped by her father.
Since the girl, who was raped on July 4, only came to the police station on July 15, the police said they could no longer conduct a “hot pursuit operation,” against her father, so the police officer asked the girl to go back home so that if the father would rape her again, the police would be ready to arrest him.
Torre said he immediately suspended the four officers involved, including the head of the women’s and children’s desk, even as he prepared charges for dereliction of duty against them.
“Davao City deserves the best service from their police force,” he added.
19 Davao City cops who were previously reassigned doctored the police blotter and four other Davao City cops have been suspended for mishandling a rape case.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1230482 |
A former barangay chairperson was shot dead in La Paz district here Monday.
Ernie Poral, 63, former chair of Barangay Ingore, La Paz, was shot in the head by a gunman in Barangay Baldoza at 7:12 a.m.
Police said Poral was buying feeds when the gunman shot him at close range.
The suspect fled on a motorcycle.
The victim was brought to West Visayas State University Medical Center but was pronounced dead by an attending physician.
“We are still investigating members of the family, witnesses, and closed circuit television cameras for the possible routes of the suspect,” said Col. Kim Legada, officer-in-charge of the Iloilo City Police Office.
A former barnagay captain has been assassinated.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1230522 |
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered a six-month preventive suspension for eight members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan over their “deliberate action” to delay the PHP1.07 billion supplemental budget of the province.
In a six-page order signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martirez on Aug.1, Board Members Egidio P. Elio, Rony L. Molina, Victor R. Condez, Alfie Jay O. Niquia, Plaridel E. Sanchez IV, Mayella Mae P. Ladislao, Kenneth Dave B. Gasalao, and Julius Cedar O. Tajanlangit, were ordered suspended without pay not exceeding six months as “there is strong evidence showing their guilt.”
“The office finds sufficient grounds to preventively suspend herein respondents considering that there is strong evidence showing their guilt…” on charges of grave misconduct, oppression, grave abuse of authority, gross neglect of duty under the 2017 Revised Rules of Administrative Cases in the Civil Service and the Republic Act 6713 or the Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees.
The Ombudsman found that the respondents “deliberately delayed action” on Supplemental Budget No.1, amounting to PHP1.07 billion, during their regular session on May 20 and 27.
Further, the respondents also “boycotted” their regular session on June 3, thus resulting in the adjournment for lack of quorum.
With these, the budget to install a photovoltaic system in eight hospitals, the purchase of a home solar system, and the installation of solar-powered streetlights were set aside.
“In effect, it deprived the 200 barangays of the province of Antique and about 15,000 households of home solar systems,” said the order.
The suspension order takes effect immediately.
Eight Antique board members have been suspended over their “deliberate action” to delay the PHP1.07 billion supplemental budget of the province.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/08/06/2375763/15-cops-sacked-over-failure-arrest-quiboloy |
At least 15 police officers have been relieved for failing to arrest Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) pastor Apollo Quiboloy, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil said yesterday.
“These officers were relieved not for their abuses but for their failure to arrest Quiboloy and his co-accused,” Marbil clarified during the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
Of the 15 cops, 12 were non-commissioned police officers.
Marbil said he immediately directed the PNP Internal Affairs Service to conduct an impartial investigation to determine if any operational lapses or excessive force were committed during a police operation at Quiboloy’s compound in Davao in June.
He maintained that the police were simply doing their job in keeping with established procedures.
“It was a critical mission to execute a lawful warrant of arrest against the fugitives Quiboloy and five others in connection with non-bailable offenses of child abuse and qualified trafficking,” Marbil said.
He added the police operation was carried out with strict adherence to PNP operational procedures.
“Our guiding principle was to uphold human rights while executing our duties with the highest standards of professionalism and respect for the law,” Marbil said.
At least 15 police officers have been relieved for failing to arrest Apollo Quiboloy.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan on the municipality's purchases of P5.9 million worth of supplies and materials that were treated as "outright expenses" without coursing them through the inventory account.
In its 2023 audit report, the COA cited Section 114 of the Manual on the New Government Accounting System (MNGAS), Volume 1, which discussed the perpetual inventory method.
It pointed out: "The perpetual inventory method prescribes that purchases of supplies and materials shall be coursed through the inventory account and issuances thereof shall be recorded as they take place, except those purchased out of the petty cash fund which shall be for immediate use."
It explained: "The accounting method requires a detailed inventory of records for each item, and the municipal accountant is in charge of maintaining the perpetual inventory records such as the Supplies Ledger Cards (SLC) for each commodity. The physical inventory of supplies will then be reconciled quarterly with the SLC, and any discrepancy should be verified and adjusted."
In the case of Ungkaya Pukan town, the COA said state auditors discovered that certain purchased supplies and materials of the municipality were directly charged to its related supplies and materials expense account instead of recording them first as inventory upon receipt.
It said the inventories that were charged outright to expense accounts were Office Supplies Expense (P340,461), Food Supplies Expense (P743,871), Welfare Good Expense (P16,230), and Fuel, Oil, and Lubricants Expense (P4,822,286) or a total of P5,922,848.
Also, it said the audit team noted that the inventory account of Ungkaya Pukan as of Dec. 31, 2023 consisted only of Other Supplies and Materials Inventory amounting to P36,000. The municipality also failed to maintain and prepare SLCs and conduct physical count of inventories, it also said.
When the municipality was confronted, the COA said its auditors were told that the municipal government does not maintain any record of inventories, the common practice is to just purchase supplies and materials as the need arises, and when the supplies are delivered, they are simply issued to the end-users.
"The practice of purchasing supplies and inventories in a piecemeal manner provides no assurance that these were economically procured in accordance with the municipality's needs/requirements," the COA's report stressed.
"Furthermore, the absence, or non-maintenance, of accounting reports and records by the municipal accountant and municipal treasurer at year-end suggests that the receipt and issuances of procured inventories were not adequately controlled and may not be properly recognized in the books," it added.
By treating procured goods as outright expenses without being coursed through the inventory account, the audit team warned the municipality that it is casting doubt on the reliability of its Inventory and Expense accounts.
The audit team also urged the municipality's accountant to prepare and maintain SLC for each inventory account moving forward, while the treasurer and property custodian should maintain and record the receipts and issuances of its supplies and inventories in the corresponding Supplies and Stock Cards.
The Commission on Audit has called out Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan on the municipality's purchases of P5.9 million worth of supplies and materials that were treated as "outright expenses" without coursing them through the inventory account.
Criminal and administrative complaints were filed against Siquijor Vice Gov. Mei Ling Quezon-Brown before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Charges of grave abuse of authority, serious dishonesty, gross misconduct, gross negligence, and acts inimical to public interest were filed against the official by one Marty Vittorio Saludar, a resident of Barangay Can-asagan, San Juan, Siquijor.
Saludar asked the anti-graft court to investigate the vice governor for “her orders and actions at the Provincial Board (PB), including her issuance of office orders that bar people from entering the session hall without her approval.”
She said in her complaint that sessions and committee hearings are supposed to be open to all as provided for by the Local Government Code and their house rules.
The complaint for abuse of authority was for Brown’s alleged act of threatening a PB member for contempt during a committee hearing which is beyond her powers.
The alleged incident happened during the May 30 budget hearing where people’s attendance was restricted only to those who were invited.
At the time, the vice governor asked PB Member Erson Digal to remove lawyer Frank Dinsay from the session hall, and when Digal hesitated, Brown allegedly threatened him with contempt.
Also cited in the complaints was Brown’s act of creating a “committee as a whole” on her own without the required concurrence of PB members.
The complainant stated that board members even objected to the unlawful creation of the committee as a whole but the vice governor cut them short in mid-sentence. This was her attempt to reopen the budget hearings even if the PB was already done with this in the previous year.
All the acts narrated in the complaints were incidents that occurred during the tug-of-war in the approval of the revised 2024 annual budget where corrections were inserted as required by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Brown was accused of “fraudulently altering the calendar of business” wherein she took over the discussions on the budget despite the presence of the chairperson and vice chairperson of the committee on finance, appropriations, and ways and means.
The complaint also pointed out Brown’s issuance of Office Order NO. VGO-2024-0326 that requires the public to submit a formal request to her for her approval before any document can be released.
This, according to the complaint, contradicts the Code of Conduct for Public Officials which states that all public documents must be made accessible to the public within reasonable working hours.
Criminal and administrative complaints of grave abuse of authority, serious dishonesty, gross misconduct, gross negligence, and acts inimical to public interest were filed against Siquijor Vice Gov. Mei Ling Quezon-Brown before the Office of the Ombudsman.
A jealous policeman allegedly gunned down his female companion during a drinking spree in Barangay Indangan, this city, before dawn on Wednesday, August 7.
Police Capt. Hazel Tuazon, Davao City Police Office (DCPO) spokesperson, identified the suspect as Police Patrolman Alvin John Tayamin, a resident of Kidapawan City, North Cotabato assigned to the Mandug Police Station of the DCPO.
Tuazon, speaking during the Davao Peace and Security Press Corps press conference at the Royal Mandaya Hotel Davao here, said Tayamin got jealous of the victim, Justine May Villaroja, triggering a heated altercation where he shot the victim in the face with his service firearm.
She said the suspect voluntarily surrendered himself to the police.
Tuazon assured the victim’s family that the DCPO would hold the suspect liable. She said the suspect may be charged with murder.
“Among ipaniguro sa pamilya sa biktima nga dili namo dapigan ang member sa DCPO kung kini makasala. Dili gina tolerate ingon nga nga actions (We would like to assure the family of the victim that we would not side with any member of DCPO if he commits any crime. We do not tolerate such actions),” she said.
Villaroja’s body was taken to the Rivera Funeral Homes here.
Police Col. Hansel M. Marantan, acting DCPO director, ordered a comprehensive investigation of the incident to ensure that appropriate charges are filed against the suspect.
“I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident where a police officer resorted to using his firearm against a civilian. I extend my heartfelt apologies to the victim’s family for this tragic event,” Marantan said.
He said Tayamin has been restricted to camp pending a thorough investigation.
“While I am prepared to take full responsibility if this incident is found to be connected to the official duties of our personnel, initial indications suggest a personal matter was involved. However, this in no way justifies the loss of a civilian life,” he added.
A jealous policeman allegedly gunned down his female companion during a drinking spree.
The officer in charge of San Manuel Police Station in Pangasinan and three other officers have been relieved from their posts as an investigation into the alleged torture of a drug suspect is ongoing.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Pangasinan Provincial Police Office information officer Capt. Renan dela Cruz said the order to relieve the four police personnel including Maj. Ronnie Maramba, the officer in charge of San Manuel Police Station, was given on Tuesday.
He said the police officers were not suspended but were just relieved pending the results of the investigation, and are now assigned at Camp Antonio Sison in Lingayen town, Pangasinan.
The Pangasinan PPO vehemently denied the alleged torture of drug suspect Edilberto Sumajit, arrested on August 5.
Based on a video posted on social media by the suspect’s sister, Princess Warlyn Sumajit, the suspect claimed of being weak, dizzy, and nauseated due to alleged torture while in detention.
“The allegations of torture against personnel of San Manuel Police Station are vehemently denied. Medical certificates indicate that only minor abrasions from resisting arrest were observed by the attending physician. To ensure truth, fairness, and impartiality, the concerned Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel have been administratively relieved from their posts and reassigned pending an impartial investigation. If evidence warrants, appropriate criminal and/or administrative charges will be filed against the involved officers,” the Pangasinan PPO stated.
Dela Cruz said a brief scuffle transpired when policemen arrested Sumajit, resulting in minor injuries to both the suspect and one of the arresting officers.
He said the suspect was then brought to the Rural Health Unit of San Manuel for the mandatory medical examination of arrested suspects but was taken back to the health facility in the early morning of Wednesday following his complaints for medical attention.
According to the police, Sumajit was a drug personality who served his probation last 2014 in San Manuel Pangasinan and is currently facing charges of attempted murder, related to a shooting incident on July 18, 2024, in San Manuel, Pangasinan.
The suspect also tested positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride in his urine sample based on the test conducted by the Provincial Forensic Unit, the police added.
The officer in charge of San Manuel Police Station in Pangasinan and three other officers have been relieved from their posts as an investigation into the alleged torture of a drug suspect is ongoing.
Two Manila fire officials were relieved from their posts pending the result of the investigation in connection with the Binondo fire that left 11 people dead, the Bureau of Fire-National Capital Region (BFP-NCR) confirmed on Monday, Aug. 5.
In an interview, BFP-NCR Director Chief Supt. Nahum Tarroza clarified that the relief of Senior Supt. Aristotle Bañaga is “just temporary’’ stating “that it is a standard operating procedure that when your office will be investigated the head or chief will be relieved for the meantime.’’
In the case of Manila Fire Safety Enforcement Branch chief Fire Chief Inspector Dominc Salvacion, Tarroza explained that the same thing holds true as it is needed in the course of the investigation on the Binondo fire incident.
“If the result of the investigation proves that there is no negligence on their part, they will be returned to their respective posts,’’ Tarroza noted.
To recall the blaze at the residential-commercial building located at 647 Carvajal Street in Binondo reached the first alarm at 7:28 a.m. and the second alarm at 8:14 a.m. on Friday, August 2.
Reports disclosed that the fire was caused by a leaking liquified petroleum gas (LPG) tank.
Two Manila fire officials were relieved from their posts pending the result of the investigation in connection with the Binondo fire that left 11 people dead.
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