It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.
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| https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/11/15/2400439/female-engineer-barmm-public-works-ministry-shot-dead |
A suspected hired killer shot dead a female engineer in the Bangsamoro public works ministry while in a roadside eatery along a highway in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday, November 14.
Engineer Darlene Pacete was with companions inside the establishment when a man approached, pulled out a pistol from his bag, shot her repeatedly and ran away.
Citing a report from the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station, Brig. Gen. Romeo Jaime Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday, November 15, that Pacete died instantly from bullet wounds in the head.
Pacete, a civil engineer by profession, worked in the Ministry of Public Works and Highways-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, whose regional office is in Cotabato City, only about five kilometers north of Barangay Tamontaka where she was killed.
Her killer managed to escape using a getaway motorcycle, parked a few meters away from where she was attacked, driven by an accomplice.
A suspected hired killer shot dead a female engineer in the Bangsamoro public works ministry while in a roadside eatery along a highway in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday, November 14.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil ordered the immediate dismissal of 11 Special Action Force (SAF) officers for grave misconduct related to a moonlighting case.
This came after the recommendation of the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) for supposedly covering up for two Zamboanga-based SAF members who were serving as private security for a Chinese national without proper authorization.
The case stemmed from a May 2024 fistfight in a residential village in Muntinlupa City between the two SAF members.
In a statement to the press on Friday, Nov. 15, PNP said the IAS investigation found that the battalion commander and executive senior police officer deployed the two personnel to moonlight as private security.
Two more battalion officers falsified daily reports to make it appear that the moonlighting SAF members were present on duty.
All in all, one lieutenant colonel, three captains, two lieutenants, one executive master sergeant, two senior master sergeants, and two corporals were summarily dismissed from the force.They were found guilty of grave misconduct, dishonesty, grave irregularity in performing their duties, and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
Additionally, one captain was found guilty of simple neglect of duty and less grave neglect of duty. He was suspended for 31 days.
Meanwhile, one captain, chief master sergeant and one corporal were exonerated from the case due to insufficient evidence linking them to the scheme.
At a press briefing at Camp Crame on Friday, Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, PNP spokesperson, said the dismissed officers “have every right to exhaust legal remedies” but added that the order was a “summary dismissal proceeding” due to the gravity of the allegations.
In a statement, Marbil said, “Let it be clear that the Philippine National Police does not and will not tolerate any form of misconduct or dishonesty within its ranks.”
“This is a message to all PNP personnel: We are here to serve the people with integrity, and we will continue to cleanse the ranks of those who undermine the trust placed in us,” he added.
Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil ordered the immediate dismissal of 11 Special Action Force officers for grave misconduct related to a moonlighting case.
The Office of the Ombudsman has indicted Mayor Gina Merilo of Tanauan town, Leyte for hiring two losing candidates within the one-year ban.
Merilo would be charged for violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for hiring Quintin Octa Jr. and Reynalda Almaden on July 1, 2022, about two months after the two lost in the May 2022 elections.
Octa, Merilo’s former running mate, was appointed as a project engineer while Almaden was hired as a mobile nurse for the municipality.
The nine-page decision, signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Sept. 30, was released on Nov. 4.
The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by Tanauan resident Mildred Lopez, who questioned the appointments that transpired during the one-year ban on hiring losing candidates.
Merilo, in her explanation submitted to the anti-graft office, defended her actions, claiming good faith in the appointments.
She explained that, as a first-term mayor, she had consulted the town’s human resource officer, who, in turn, sought the guidance of the regional Civil Service Commission and Department of Interior and Local Government offices, both of which reportedly supported the appointments.Merilo clarified that both positions were not regular plantilla posts but merely job order assignments.
The Ombudsman, however, ruled that Merilo’s actions showed “manifest partiality” in favoring Octa and Almaden by hiring them on a job order basis to bypass the one-year ban.
“Respondent acted with manifest partiality when she hired Octa and Almaden… [with] the furtive design and intent to circumvent the constitutional and statutory provisions prohibiting the hiring of losing candidates one year after the immediate preceding elections,” the anti-graft court said.
The Ombudsman found sufficient basis to indict Merilo and ordered the filing of a case in court.
Merilo, who spoke through her office staff member on Monday, Nov. 4, said they have yet to receive the Ombudsman’s decision but intends to respond once she does.
The Office of the Ombudsman has indicted Mayor Gina Merilo of Tanauan town, Leyte for hiring two losing candidates within the one-year ban.
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| https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/11/15/2400293/barangay-chairman-shot-dead-nueva-ecija |
The chairman of Barangay Don Mariano Marcos in Jaen, Nueva Ecija was shot dead by unidentified men in a dawn attack on Wednesday.
Col. Ferdinand Gemino, Nueva Ecija police provincial director, said barangay chairman Mark Vic Pascual was meeting with a group of barangay workers when the suspects arrived in a car and fired their guns.
Gemino said investigators are looking into the incident to identify and arrest the assailants. They are also determining if the killing is related to the upcoming polls.
Pascual, a nephew of Jaen Mayor Sylvia Austria, ran unopposed during the 2022 elections.
The chairman of Barangay Don Mariano Marcos in Jaen, Nueva Ecija was assassinated by unidentified men.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2006656/south-cotabato-vice-mayor-aspirant-slain-in-gun-attack |
An aspirant for vice mayor in South Cotabato was killed Monday morning by unidentified gunmen in his residence in Tantangan town, police said.
Jose “Bobot” Osorio, 58, former village chair of Barangay Bukay Pait, who is running for town vice mayor under the ticket of former Tantangan Mayor Benjamin Figueroa, was found by relatives in a pool of blood inside his home and carinderia (eatery) at 5:50 a.m. Monday, Nov. 18, according to Major Erika Vallejo, Tantangan municipal police station chief.
Osorio was believed to have been attacked on Sunday night but his body was found only early Monday morning.
Crime operatives found six empty shells at the crime scene.
The victim’s body is now at a funeral parlor undergoing post-mortem investigation.
South Cotabato Second District Rep. Peter Miguel has offered a P1 million reward for anyone who could provide information leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect or suspects in the killing.
“I hope this will help fast-track the investigation so justice will be served for Osorio,” Miguel told reporters near the victim’s home.
Osorio is seeking the town’s second top post under the Lakas-CMD party along with reelectionist Miguel.The victim’s relatives told reporters that Osorio had no known enemy and that he was well-loved by the people of Barangay Bukay Pait, where he served three consecutive terms of office.
A former barangay chairman running for vice mayor has been assassinated.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/11/20/2401474/sandigan-upholds-conviction-pork-scam-execs |
The Sandiganbayan has upheld the conviction of officials of three abolished state firms in connection with the pork barrel scam.
In a 19-page resolution promulgated on Nov. 6, the anti-graft court’s Third Division said former officials of the abolished state firms National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC) and Technology Resource Center (TRC) failed to raise any new meritorious argument in their respective motions for reconsideration (MRs) that would warrant the reversal of its June 28, 2024 decision finding them guilty of graft and malversation of public funds.
“After due consideration of the arguments raised by the accused-movants and the prosecution, as well as the assiduous review of the records, the Court finds no compelling reason to reverse their respective convictions,” the Third Division’s resolution read.
“The Court finds that the grounds relied upon by the accused-movants were fully threshed out by the Court in the assailed Decision,” it added.
Specifically denied were the MRs of NABCOR Human Resource supervisor Encarnita Munsod, NLDC president Gondelina Amata, NLDC Asset Management Division chief Gregoria Buenaventura and former TRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan.
Also denied was the MR of private respondent Flerida Alberto, president of non-government organization (NGO) Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc. (KKAMFI).
The Third Division had earlier found Munsod guilty of four counts of graft and two counts each of malversation and malversation through falsification, while Amata and Buenaventura were convicted of four counts each of graft and three counts each of malversation through falsification.
Cunanan was earlier convicted of one count each of graft and malversation while Alberto was convicted of six counts of graft and three counts each of malversation and malversation through falsification.
For the graft cases, they were sentenced to six up to ten years of imprisonment for each count, with the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office and forfeiture of all retirement and gratuity benefits.
For the malversation and malversation through falsification cases, meanwhile, they were sentenced to varying years of imprisonment for each count, ranging from two up to six years, six to 10 years and 10 to 17 years in some cases.
They were also ordered to jointly pay the government a total of P62.63 million, equivalent to the amount of public funds found to have been malversed.
The Third Division, meanwhile, ordered the cases against the primary accused, former Misamis Occidental First District Rep. Marina Clarete, to be temporarily archived as she remains at-large. The Third Division said this is without prejudice to the cases’ revival upon her arrest or voluntary surrender.
Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017, the cases stemmed from the alleged misuse of P62.63 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel of Clarete from 2007 to 2009.
The ombudsman said Clarete “unilaterally chose and endorsed” questionable NGOs to implement her seven PDAF-funded livelihood projects without the benefit of a public bidding required under Republic Act 9184 of the Government Procurement Reform Act.
The ombudsman said the NGOs were “unaccredited and unqualified” to carry out the projects.
Furthermore, the ombudsman said field investigation revealed that none of the projects were ever implemented as the supposed beneficiaries denied receiving any livelihood kits or attending any of the supposed livelihood seminars.
The ombudsman said the officials of NABCOR, NLDC and TRC processed and released the payments to the NGOs without carefully verifying their qualifications and the supporting documents that they submitted.
In its new resolution, the Third Division maintained that the prosecution panel of the ombudsman was able to establish with “moral certainty” that each of the convicted officials had participated in the commission of the charged crimes.
“Wherefore, in light of all of the foregoing, the Motions for Reconsideration... are denied for lack of merit,” the Third Division said.
The Sandiganbayan has upheld the conviction of officials of three abolished state firms in connection with the pork barrel scam.
A program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is in question after an alleged aide of Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda here was caught in an buy-bust operation last week.
Several issues arose following the arrest of Pearl Pudadera Hugo, who was listed as a grantee of DOLE’s Government Internship Program (GIP) and was detailed to work in the office of Baronda.
Among them was how Hugo was able to qualify as avgrantee when she’s already overage.
Based on DOLE’s requirement, the grantee must only be between 18 to 30-years- old. But Hugo is already 34.
The grantee is only supposed to be for indigent individuals without work experience. A GIP grantee can work for three or six months.
Baronda only issued a statement that Hugo would be removed from the GIP.
Based on police records, Hugo was also arrested for a drug-related case in 2022. She was released when she entered a plea bargain but was arrested again last Nov. 13 here.
DOLE-6 Regional Director Atty. Sixto Rodriguez Jr. was sought for comment but has yet to respond as of posting time.
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