4 cops face ouster over defective boats

Four officers of the National Police-Logistics Support Service’s Inspection and Acceptance Committee are facing dismissal from service for undue intervention in the purchase of 16 “defective and unserviceable” patrol boats in March 2010, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The case of the defective boats came as the national police was grappling with two other controversial deals, one involving the second-hand helicopters, and the other, “ghost” repair contracts.
Secretary Jesse Robredo identified those facing ouster over the defective boats are Superintendents Job Marasigan, Leodegario Bisaya and Juanito Estrebor, along with Chief Insp. Renelfa Saculles, all members of the committee, which also approved the P4.9 million payment for the patrol boats to the supplier Four Petals Trading.
Citing an Aug. 5 report of National Police director general Raul Bacalzo, Robredo said the 16 boats were delivered by Four Petals Trading on March 10, 2010 but the police’s maritime group noted several defects in the boats.
The supplier failed to correct the defects despite repeated demands from the national police, Robredo said.
Without the knowledge of the maritime group, Four Petals Trading was able to collect the contract price based on an inspection report prepared by the four police officers, Robredo said.
The officers issued a resolution to accept the boats and certified that the patrol craft conformed to the specifications set by the National Police Commission specifications. On the basis of these documents, the supplier managed to collect payment for the defective motor boats.
Robredo said based on the inspection report of the Maritime Group’s technical inspection committee, the patrol boats, which were supposed to be gasoline-fed, turned out to be diesel-fed. “The engines are not operational, the boats had no rudder and post, had damaged outrigger, no ampere gauge, no canvass, no hole at the back portion of the starboard side, no alternator, stocked-up transmission and no heater plug,” the report said.
“The above-mentioned officers led by Supt. Marasigan clearly acted in bad faith when they issued an inspection report and arrogated upon themselves the authority which was delegated to the PNP Maritime Group Inspection in the procurement of the 16 motorized bancas,” the report said

Such a shame, crime will never pay.

CEBU CITY, Philippines–A security guard and three suspected bank robbers were killed while four others, including two policemen and a bank teller, were wounded Monday morning in a failed robbery at a shopping mall, just a few meters away from Fuente Osmeña police station along Osmeña Blvd., in this city.

Cebu City Police Office Director Sr. Supt. Ramon Melvin Buenafe confirmed the death of all the three robbers and one security guard, who served as one of the two escorts of a China Bank teller, who was delivering cash to a money changer outlet at the Robinsons mall at 9 a.m.

The slain security guard was identified as Leofer Itac while the identities of the slain robbery suspects were still unknown.

The injured were PO1 Jay Catacutan and PO1 Roy Ceniza, both assigned to the Cebu City Mobile Patrol Group (MPG), the still unidentified bank teller, who was hit on the leg, and security guard Lito Odan, the second escort.

Catacutan, Ceniza, Odan and the bank teller were brought to Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.

According to the police, one of the suspects was waiting at the Osmeña Blvd. entrance of the Robinson’s supermarket while two others were at the food court in the mall’s basement.

The bank teller, who alighted from the armored vehicle of China Banking Corp., went down to the food court area accompanied by Itac, leaving Odan and an unidentified driver in the van.

The suspects then shot the guard and the bank teller and grabbed the bag containing the money.

Odan, on hearing the shots, rushed to the basement but was also fired upon.

As the three suspects fled with their loot through the Ramos St. entrance of the mall, they saw three MPG policemen who just happened to be passing by and fired at them. Catacutan was hit on the body and Ceniza on the leg.

All three suspects, one of them also wounded, boarded a motorcycle and sped toward Cebu Velez General Hospital along Ramos St.

Six responding MPG teams called in for reinforcement cornered the suspects on Ranudo St., several meters from the mall and a shootout ensued, killing the three suspects.

The police recovered the bag which, Buenafe said, contained P1.2 million.

Mayuga report: Garci aide tried bribing poll exec to favor Arroyo

• 
  

A military officer who acted as former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano’s security aide during the 2004 polls tried to bribe a local election official to favor then administration candidate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the so-called “Mayuga report" revealed.

Lawyer Helen Flores, then Commission on Elections regional director for Western Mindanao, said in the report that Captain Valentino Lopez —Garcillano’s security officer and distant relative — attempted to hand her a “huge amount" to “remedy" then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.’s lead over Arroyo.

The supposed bribery attempt happened during the regional canvassing of votes at the Zamboanga Coliseum, she said.

“He [Lopez] was requesting her [Flores] to remedy the big lead of Fernando Poe Jr. in favor of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," the report said.

Flores added that Garcillano’s aide also asked her to favor then administration mayoralty candidate Le Peng We.

Garcillano is a key figure in the “Hello Garci" poll-fraud scandal that broke out in 2005.

The scandal involved wiretapped conversations between Garcillano and many personalities, including a female voice believed to be that of Arroyo, on rigging the 2004 poll results.
Garcillano insisted last month that he never talked with Arroyo on any plan to manipulate results of the 2004 elections. [http://www8.gmanews.tv/story/227890/garci-no-conversation-with-arroyo-to-cheat-in-2004-polls]

Bribe "blankly ignored"

However, Flores said she “blankly ignored" the bribe, and immediately told Col. Joel Ibañez, an official of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, about the incident.

“She was already alarmed that in case something might happen to her, somebody knows," the report said.

The local election official also said, “no anomaly ever happened" in her area during the 2004 elections.

President Benigno Aquino III last week ordered the classified Mayuga report released.
It details the military investigation on claims that some of its ranking officers took part in rigging the 2004 elections.

The report was prepared by former Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, who headed the panel that looked into the allegations of the military’s involvement in electoral fraud.

Garci’s "advanced party"

The Mayuga panel interviewed Lopez in the course of its investigation, but there was no mention of the alleged attempt to bribe Flores in the in the final report’s summary of his statements.

The report merely said Lopez served as Garcillano’s “advance party" to where the canvassing was taking place.

“[He] met Atty. Helen Flores only once in a gym where the canvassing of votes is taking place during the election," the report read.

The document also cited that Garcillano personally requested for Lopez to serve as his security officer three months before the elections, an arrangement that was without proper consent from the military.

“His assignment with Commissioner Garcillano was sort of internal arrangements and not covered with proper orders from the Armed Forces of the Philippines... His duty as a security officer is to maintain the commissioner’s safety at all times and to see to it that his life will not be in danger," according to the Mayuga report. — VS, GMA News

Lawyer: Arrest of Arroyo firm bookkeeper ‘unfair’

The lawyer of Rowena Del Rosario, a former bookkeeper for the Arroyo-owned company LTA Inc., on Monday said it was “unfair" that the Senate had his client arrested just because they could not get the answers they wanted from her.

Earlier in the day, the Senate blue ribbon committee cited Del Rosario in contempt and ordered her arrest for supposedly being evasive in her answers and allegedly covering up for former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo and Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy" Arroyo.

But Del Rosario’s lawyer, Nunilo Marapao, said his client answered all questions honestly during Monday's Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) choppers mess.

“It is unfair because she never evaded any questions. She tried as much as possible to answer the questions of the senators to the best of her knowledge. She cannot invent answers just to please them," he said in a statement released on Monday evening.

“Ms. Del Rosario was just being honest to herself, and she tried her best to cooperate with the Senate. She answered all questions based on what she knew to be the truth," he added.
"Unfair"

“Ms. Del Rosario was in fact, very consistent with her answers. She did not offer any false testimony. For instance, how can she testify that the transactions pertaining to the helicopters were in the books of the LTA, when she knows that they are not? Alangan namang sabihin niya andun?" he said.

“The order of arrest speaks for itself and shows how unfair it is to my client. The senators just want to hear what they want to hear. She cannot testify to something that she has no knowledge of," he added.

Earlier in the day, the former LTA bookkeeper said that the choppers sold to the PNP in 2009 were not owned by Mike Arroyo and were leased by LTA Inc. as stated by Iggy Arroyo.

But the senators insisted Del Rosario was being “evasive" when asked to explain why she had remitted $500,000 to Robinson Helicopters for the “advanced rental" of the five choppers and had paid P18 million in maintenance fees to Lionair from 2003 to 2011 when the choppers were just supposedly leased to LTA. — MRT/VS, GMA News

Makati to slap drunk drivers with stiffer penalties

A fine of p2500.00 is not a stiffer enough,  what a joke I think this is.  That's is about $50.00 USD for a DWI charge,   I would agree with the impounding and license being suspended. Now that's a good start.

 

Drunk drivers now face stiffer penalties in Makati City after Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun" Binay signed an ordinance that aims to curtail the disregard for traffic rules, the Makati City Hall said Tuesday.

Amending Makati City Traffic Code of 2003, the ordinance provides for the impounding of a drunk driver’s vehicle in addition to the P2,500-fine and/or imprisonment that the code prescribes for the first offense.

The penalty will cover not only drunk drivers but also those who drive motor vehicles under the influence of drugs, according to the city hall.

“Traffic violations aggravate the traffic situation in Makati, which has an average of 800,000 vehicles passing through its roads daily. This new ordinance aims to curtail the disregard for traffic rules, which is largely to blame for vehicular accidents that occur in our city," Binay said.

Makati’s local government will also recommend the suspension or revocation of a drunk driver’s license to the Land Transportation Office.
In a related provision, the ordinance meanwhile requires business establishments to refrain from serving liquor or intoxicating beverages to customers who drive a vehicle. “They are also required to post reminders against drunk driving in conspicuous areas in their place of business," the Makati City Hall said.

Establishments that fail to comply with this provision will be meted out a P2,500-fine and the suspension of the their business permit. — PE/VS, GMA News

QC official to go after billboard operators

A RANKING official of the Quezon City government has threatened to file criminal charges against the operators of some 600 billboards along the city’s main roads whom he said lack the necessary permits in violation of the National Building Code.

Isagani Versoza, city building official, warned these billboard operators that he would not hesitate to sue them should they be found operating without a permit.
About 600 outdoor billboards have thrived along the city’s major roads despite a moratorium that froze the issuance of permit to erect and install the structures, he said.
“After a thorough evaluation, we would file charges against erring billboard operators,” he told the Manila Standard.
He said he has fielded his men to inspect 600 billboards along major roads—-Quezon Avenue, Edsa, Commonwealth Avenue, East Avenue, West Avenue, E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, and Elliptical Road.
“We believe all of those outdoor billboards do not have permits because of the moratorium. Still, we would want to give them the due process to come over to our office and explain,” he noted.
He raised concerns over the dangers posed by oversized billboards and those encroaching the road’s 10-meter setback requirement. Rio N. Araja

MMDA blames squatters for floods

THE Metro Manila Development Authority on Sunday blamed informal settlers for the perennial problem of floods in the metro.

Chairman Francis Tolentino said over the agency’s weekly radio program that floods are as much a “social problem” as it is an “engineering problem.”
“Flood is an indicator of a problem on human settlement,” he said.
Tolentino attributed much of the flooding in many areas in the metro to dumping of garbage by informal settlers staying along the waterways.
But he added that his agency was coordinating with the National Housing Authority for the relocation of informal settlers living along metro waterways.
Metro Manila is home to 544,609 squatter families, with 75,000 of them staying along esteros, creeks, canals, and rivers.
“We hope the government could come up with a comprehensive shelter program soon,” the MMDA chief said.
The MMDA recently inked the so-called “Estero Declaration” with the 17 metro mayors to come up with solutions for perennial floods. The campaign seeks to protect waterways, and calls on mayors to support the MMDA’s drive to dismantle and clear waterways of illegal structures and encroachments as provided for under the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.
Metro Manila has a history of vulnerability to floods, according to a study prepared by the International Institute for Asian Studies. The study said the metro area “now constitutes a vast urbanized drainage basin that experiences frequent inundations from overflowing rivers and stormwaters, rendering the existing system of esteros, modified natural channels constructed during the colonial period, inadequate.”
The dangers posed by metro floods have been exacerbated by climate change and severe changes in weather patterns, other studies have pointed out.
In 2009, typhoon Ondoy dumped 455 millimeters on Metro Manila in just 24 hours, the highest rainfall level in 42 years.