Category: Philippine National Police

VP Sara, 2 senators named in ICC probe documents

Published by Ellen on July 23, 2023

Former president Rodrigo Duterte with daughter Vice President Sara and Sen. Bong Go in a 2019 photo when they attended the enthronement of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. Malacañang photo

Aside from former president Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio and two incumbent senators were named in documents submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating the killings related to the drug war during the previous administration and when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, a copy of the documents obtained by VERA Files shows.

The vice president’s name was mentioned as knowing and approving the killings when she was city mayor, a post that her father held for more than 20 years. Sara was mayor from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022.

A person knowledgeable of the ICC probe said she could be issued a “summons” by the ICC. If she would not comply with the summons, she would be issued a warrant of arrest.

This is the first time the name of Sara was mentioned in the documents relevant to the ICC investigation.

Truth catches up with Duterte’s controversial drug war on drugs

Published by Ellen on October 7, 2019

Senate hearing on Good Conduct Time Allowance law. Extreme right iin police officers’s uniform is PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde. Extreme left is Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

It is poetic justice that President Duterte’s brutal drug war, on which he built his presidency, is unraveling not because of the efforts of those who oppose it but because of the greed and impunity of the people that he trusted to carry it out.

The hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon started with the investigation of the anomalous implementation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law which almost set free heinous crime convict Antonio Sanchez, former Calauan mayor who raped and killed a UP Los Baños student and her male friend in June 1993. The initial hearings exposed the incompetence of Bureau of Corrections officials led by former Marines officer Nicanor Faeldon, who is eternally trusted by Duterte.

One of the resource persons called by Gordon was Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, to share the findings of the investigation his office conducted in 2014 when Sen. Leila de Lima, who is currently in prison on unproven illegal drugs charges , was justice secretary under the administration of Benigno Aquino III. The probe showed that It was discovered that some inmates continued to run their illegal drug operation from inside the prison.

Advice to Panelo: Read before you speak

Published by Ellen on August 20, 2019

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo. Malacañang photo.

Had Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo read my column last Monday on President Duterte receiving cash gifts in millions of pesos on the 69th birthday, he should not have denied what the President has admitted a long time ago.

In his press briefing Aug. 19, ABS-CBN’s Pia Gutierrez asked for his comment on my column titled “Duterte gets gifts in multi-million pesos.”

I wrote that “On his 69th birthday, on March 28, 2014, seven deposits totalling P193,705,615.88 were credited to the joint account of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter Sara Z. Duterte in BPI, Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center. The first was in the amount of P55,131,747.32, followed by P41,721,035.62. Then four deposits in the amount of P20,000,000.00 each came in. The last deposit for the day was in the amount of P16,852,832.94.”

Duterte gets gifts in multi-million pesos

Published by Ellen on August 18, 2019

When President Duterte told members of the police force that it’s okay to accept gifts, he was just preaching what he has been doing. And his harvest has been bountiful, by his own account.

On his 69th birthday, on March 28, 2014, seven deposits totaling P193,705,615.88 were credited to the joint account of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter Sara Z. Duterte in BPI, Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center. The first was in the amount of P55,131,747.32, followed by P41,721,035.62. Then four deposits in the amount of P20,000,000.00 each came in. The last deposit for the day was in the amount of P16,852,832.94.

VERA Files obtained the bank records from the Senate Record where former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV submitted the documents. These are the same documents that were submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman when Trillanes filed a plunder case against Duterte.

PNP complaint with ‘Ang Probinsyano’ is Duterte’s fight vs ABS-CBN?

Published by Ellen on November 19, 2018

ABS-CBN’s Ang Probinsyano starring Coco Martin

Police Chief Oscar Albayalde’s tantrums over the blockbuster teleserye “Ang Probinsyano” is alarming coming on the heels of Pres. Duterte’s renewed attack on ABS-CBN, threatening non-renewal of its franchise which is due to expire on March 30, 2020.

Duterte’s threat not to renew ABS-CBN’s license has been a common refrain in many of his speeches whenever he complained about unfavorable media reports about him.

“I will file a complaint. Congress, no need to renew it,” he said in one speech. Another time he said ABS-CBN owners sent feelers to talk with him but he refused. ““I will not talk to you, but I will also never intervene. Pero if I had my way I will not give it back to you,” he said.

Duterte blinked

Published by Ellen on September 9, 2018

Pres. Duterte upon arrival from Jordan says Solicitor General Calida was source of info on Sen. Trillanes alleged missing amnesty papers.

Three days after Pres. Duterte attempted to nullify the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV by his predecessor Pres. Benigno Aquino III, the institutions that he expected to execute his order and support him blindly did not deliver forcing him to backtrack.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, in his media briefing in Amman, Jordan last Friday before the presidential party returned to Manila after official visits to Israel and Jordan, announced that the President has decided to abide with the rule of law.

Roque said Pres. Duterte had convened a cabinet meeting while he was in Jordan about his order to arrest Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV as contained in his Proclamation 572 : “Kahapon po, binigyan ko ng kumpirmasyon na nagkaroon po ng pagpupulong si Presidente sa lahat po ng Gabinete na sumama sa biyaheng ito. Pinag-usapan po nila kung ano ang magiging posisyon ng administrasyon tungkol po dito sa pag-revoke ng amnesty kay Senator Trillanes. At matapos po ang mahabang talakayan, nagdesisyon ang Presidente that he will abide with the rule of law; aantayin po niya ang desisyon ng hukuman, ng Regional Trial Court kung sila ay mag-i-issue ng warrant of arrest. So uulitin ko po, desisyon ng Presidente is he will allow the judicial process to proceed, and he will await the issuance of the appropriate warrant of arrest if there is indeed one to be issued ‘no before Senator Trillanes is arrested and apprehended.”

Duterte revises his number of drug addicts in the Philippines

Published by Ellen on March 12, 2018

Pres. Duterte shares a light moment with former President and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo on the sidelines of the meeting with local chief executives from Luzon at in Clark, Pampanga. Malacanang photo by Robinson Ninal.

At the start of his administration, President Duterte said there were three million drug addicts in the Philippines which was the reason why he launched a brutal campaign against illegal drugs which has now claimed over 4,000 as of March 2017 per data from the Philippine National Police.

From three million drug addicts, which number he attributed to former head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Dionisio Santiago, he increased it to four million in less than a year.

He even fired then Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Benjamin Reyes for saying there were only 1.8 million drug addicts in the country. Reyes was replaced by Santiago whom Duterte fired after just a few months at the DDB for saying the 10,000-bed capacity mega drug rehabilitation facility in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija built by a Chinese official was a “mistake” and an “impractical solution” to the drug menace.

‘Me Pulis sa ilalim ng tulay ‘ in times of EJK

Published by Ellen on September 17, 2017

When things are difficult, you laugh and you sing.

Those are coping mechanisms that Filipinos have developed into art.

There’s a song going around social media that is so much fun. It’s a new version of an old game song “May Pulis sa Ilalim ng Tulay.”

The song is usually sang in a party where each one adds a line to the original sentence about a policeman under the bridge. Often, as each one adds a sentence depending on his or her views and wit, the song becomes a sharp commentary.

Grief and rage

Published by Ellen on September 8, 2017

14-year old Reynato De Guzman, found dead with 30 stab wounds.

Reynaldo de Guzman, 14 years old. Kian Delos Santos, 17 years old.

They are children under the definition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Raymart Siapo, both 19 years old, just passed their childhood.

They are all dead. Killed brutally by persons who have lost their humanity.

Nami-miss ko ang yumaong Sen. Miriam Santiago

Published by Ellen on August 26, 2017

Naala-ala nyo ang litrato na ito na siyang nagpasikat kay Atty. Vitaliano Aguirre? Kuha noon impeachment trial ni noon ay Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona noong Pebrero. 2012.

Tanong ni Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II sa hearing ng Senado noong Huwebes tungkol sa pagpatay sa 17-taong gulang na si Kian Delos Santos sa Caloocan noong Agosto 17:“Anong difference ng mga batang pinatay ng adik sa pinatay na bata ng mga pulis?”

Kung yung hindi malalim ang pag-intindi ng batas ang nagtanong niyan, mapagpasensyahan natin. Ngunit si Aguirre ay hindi basta-basta abogado lang. Justice Secretary siya. Siya ang adviser ng Pangulo para mapatupad ang hustisya sa bansa.

Sa salaysay ng mga nakakita ng pangyayari noong gabi ng Agosto 17 at sa resulta ng autopsy, kinaladkad ng tatlong pulis si Kian, grade 11 sa Our Lady of Lourdes Senior Highschool sa Valenzuela, mga pasado alas-otso ng gabi pagkatapos niya magsara ng tindahan.