Thanks to Inquirer for photo.I wish President Aquino would stop talking about “tuwid na daan” anymore.
It’s adding insult to injury with the way he protected Rico Puno, his shooting buddy whom he appointed undersecretary in the Department of Interior and Local Government. He accepted Puno’s resignation last Sept. 11.“You are testing my level of belief ..”
The House of Representatives spared the public another farce by dropping the planned investigation on the alleged overpriced purchase of firearms for the Philippine National Police and the conflicting versions of Puno’s role in securing the documents on the deal, which included a report questioning his trip to Israel to visit the manufacturing plant of one of the bidders, the Israeli Military Industries.
If Puno was able to get away with stonewalling Sen. Miriam Santiago, chair of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Laws, who conducted hearing, the congressmen are not expected to fare better when it comes to ferreting out the truth. They won’t dare antagonize Malacañang.
Despite denials from Malacanang that DILG Undersecretary Rico E. Puno resigned when Mar Roxas was appointed to replace the late Jesse Robredo, Puno indeed submitted his resignation Aug. 31.
Update: Puno resigns. http://www.interaksyon.com/article/42864/dilg-usec-puno-resigns Pnoy inducts his shooting buddy.After days of deafening silence on the issue of his favorite undersecretary,Rico Puno,in-charge of police matters at the Department of Interior and Local Government,attempting to get hold of the documents in the possession of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, President Aquino finally spoke and revealed that it was upon his orders that Puno did it.
Speaking to media on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Vladivostok, Russia, Aquino disclosed: “Sometime in the early evening (Aug. 18), tumawag sa atin si Secretary Leila de Lima at pinaalalang may mga confidential folders si Secretary Robredo that needed to be secured. I instructed him (Puno) to seal the office of Secretary Robredo to ensure that ‘yung all of these records will be left intact. And that is the extent of the instructions that I gave to him.”
President Aquino says he will release full Palace-IIRC report on Aug 23 hostage incident only after he marks his 100th day in his office this week.
A friend close to members of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee, that investigated the Aug. 23 tragedy where a dismissed policeman held hostage a busload of tourists from Hongkong resulting in the death of eight of them, called me up Saturday saying the information she got about the recommendation of the presidential panel tasked to review the IIRC recommendations was not good. Gun buddy She said her information is that Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno and recently retired Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa were “cleared” and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim was cited only for “neglect of duty.”
If true, that would be a downgrading of the recommendations of IIRC that recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges against Lim. The IIRC also recommended the filing of administrative charges against Puno and Verzosa and “that a preliminary investigation be conducted by the appropriate government agency for any possible criminal liability.”
I called several sources in Malacañang. Only one replied. He said our fears are “unfounded.”
I fervently hope he is right and that the information my friend got is false. We are closely watching how President Aquino will decide on the IIRC recommendations because it will show us the direction that his administration will take after a disappointing first 100 days.
The latest exposé of retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz on jueteng should be another wake up call to President Aquino that something is wrong with the setup that he has created at the Department of Interior and Local Government where he stripped the secretary of supervision over of the Philippine National Police, a vital element in local governance.
Inquirer reported that Cruz said two of Aquino’s trusted officials are receiving a minimum of P2 million monthly payola from jueteng. He gave a clue: the two hold security-related positions which include eradication of the illegal numbers game. Another clue: “One of them began getting his share of the other, who came into the picture fairly recently.”
Update: In his appearance in ABS-CBN’s “Umaga Kay Ganda”, Puno categorically denied accepting jueteng money. “Hindi po.Walang nagbigay. Kung may magbibigay, hindi ko tatanggapin.”
Cruz, who was also a studio guest, declined to name the two officials of the Aquino administration resorting to “Secret” when pressed by host Anthony Taberna. He however said they are more than two actually but the officials are “not in a cabinet position.” One, he said, “malapit na.”
He also said there are also jueteng lords who are governors, unlike before when the governors were just jueteng beneficiaries. Although he declined to name the governor-jueteng lords, he said jueteng is rampant in Regions One (Ilocos), Two, (Cagayan Valley) and Four (Calabarzon and Mimaropa).
On Puno,Cruz said, he is impressed by the targets that he has set.
On putting the burden of proof on him, Cruz said, “Na sa inyo ang kapulisan, ang NBI. Be fair. Ibig sabihin kung wala kaming input, wala kayong magagawa?” (You have the police and NBI. Be fair. You mean if we don’t give you inputs, there’s nothing that you can do?)
Cruz practically cleared Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo saying the arrangement in the DILG where the latter is confined to “ a comprehensive plan on delivering social services to and relocating informal settlers in coordination with the local governments” while he retained direct supervision of the Philippine National Police.
By VERA Files When Malacanang submits to Congress for confirmation its list of Cabinet appointees, Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo, who is under…
President Aquino believed everything that Rico E. Puno, his shooting buddy that he appointed Interior Undersecretary for police matters, advised him during the Aug. 23 hostage crisis.
Rico E. Puno's photo from ABS-CBN onlinePuno, on the other hand, believed everything that the police and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim told him about the hostage situation. Lim assured him they were in control of the situation and all their strategy was “to tire him out.”
Puno never set foot in the crisis command headquarters, if ever there was one.
Puno said there was no TV set at the Emerald restaurant which was supposedly Lim’s command center. They were just getting reports of police by cellphone.
The above were just few of the booboos committed by those in charge of the Aug 23 hostage crisis. Here’s ABS-CBN’s report:
A government panel on Friday uncovered a series of errors that could have led to the bloody ending of the August 23 hostage crisis that killed 8 Hong Kong tourists.
A Department of the Interior and Local Government official assigned to supervise the country’s police force noted several lapses in the handling of the hostage crisis including: lack of crowd control, lack of control of the media and lack of equipment for the police team assigned to assault the bus held the remaining 15 hostages.
Aquino owned up responsibility for hostage crisis fiasco
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Friday took responsibility for “everything that has transpired” in the hostage crisis last week.
President Aquino said he actually has direct supervision of the Philippine National Police at the time since he had previously asked Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jess Robredo to concentrate on something else.
Aquino explained that when he offered the DILG portfolio to Robredo, Robredo was asked to address concerns such as coming up with a comprehensive plan on delivering social services to and relocating informal settlers in coordination with the local governments. Aquino, who held the DILG in a concurrent capacity when he assumed office, had the direct control of the PNP.
“When I got him, I did tell him, that at this point in time, we’re trying to consolidate especially with our security forces, I will retain direct supervision on the PNP, until such time that he has addressed other concerns, specifically our promises to the informal sectors of our country,” Aquino told reporters.
Aquino said at the end of the day, he was responsible for everything that happened.
This is a tragic comedy. You have a presidential aide who did not give the telephone to the President when Hongkong chief executive Donald Tsang called because he didn’t know who Tsang is.
Now you have a signed re-instatement of Mendoza by National Capital Region Police Chief Leocadio Santiago which didn’t reach the hostage taker in time because it was carried by motorcycle cop. They haven’t heard of fax machine!
From ABS-CBNnews
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo will not resign amid calls for his head to roll in the wake of the August 23 hostage crisis.
“Honestly, if I can tell myself that I was really responsible, you will not see me any minute longer in this office,” he told ABS-CBN News in an exclusive interview.
He added that he was not part of the crisis management group that led efforts to get dismissed police officer Rodolfo Mendoza to free the Hong Kong tourists held hostage inside a bus in Manila.
