Select Page
Comelec data contradict PPCRV transparency server last May

Comelec data contradict PPCRV transparency server last May

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

–

GOTCHA

written on November 11, 2022

 

Was last May’s presidential election rigged? It looks so for former information-communications technology secretary Eliseo Rio. He concluded fraud after comparing Comelec official data with the “transparency server” that publicized the vote count.

Comelec’s transmission report contradicts the transparency server of PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting). Rio overlaid contrasting graphs in his Facebook page (https://tinyurl.com/2p9xzac2).

Notably in PPCRV’s count, votes peaked at 20 million on the first hour after precincts closed. Then it tapered to 13.2 million on the second hour, onto four days.

Inversely, in Comelec’s transmission compilations from precinct vote-counting machines (VCMs), votes trickled in the first hour, peaked on the second, then tapered thereafter.

PPCRV’s results are “statistically, mathematically and logically highly improbable if not impossible,” Rio posted. “All electronic or manual counts start low, then peak and lessen.”

Comelec precinct rules make it unlikely for VCMs to transmit one hour after end of balloting, Rio explained. At 7 p.m. Election Day, the Board of Election Inspectors allows voters within 30 meters of the precinct to vote. Then the BEI chairman announces formal closure to party reps and NGO watchers. Commands are typed in and confirmed with the VCM to stop accepting any more ballots. These take several minutes.

The VCM then prints out eight copies of national tallies. Each national candidate’s votes are stated: ten presidential, nine vice presidential, 64 senatorial, 173 party-lists. Each copy takes three to four minutes to print on long rolls of thermal paper, or 24-32 minutes for eight copies. “It takes five seconds to print out your small voter receipt for one president, one VP, 12 senators and one party-list,” Rio said. “The complete precinct tally naturally takes longer. Sometimes printing stops and the BEI loads a fresh roll of thermal paper.”

As DICT head, Rio chaired the Comelec Advisory Committee (CAC) of the 2019 midterm election. “We did time-and-motion studies to determine the length of the process, and there were no presidential and VP bets.”

Comelec officials led by Chairman George Garcia presented the transmission report in an Ateneo School of Government forum, Oct. 18. A graph showed accumulated VCM transmissions.

“In that graph, VCM transmissions peaked after two hours, in stark contrast with the transparency server that peaked one hour after voting closed,” Rio said. “How can that happen when the VCMs multi-sent simultaneously to the Comelec central server, transparency server and municipal server?”

From start to finish, “PPCRV’s transparency server showed a consistent, unchanged trend of presidential and VP contenders’ rankings. It seemed the transparency server was used to condition the public mind to expect such results,” Rio concluded.

PPCRV countered that “VCM transmissions were much faster this 2022 because three telcos participated.” Also, “constant vote ratio can be explained by Law of Large Numbers.”

To dispel doubts, Rio wrote Comelec on July 15 to disclose the transmission logs that telcos submitted as required.

 

Comelec balked, saying those were too voluminous given the 106,439 VCMs. Rio rebutted that all Comelec had to do was post the logs on its website for public scrutiny. Whereupon, Comelec said the logs are now with the CAC and Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. No reply from both.

On Nov. 3 Rio petitioned the Supreme Court to compel Comelec to disclose the logs. Impleaded for mandamus were VCM supplier Smartmatic and telcos Smart, Globe and Dito. Telcos normally delete their logs after six months. Laws require Comelec to store its logs for three years.

After the four-day count, PPCRV deleted all files in newsmen’s laptops, then deleted the transparency server a week later.

Rio swore nonpartisanship. Even Bongbong Marcos decried VCM fraud when he lost the 2016 VP race.

*      *      *

Up to now, no law governs app-based ride-hailing services. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is enacting one. The government’s technical working group (TWG) must finish its three-year-long study on motorcycle-taxis, in aid of legislation.

Until then, groups want the transport department to not franchise any more motorcycle-taxi firms. Meeting recently with Manila Rep. Joel Chua, leaders of Arangkada Riders Alliance and Tricycle Operators-Drivers Association asked to be consulted in drafting a law.

The TWG accredited only three firms for experiment: Angkas, Joy Ride and MoveIt (We Load Transcargo). Grab-Philippines’ buyout of MoveIt is criticized as a fourth company’s backdoor entry into the new sector.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista sees nothing wrong with the “purely private transaction” between MoveIt and Grab. But critics cite three points against giant Grab. One, Grab initially applied for the pilot test but withdrew at the last minute. Two, in September 2021 the TWG suspended the MoveIt-Grab partnership that would have allowed MoveIt to use Grab’s app instead of having its own. Three, in December 2021 the TWG ordered MoveIt to terminate its partnership since it makes Grab a virtual unaccredited fourth player.

SEC records state that Grab owns 99.8 percent of MoveIt. In effect, MoveIt is already Grab, critics say.

General manager Wayne Jacinto insists that MoveIt operates independently. He used to head Grab’s driver operations.

Digital Pinoy is one of the buyout’s several opposers. Its national campaigner Ronald Gustilo asks: “Why would anyone buy a company, then just relinquish control over it?”

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

ERC could have averted electricity rate hikes

ERC could have averted electricity rate hikes

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Energy Regulatory Commission logo

GOTCHA

written on November 9, 2022

 

Expect electricity rates to skyrocket in December. Prices of food and other basics will follow. Culprit: the Energy Regulatory Commission. Being under Malacañang, ERC’s blunders will explode in the President’s face. Unwanted Yuletide fireworks.

No choice, San Miguel Corp.’s two generators will have to stop supplying cheap electricity to distributor Meralco. The latter will be forced to buy from others at double or triple rates. Homes, shops, factories, hospitals, schools, malls, offices in Greater Manila will suffer.

ERC could have averted disaster. All SMC Global Power and Meralco jointly sought in May was a temporary P1.57 per kilowatt-hour rate hike, staggered over six months to only 26 centavos per kWh.

The slight half-year increase aimed for a breather. SMC’s generators use coal, whose price has sextupled due to Indonesia’s export ban and the Ukraine war. When SMC offered Meralco electricity in 2019, world price was less than $70 a ton; suddenly it’s over $400. Its rate petition is to partially offset a P5-billion loss in January-May 2022 alone.

SMC’s generators are Meralco’s second and third lowest suppliers among 12. They average less than P4 per kWh, unlike others’ P10 to P13.50. SMC will still be cheap despite the 26-centavo increment.

SMC does not impose onerous pass-through riders. Others have provisos to escalate generation rates for whatever cause, including mismanagement and greed, then make Meralco pass these on to customers. Meralco gets blamed when all it does is collect in their behalf.

That wee 26-centavo increase would have been best for Meralco customers. In Meralco’s scenario presentations to ERC hearings, it was the “least cost to consumers” – as required by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. EPIRA binds all power firms to that least-cost dictum. ERC is bound too, that’s why its own engineers endorsed the 26 centavos as least burdensome to consumers.

Yet three of five ERC commissioners rejected the 26 centavos. Stick to the rates which ERC provisionally approved in 2019, they ordered SMC and Meralco. Two commissioners registered their dissent, a first in EPIRA’s 21 years.

ERC knew that the old deal was no longer workable. In nixing SMC-Meralco last Oct. 4, it said, “Any contract termination should take effect 60 days upon receipt of this decision.”

Like all major contracts, SMC-Meralco’s has an escape clause. It provides for “abrupt change in circumstances (CIC)” that upturn operation costs. SMC continues to stockpile coal; Meralco has not done anything to disrupt the set-up. Neither foresaw Indonesia’s coal ban of January 2022 and the Ukraine war starting February. Those constitute CIC to terminate if no solutions suffice or ERC issues adverse rulings.

Business execs grumbled about conflict of interest. A consumerist wrote Malacañang to revoke the ERC chairman’s appointment for being once the chief lawyer and compliance officer of a competitor. That firm is both a generator like SMC Global Power and distributor like Meralco.

Meanwhile, an ex-energy official gossiped against SMC and Meralco. Supposedly SMC will keel over from heavy penalties if it unilaterally halts the deal. Future power biddings would ban SMC, he alleged. That official was once connected with SMC-Meralco’s rival.

If anyone should fine SMC, it won’t be ERC or government, but Meralco. That’s unlikely, though, since Meralco had crafted the 2019 no-price-escalation clause with SMC in a public process that other generators shunned. That’s why Meralco and SMC jointly petitioned ERC for temporary rate hike, a compromise to absorb the coal price spikes instead of dumping it all on consumers.

Likelier 119-year-old Meralco and 132-year-old SMC will work things out. Neither would relish a protracted legal fight. Not in the midst of energy crisis of supply, prices and leadership.

Anticipating termination, Meralco prepared two options. First it sought year-long emergency power service agreements (EPSAs) to replace the 1,000 megawatts it would lose. Five of seven bidders submitted lowest rates, three of them SMC generators (including one original contractor), D.M. Consunji Inc. and Aboitiz.

All coal-fired, their weighted average is P7.9891 per kWh, nearly double the P4 of SMC’s original generators. Additional yearlong burden to customers is P12.6 billion. That was the very scenario presented by Meralco to ERC showing that P1.57 per kWh, staggered over six months at only 26 centavos, was lower than any new contract.

The other option, if ERC does not approve the EPSAs before termination, is to buy hourly from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. WESM rates are at least P3 per kWh higher than those contracted long-term. Monthly extra burden on Meralco customers is P1.6 billion.

Being the largest distributor, Meralco buying from WESM would swell demand and push up electricity rates all over Luzon-Visayas. Customers of smaller retailers who buy from WESM will be price-shocked. ERC’s blunder will snowball.

Already, with ERC-approved pass-through provisos, Leyte-Samar suffer P15 per kWh generation rates, and Cagayan-Isabela P12. Same in Mindanao. By Christmas, more homes will have electricity connections cut and small shops collapse. Thanks to ERC.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Can Marcos push away politicos from rice policy?

Can Marcos push away politicos from rice policy?

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Hybrid rice stalks are more and thicker, leaves lusher, and grains more abundant – SL Agritech photo

GOTCHA

written on November 4, 2022

 

“Science shall shape policies and programs,” Bongbong Marcos defines his presidency and agriculture secretaryship. “Science provides us answers to the future.” That should inspire Filipino students who always flunk international Science, Math and Reading Comprehension tests. With Marcos as role model, youths can embrace technology, not partying.

Marcos cannot stray. Palay farming suffers from backward thinking and methods. Imported machinery and fertilizer drive up costs. Typhoons add to losses.

Visiting his mother’s Leyte home-province last month, Marcos could have dropped by the country’s most modern rice facility. Rachel and Patrick Renucci’s Chen Yi Agventures is in Alangalang town, in the congressional district of Marcos’ cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Renucci rice is the world’s third best. Four thousand farmers depend on the Renuccis’ ten harrower-harvester-thresher combines, five high-speed dryer-millers and five controlled-temp silos. They are taught tillering, natural fertilizing and marketing.

“We’re begging to be replicated countrywide,” Makati-born Rachel says. Congress recently made Frenchman Patrick a Filipino citizen. Within three years of their operations, Alangalang rose from fourth- to second-class municipality, now with hotels, a mall and Jollibee.

Marcos proceeded to Ormoc City fiesta, then inaugurated in Tacloban the new lights of San Juanico bridge to Samar. It was hyped as the “bridge of love”, a 1973 birthday gift of Marcos’ father president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to first lady Imelda Romualdez. He skipped Alangalang, a mere 15-minute chopper hop from either destination. Not even a short plant tour.

Rodante Marcoleta, among Marcos’ senatorial bets last May, ranted. San Juanico’s “aesthetic lighting” cost P80 million. Leyte-Samar agribusinesses reel from pricey electricity. “Half of Filipino families rate themselves poor due to burdensome electricity bills,” Marcoleta lamented, “yet we initiate this tourist attraction that would use loads of electricity.”

Rice is a political crop. Politicians worsen things meddling in rice policy.

Example is the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program. Congress clustered the 83 provinces into 15 each, then assigned what palay seedling variety to be given free to farmers. Disregarded were years of seed matching with soil and irrigation type. High-yield hybrids were limited to only 15 provinces. Depending on brands, inbred varieties were allocated to other clusters.

Lawmakers reasoned that hybrid seeds cost two-and-a-half times more than inbred. They ignored that hybrid harvest is three-and-a-half times more.

Ex-agriculture chief Manny Piñol discussed it after Senate committee chair Cynthia Villar nixed hybrid seeds. “Should a senator dictate what rice seeds to plant?” he posted on Facebook. “Mahal daw ang hybrid at P3,500 per bag compared to P1,200 per bag of inbred seeds or a savings of P2,300. Hindi nila naisip na kung aani ng ten tons ang hybrid at six tons ang inbred, sa presyong P14 per kilo, kikita ang hybrid farmer ng P140,000 samantalang ang nagtanim ng inbred ay kikita lamang ng P84,000.

“That’s a difference of P56,000. At hindi ito inabot ng inbred rice farmer dahil nagtipid sya ng P2,300. Ano ba ang objective ng Rice Program? Isn’t it to increase production?”

Hybrid costs more because of research and development, SL Agritech founder Henry Lim Bon Liong explained to GOTCHA. But farmers and government seed procurers actually get a bargain. Only 15 kilos of hybrid seeds are needed per hectare, compared to 40 kilos of inbred. Hybrids are spaced wider apart because of better tillering: stalks are more and thicker, leaves lusher and grains more abundant.

Henry’s rice is tasty, aromatic and clean. The Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry chairman gives away tens of thousands bucketfuls every year to poor families.

Henry produces four hybrid variants, suitable for irrigated, rain-fed, humid and cool fields. All are virus resistant. All can more than triple harvests, Nueva Ecija farmer Danilo Bolos said. Like industrious-scientific Japanese rice planters, he drives an SUV.

William Dar, immediate past agri boss, boosted palay yields and hectarage. In 2019 it was 18.81 million tons from 4.65 million hectares. In 2020, 19.4 million tons from 4.73 million hectares. In 2021, 19.96 million tons from 4.74 million hectares.

Dr. Frisco Malabanan attributed the feat to hybrid. He has computations and graphs to show for it, as Dar’s adviser on hybrid and Henry’s technical consultant.

A former undersecretary, Malabanan acknowledged the country has yet to achieve rice self-sufficiency. In 2005 government imported the 1.5-million ton shortage; imports rose to 1.8 million tons in 2010, 2 million tons in 2013, and now 3 million tons this 2022. If hybrid is introduced nationwide instead of limited to 15 provinces, rice harvest can finally catch up with demand, Malabanan said.

Marcos might want to study hybrid science for his rice policies.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

As food shortage looms, Marcos mum on plans

As food shortage looms, Marcos mum on plans

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Alleged smuggled radish and other vegetables retailed in Divisoria, Manila on Oct. 24, 2022. Photo from Benguet farmers

GOTCHA

written on November 2, 2022

 

“There are things a President can do that a secretary can’t,” Bongbong Marcos justifies his concurrency as agriculture chief. “Agriculture problems are so difficult that it will take a President to change and turn it around.”

Well said. But he doesn’t expound on averting food shortage starting Christmas-New Year. He even gags department officials from speaking out. “You are hereby directed to not accept interviews from the media unless given clearance by the Office of the Secretary,” his Senior USec Domingo Panganiban directed 75 subordinate bureaus, agencies, councils and regional units. That silences even the department’s newly promoted spokeswoman.

Food producers are in disarray. Fuel prices continue to soar. With diesel accounting for half of poultry and fishermen’s expenses and a fifth of farmers’, not yet including transporting to market, many shift to unrelated livelihoods.

Nitrogen shortage from Ukraine war has quadrupled fertilizer rates. With planters using less, harvests of corn, rice, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables dwindle.

Intertwined with petroleum and fertilizer imports is the peso decline versus foreign currencies. Piggery, poultry, cattle, farm, fishing supplies are pricier than ever.

Weather and natural disasters further take their toll. Three typhoons in two months ravaged Luzon farms and fishponds. Last weekend’s superstorm spurred floods and mudslides countrywide, further setting back food production and transport.

Before that, extreme humidity and corn scarcity stunted chickens. Thus, last June’s shortage in restaurant chains, United Broiler Raisers Association head Bong Inciong reminds. Expect recurrence in 2023 as oceanographers forecast La Niña for a third year. Expect super typhoons too this November-December, the months when Sendong struck in 2011, Pablo in 2012, Yolanda in 2013, Rolly and Ulysses in 2020, and Odette in 2021.

Three dozen strong earthquakes since July shook the Cordilleras, Ilocos, Zambales, Batangas, Surigao, Davao and Tawi-Tawi. Cattle and livestock raising were upturned. Volcanic tremors in Bulusan, Mayon and Taal force evacuations from lake fishpens.

Food is unaffordable. Thirty-four percent of families, 8.7 million in all, rate themselves food poor in a Social Weather Stations survey. Forty-nine percent, or 12.6 million families, say they’re simply poor. No Yuletide merriment for them.

The previous admin’s solution to food inflation was unbridled imports. That pleased consumers only momentarily. Domestic producers collapsed from competition with cheap but unsafe fish, chicken, fruits and veggies from China. Already suffering Asian swine fever, many piggeries closed down from cheap pork imports.

A President certainly can do what secretaries can’t but Marcos might do better if he stays only as President.

He can stand back and order the environment and interior departments to replant mangroves. Every mangrove hectare yields per year 800 kilos of fish, crab, shells, birds and eggs, plus edible fern and high value sea urchin – free food and cash for the poor. The Philippines has lost half of its mangrove forest, with only 250,000 hectares left. Imagine how much more food reforestation can yield.

Examples await replicating. NGOs, conglomerates and governors and mayors have done it in Bulacan, Batangas, Quezon, Sorsogon, Cebu and Silay City, among others.

Marcos’ preference to micromanage agriculture requires focus. He will have to report to the department more often than only twice on July 4 and 11. Teleconferencing can only do so much. Daily face-to-face co-working will familiarize him with issues, operations and bureaucrats.

Like, he might discover who’s messing up marketing services and Kadiwa rolling stores these past six years. Producers remain unlinked to wholesalers. Growers of red onion in Mindoro, watermelon in Laguna and vegetables in Benguet have had to dump harvest recently for lack of transport and buyers.

Panganiban, long-retired from the department but rehired in August at age 83, may not know that marketing assistance is now required by law. He blamed not his subs but garlic farmers in Itbayat, Batanes for planting garlic last summer supposedly without thinking of marketing. Itbayat has been producing garlic for half a century. But traders backed out this year because smugglers flooded nearby Ilocos and Cagayan with Chinese garlic.

Fighting agri-smuggling demands revival of an inter-department task force, as presidents Gloria Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino had. Consisting of agriculture, trade, justice, Customs and BIR bosses, the TF reported monthly to the President. It had a Malacañang core of police generals and Navy-Coast Guard commodores interdicting contraband.

Agri-smuggling dropped 25 and 31 percent respectively under Arroyo and Aquino, former TF member and agriculture and trade undersecretary Ernesto Ordoñez says.

Exposed in GOTCHA last month was the sneak-out of confiscated onions smuggled from China. Customs assessed six cargo containers at P18 million. Retailed in Davao and Surigao at P700 a kilo, the value ballooned to P100.6 million. Customs commissioner Yogi Ruiz ordered his intelligence deputy to investigate and recommend suspension of the port collector if necessary. Does Marcos know that no action has yet been taken?

Vegetable smuggling goes on. Videos and photos of contraband, with location-date-time geo-stamped, circulate online. Dozens of containers have been trafficked into Manila, Subic, Batangas and Quezon, part of 1,700 total. Senator Raffy Tulfo has identified the smuggling king as Michael Yang, likely an alias. That contrabandist is even threatening to kill Benguet planters who exposed him.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Manila airport chief replaced while cleaning old mess

Manila airport chief replaced while cleaning old mess

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

A Xiamen Airline plane blocked the MIA runway for two days after skidding onto the grass side, Aug. 2018 – PNA photo

GOTCHA

written on October 28, 2022

 

Confusion reigned at Manila International Airport Wednesday, Oct. 26. News flashed at 10:30 a.m. that general manager Cesar Chiong, appointed only 100 days ago, had been replaced. But Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista’s spokesman denied it.

Chiong was then co-presiding the MIA board meeting when phoned to relinquish his post to Jose Arturo Tugade. Attendees were heads of other aviation-related agencies, MIA managers and staff. News followed of Tugade’s appointment signed by President Bongbong Marcos five days earlier.

Faces of Chiong’s new 30-man team fell. Those of old sidelined ones lit up. Tugade is the youngest son of their appointer, former transport boss and MIA chairman Arturo Tugade.

MIA old-timers said it was a bad time to change leadership. They’re anticipating heavy passenger traffic during this long All Saints/All Souls weekend. As well, squeezing into the congested MIA runway diverted flights from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport accident. Then there’s the incoming Christmas rush of balikbayans and domestic travellers.

Chiong is a retired airline exec. He was just mid-way into familiarizing himself with various international airport concerns: passenger comfort, flight scheduling and promptness, operations, finances, security, overseeing 54 outside agencies’ MIA detachments like Customs-Immigration-Quarantine, and more. His baptism of fire came last Sept. 16 when Terminal-3 momentarily suffered power outage. Thirty-one international flights were delayed and 16,000 passengers queued seven hours at immigration booths because computers wouldn’t reboot. A troubleshooter solved the mess by disconnecting the network from the dead batteries of the uninterrupted power system and plugged it to the wall outlet.

Tugade will go through the same learning curve. The lawyer has no aviation experience. Paternal coaching may help only a bit since the elder merely chaired the MIA board but did not run the facility.

Chiong has been striving to set things right at MIA. Will Tugade follow suit? Among the messes there in 2016-2021 exposed in Gotcha were:

(1) P700-million overpriced replacement of Terminal-1 baggage conveyor belt that merely needed repair, exposed by private-sector directors Leoncio Nakpil and Leonardo Lopez;

(2) P660-million overpriced Terminal-2 facelift in which Lopez said substandard materials were used;

(3) P300-million computerization that did not include crucial accounts receivables, thus the ballooning to P3.8 billion of unpaid collectibles from airlines, hangar lessors and restaurant-souvenir shop concessionaires. For questioning this, Director Helen Osias, a holdover from the previous Board, was no longer invited to subsequent meetings;

(4) Award of a 25-year rehab contract to a firm worth P18 billion, merely one-third of MIA Authority’s P47-billion assets, thus violating the Build-Operate-Transfer Law. Had it not been exposed by then-Rep. Jericho Nograles, the firm would have collected and increased terminal and other fees, and replaced 14,000 regular and contractual workers;

(5) Award to a MIA in-house lawyer’s son-in-law, without Board approval, of a two-year lease of a Terminal-3 commercial space, which he in turn subleased long-term at triple the price to an airline in dire need of a ticketing office (complaint filed with Ombudsman); award to the lawyer’s daughter of a 10-year lease of two MIA lots and forcing the long-existing gasoline stations to pay to her instead of directly to MIA (an ex-GM used to hold the anomalous leases);

(6) P100-million payment in 2019, without Board approval or budget allocation, supposedly for construction of Terminal-1 45 years earlier, including unfounded six-percent interest per year;

(7) Hiring of janitorial and other service firms owned by managers;

(8) Franchising of exclusive airport taxis owned by managers;

(9) Grant of restaurant-shop concessions to managers’ relatives and associates;

(10) Sudden doubling to P24 million of a decades-long grass cutting contract on supposed but unverified equipment upgrade;

(11) Award of MIA property to a Covid RT-PCR test clinic to a front of two high officials then, one in the transport department, the other in Malacañang (another clinic’s higher offer was rejected);

(12) Purchase of substandard passenger benches that didn’t last six months, supposedly imported but made in Bulacan by the high transport official;

(13) Purchase of substandard and non-maintenance of Terminal-3 air bridges;

(14) Letting aircraft remain on the tarmac for repair without congestion penalties and instead of being sent to hangars;

(15) Management’s defiance of a 2018 Board directive to place in a special DBP trust account P1 billion in terminal fees returned by airlines for unused, unflown and cancelled tickets and from exempted overseas Filipino workers. Managers alibied that the funds were not MIA’s and therefore must be retained in current bank account earning only 0.1 percent interest a year. Yet, they time-deposited for higher interest current funds slated for payouts: P161.2 million for the Terminal-2 rehab contractor and P18.9 million in Bayanihan 2 “ayuda” to employees. State auditors said this resulted in foregone income of P14.3 million in 2020 and P17.9 million in 2021 alone.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

With no identified mastermind, police ‘solve’ Ka Percy murder

With no identified mastermind, police ‘solve’ Ka Percy murder

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

photo from Percy Lapid Fire Facebook page

GOTCHA

written on October 26, 2022

 

The mastermind must be very happy.

Metro Manila’s Southern Police District has declared “solved” the assassination of fiery broadcaster Percival Mabasa, popularly known as Ka Percy Lapid. That a gunman has surrendered and confessed seemed enough to close the investigation.

Gaps weaken the case. The getaway motorcycle driver and two lookouts, all supposedly alternate shooters, are still at large. One middleman, a drug indictee long in custody but allegedly the paymaster, refuses to cooperate with probers. Another middleman, a murder convict who allegedly organized the hit squad, died under suspicious prison circumstances four hours after police televised the gunman.

Having filed a criminal complaint, police will pass on the work to prosecutors. Prosecutors’ role is not crime solving but presenting evidence for the judge’s appreciation.

Gunman Joel Escorial will be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. There he will be forgotten.

Only when the judge issues an arrest warrant will police try to track down getaway driver alias Orly or Orlando. Also lookout-brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan. Police will do that in their spare time.

Only by chance may paymaster Christopher Bacoto be conscience-stricken to tell what he knows. Meanwhile, hit squad organizer Crisanto Villamor y Globa, with all internal organs embalmed, will tell no tales.

Those let the mastermind off the hook.

That there’s a mastermind is obvious. Villamor could not have formed the hit squad on his own. Someone with an axe to grind against Ka Percy would have taken out a contract on him.

Murder-for-hire is one of prison syndicates’ seven rackets. The six others are kidnap for ransom, bank robbery, narco-trade, illegal gambling, extortion for protection and money laundering. Crooked Bureau of Corrections officials facilitate the rackets by providing them mobile phones.

Bacoto could not have paid Escorial, Orly and the Dimaculangans P550,000 on his own. A low-level narco-trafficker, he must be a mere conduit who deposited the money in Escorial’s bank account. Someone rich provided the cash.

Escorial described Villamor and Bacoto as “middlemen,” intermediaries between two parties – the mastermind and the hit men.

The mastermind must be so powerful to manipulate the investigation.

BuCor officials blabbered nonsense. Villamor supposedly died of “bangungot” (acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis) during afternoon nap. Given that National Bilibid dorms are overcrowded, “ka-kosa” (cellmates) would have roused and rushed him to the prison clinic. A death certificate was issued at 2 p.m. Oct. 18, stating the cause, when BuCor would say days later that Villamor had yet to be autopsied.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun cited irregularities. Autopsy should have been done before embalming. There was no toxicology report; embalming chemicals can muddle traces of poisoning.

The deceased’s name is not even Crisanto “Jun” Globa Villamor. It’s Cristito “Tidoy” Villamor Palaña. Broadcaster Ted Failon turned this up in an interview with the father, Restituto Palaña, who was preparing to bring home the remains to Javier, Leyte. Another Bilibid inmate is Jose Villamor, Cristito’s maternal cousin. BuCor meandered for a week before securing him from possible silencing.

It turns out that Cristito had sensed danger. Hours before death he alerted sister “Marisa” that fellow-inmates were out to get him: the “commanders” of three Bilibid gangs Sputnik, Happy Go Lucky and Batang City Jail. Marisa disclosed this in Senator Raffy Tulfo’s radio show.

For a while there the mastermind must have worried. Public outcry ensued after Ka Percy was gunned down at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 3 while entering his gated residential village in Las Piñas City. Media raged since Ka Percy was a courageous exposer of corruption in high places. Foreign news correspondents denounced the spate of killings of Filipino journalists with impunity and were troubled that Ka Percy had been done in right in the national capital.

The mastermind must feel relieved now. The case does not identify him, a breach of practice.

The Supreme Court’s Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 110 – Prosecution of Offenses, Section 6, Sufficiency of complaint or information, states:

“… When an offense is committed by more than one person, all of them shall be included in the complaint or information.”

Parallel police procedures fall short. The National Police Commission deems a case solved when an offender is identified, arrested and booked with sufficient evidence.

With spotty investigations, more murders will be masterminded. All seekers of justice are imperiled.

Thugs are bashing and threatening online Ka Percy’s wife, offspring and younger brother Roy, former National Press Club president. The mastermind employs trolls. Videos show them in prison garb, faces blurred, menacing Ka Percy’s kin to shut up.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Site Terms & Conditions (scroll down for the buttons)

This site, jariusbondoc.com, is free for your use.

However, we do have some terms and conditions which you can find below. By continuing to use or to read from this site, that means you understand and agree to comply with the terms and conditions.

I. PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how jariusbondoc.com uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use https://jariusbondoc.com/ (“website”, “service”).

We reserve the right to change this policy at any given time. If you want to make sure that you are up to date with the latest changes, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

 

What User Data We Collect

When you visit the website, we may collect the following data:

  • Your IP address
  • Your contact information and email address
  • Other information such as interests and preferences
  • Data profile regarding your online behavior on our website

 

Why We Collect Your Data

We are collecting your data for several reasons:

  • To better understand your needs
  • To improve our services and products
  • To send you promotional emails containing the information we think you will find interesting
  • To contact you to fill out surveys and participate in other types of market research
  • To customize our website according to your online behavior and personal preferences

 

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

jariusbondoc.com is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. jariusbondoc.com has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

 

Our Cookie Policy

Once you agree to allow our website to use cookies, you also agree to use the data it collects regarding your online behavior (analyze web traffic, web pages you spend the most time on, and websites you visit).

The data we collect by using cookies is used to customize our website to your needs. After we use the data for statistical analysis, the data is completely removed from our systems.

Please note that cookies don’t allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not so that we can provide a better experience for you.

If you want to disable cookies, you can do it by accessing the settings of your internet browser.

 

Links to Other Websites

Our website contains links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links jariusbondoc.com is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

 

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

 

  • When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.
  • If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

 

jariusbondoc.com will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties, unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.

 

II. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All materials contained on this site are protected by the Republic of the Phlippines copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of jariusbondoc.com or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

However, you may download material from jariusbondoc.com on the Web (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

If you wish to use jariusbondoc.com content for commercial purposes, such as for content syndication etc., please contact us at jariusbondoconline@gmail.com.

Links to Websites other than those owned by jariusbondoc.com are offered as a service to readers. The editorial staff of jariusbondoc.com was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

 

III. TERMS OF SERVICE

 

  1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

 

1.1 If you choose to use the jariusbondoc.com service (the “Service”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement between you and jariusbondoc.com (“jariusbondoc.com “).

 

1.2 jariusbondoc.com may change, add or remove portions of this Agreement at any time, but if it does so, it will post such changes on the Service, or send them to you via e-mail. It is your responsibility to review this Agreement prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use this Site, you agree to any changes.

 

1.3 If any of these rules or any future changes are unacceptable to you, you may cancel your membership by sending e-mail to jariusbondoconline.com (see section 10.1 regarding termination of service). Your continued use of the service now, or following the posting of notice of any changes in these operating rules, will indicate acceptance by you of such rules, changes, or modifications.

 

1.4 jariusbondoc.com may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any Service feature, database, or content. jariusbondoc.com may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Service without notice or liability.

 

  1. JARIUSBONDOC.COM CONTENT AND MEMBER SUBMISSIONS

 

2.1 The contents of the jariusbondoc.com are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. All materials published on jariusbondoc.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by jariusbondoc.com or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Service.

 

2.2 The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to the Republic of the Philippines and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.

 

2.3 You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Service for personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from jariusbondoc.com or the copyright holder identified in the copyright notice contained in the Content.

 

  1. FORUMS, DISCUSSIONS AND USER GENERATED CONTENT

 

3.1 You shall not upload to, or distribute or otherwise publish on the message boards (the “Feedback Section”) any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.

 

3.2 (a)Be courteous. You agree that you will not threaten or verbally abuse jariusbondoc.com columnists and other jariusbondoc.com community Members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or “spam.”

 

3.2 (b) Use respectful language. Like any community, the Feedback Sections will flourish only when our Members feel welcome and safe. You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.2 (c) Debate, but don’t attack. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. jariusbondoc.com encourages active discussions and welcomes heated debate in our Feedback Sections. But personal attacks are a direct violation of this Agreement and are grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.3 The Feedback Sections shall be used only in a noncommercial manner. You shall not, without the express approval of jariusbondoc.com, distribute or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services.

 

3.4 You are solely responsible for the content of your messages. However, while jariusbondoc.com does not and cannot review every message posted by you on the Forums and is not responsible for the content of these messages, jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to delete, move, or edit messages that it, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable.

 

3.5 You acknowledge that any submissions you make to the Service (i.e., user-generated content including but not limited to: text, video, audio and photographs) (each, a “Submission”) may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by jariusbondoc.com and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. You grant jariusbondoc.com a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licensable license to the Submissions, which includes without limitation the right for jariusbondoc.com or any third party it designates, to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any Submission posted by you on or to jariusbondoc.com or any other website owned by it, including any Submission posted on jariusbondoc.com through a third party.

 

3.6 By submitting an entry to jariusbondoc.com’s Readers’ Corner, you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

 

  1. ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE AND LINKS

 

4.1 jariusbondoc.com contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites, resources, and sponsors of jariusbondoc.com. Since jariusbondoc.com is not responsible for the availability of these outside resources, or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the site administrator or Webmaster of such site.

 

  1. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

 

5.1 You represent, warrant and covenant (a) that no materials of any kind submitted through your account will (i) violate, plagiarize, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights; or (ii) contain libelous or otherwise unlawful material; and (b) that you are at least thirteen years old. You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless jariusbondoc.com, and all officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you or any user of your account of this Agreement or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any such claim. jariusbondoc.com reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

 

5.2 jariusbondoc.com does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed, uploaded, or distributed through the Service by any user, information provider or any other person or entity. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, memorandum, or information shall be at your sole risk. THE SERVICE AND ALL DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

 

  1. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN JARIUSBONDOC.COM AND MEMBERS

 

6.1 If you indicate on your registration form that you want to receive such information, jariusbondoc.com, its owners and assigns, will allow certain third party vendors to provide you with information about products and services.

 

6.2 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to send electronic mail to you for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Service.

 

6.3 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to disclose information about your usage and demographics, provided that it will not reveal your personal identity in connection with the disclosure of such information. Advertisers and/or Licensees on our Web site may collect and share information about you only if you indicate your acceptance. For more information please read the Privacy Policy of jariusbondoc.com.

 

6.4 jariusbondoc.com may contact you via e-mail regarding your participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on the Website and existing or prospective products and services. This information will be used to improve our Website and better understand our users, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

 

  1. TERMINATION

 

 

7.1 jariusbondoc.com may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Service for any reason, including, without limitation, breach or assignment of this Agreement.

 

  1. MISCELLANEOUS

 

8.1 This Agreement has been made in and shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the Republic of the Philippines law. Any action to enforce this agreement shall be brought in the courts located in Manila, Philippines.

 

8.2 Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Terms of Service will serve to preempt the promises made in jariusbondoc.com Privacy Policy.

 

8.3 Correspondence should be sent to jariusbondoconline.com.

 

8.4 You agree to report any copyright violations of the Terms of Service to jariusbondoc.com as soon as you become aware of them. In the event you have a claim of copyright infringement with respect to material that is contained in the jariusbondoc.com service, please notify jariusbondoconline.com. This Terms of Service was last updated on November 7, 2020.