Police re-assign cops affiliated with poll bets

POLICE SAID it re-assigned some 1,370 policemen affiliated with candidates in the coming May elections to ensure impartiality and non-partisan enforcement of the law.

The reshuffle likewise covered 121 provincial directors, city directors, mobile force commanders, and chiefs of police who have reached the maximum two-year tour of duty in their assignments.

The limited reshuffle of personnel is an administrative measure t by police personnel, particularly in areas where they have relatives running for local elective positions. “As non-partisan and deputized law enforcement agency of the Commission on Elections, we strongly and firmly remain faithful to our apolitical mandate to ensure and protect the will of the electorate towards honest, orderly and peaceful elections,” General Oscar Albayalde.

Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) head, Major General Lyndon Cubos said there are 1,858 police personnel who have blood relations and affinity with politicians running in the polls. However, only 1,370 are presently assigned in the political jurisdictions of the candidates, while 488 are assigned elsewhere, thus there is no need to relieve them from their present assignments.

Those reassigned were 26 police commissioned officers and 1,344 non-commissioned officers. At the same time, the PNP has issued resignation orders to five police personnel, who were deemed resigned from the service upon filing their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) for local elective posts.

These include a vice mayoral candidate in Bukidnon and four aspirants running for municipal councilor in Surigao del Norte, Northern Samar, Lanao del Sur, and Zamboanga del Sur, respectively.
Section 24 of COMELEC Resolution 10420, which tackles the effects of filing a Certificate of Candidacy, states that “any person holding a public appointed office or position, including those in uniformed service, shall be considered ipso facto resigned from the office and must vacate the same at the start of the day of the filing of COC.” (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)

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2 ISIS suicide bombers behind Jolo cathedral attack

SULU – The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly twin cathedral blasts in Jolo town in the southern Philippines and was carried out by a pair of suicide bombers.

  

SITE Intelligence Group 

ISIS, in a statement released by its Amaq News Agency, said the first bomber detonated an explosive belt, while the second attacker blew himself up outside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral over the weekend and killing and wounding dozens of people, including soldiers deployed in the area.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. company that tracks online activity of jihadist organizations, reported that ISIS has owned to the bombings.

Rita Katz - SITE Intelligence Group 

“ISIS, through Amaq and communiqué, claim deadly bombing on Christian church in Jolo, stating it was carried out by two suicide bombers. One detonated belt at church gate and second in church’s private lot where Filipino security forces gathered after first blast,” said Rita Katz, SITE director.
The Long War Journal also reported that ISIS describes its target in Jolo as a “Christian temple,” saying that it was bombed during a “gathering of the Crusaders to perform their polytheist rituals.”
Both reports and Amaq did not say whether the suicide bombers were foreign fighters or Filipino militants.

Ajang-Ajang

The Philippine military has largely blamed the “Ajang-Ajang Group,” a unit of the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to ISIS, and vowed to fight for the establishment of a caliphate in the restive region.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, a military spokesman, said two bombs went off in the church. One of the bombs was hidden under the seat of a motorcycle parked outside the cathedral.

Authorities said a total of 20 people were killed and over 70 others wounded in the blasts. Earlier police reports claimed 27 had died – seven soldiers, one Coast Guard and 19 civilians; and that 14 more troops were wounded and also 61 civilians and two Coast Guards.

Security Lapses

Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana and Police Chief Oscar Albayalde flew to Jolo on Monday to oversee the investigations into the attacks. Albayalde admitted the local police force failed to implement tight security that led to the attacks.

The bombings prompted the Philippine police to impose a nationwide alert to pre-empt any acts of terrorism.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said there could be lapses in security and that President Rodrigo Duterte is awaiting the results of investigations. He said Duterte was so angry. “Of course he was so angry, for one. For another, he is so disappointed that despite the movement to tread the path towards peace and development, there are still some forces in that region that sow terror and kill and murder people,” he said.

Dastardly Act

Sulu Governor Toto Tan on Monday again condemned the twin bombings and called it a “dastardly act committed inside a place of worship and wrecked deaths and devastations beyond imaginable reasons, and deserves the strongest of condemnation. Words elude us at this moment of profound grief.”

He said there has never been an episode in the post-colonial history of Sulu when wars were fought due to religious differences. “Sulu can rightly claim to be the most tolerant of any Muslim-dominated provinces in the region. Neighbors before the war of the 70s are still good neighbors until this very day. We should never allow anyone or anything to destroy what we have strongly built and nurtured through generations and so endearing to last for many more lifetimes to come, Inshallah!”

“As I deeply grieve and condole with the bereaved, I beseech everyone to exercise sobriety and allow concerned authorities and all instrumentalities of government to bring the perpetrators of this heinous and inhuman act to account for what they did to Sulu and its people. They should not go unpunished,” he said.

Martial Law

It was unclear how the improvised explosives were smuggled inside the church or how it managed to pass through police and military checkpoints.

The bombings happened despite an extended martial rule in the whole of southern Philippines, and the attacks only showed how poor the security was in the capital town.

On New Year’s Eve, an improvised explosive also went off outside the South Seas Mall in Cotabato City that left dozens of casualties. A member of the MILF - tagged by the police and military as a Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter - linked to the attack was arrested by authorities during President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to Cotabato to campaign for the BOL ratification ahead of the plebiscite. His family denied all the accusation against him.

Attacks

The latest attack in Jolo was not the first time for Catholic churches in the predominantly Muslim province. In August 2013, a grenade explosion outside the cathedral wounded two civilians. And in the previous year, another fragmentation grenade exploded at the cathedral’s roof.

Previous attacks on churches were largely blamed by the authorities to the Abu Sayyaf, a small but the most notorious among rebel groups operating in the troubled region.

In December 2010, Abu Sayyaf militants bombed another church inside the police base in Jolo and killing at least six worshipers. The militants scaled the church wall undetected under cover of darkness and planted the bomb and waited the next morning before detonating the powerful explosive during a mass.

Two people were also killed and 17 others wounded when militants also detonated a huge bomb planted outside the cathedral in July 2009. A second bomb was found near the church and had been disarmed by Filipino and US troops helping the military fight terrorism.

In July 31 last year, a Moroccan ISIS soldier Abu Katheer al Maghribi, exploded his van filled with explosives in Lamitan City in the volatile Muslim province of Basilan, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that left over a dozen casualties. Basilan is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. Several foreign fighters had been killed in clashes with soldiers in Basilan in recent years. (Mindanao Examiner)


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Senate backs creation of court for police abuses

A SENATE COMMITTEE is backing the creation of a special court that will handle cases of abuse involving police officers to reform the Philippine National Police (PNP) and better protect the public.

 

The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, chaired by Senator Richard Gordon, is pushing for Senate Bill No. 1399 or the "Police Court Act of 2017", which is already on second reading. "The objective of the bill is to shine the spotlight of responsibility on the law in the matter of police cases involving violation of constitutional rights, as well as crimes perpetrated by police officers upon the public," Gordon, the bill's author and sponsor, said.

 

Apart from Gordon, the bill was also authored by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Loren Legarda. The bill, Gordon said, will mandate the creation of a special court to be designated as the Police Law Enforcement Court or "Police Court" among existing Regional Trial Courts (RTCs), which will have original exclusive jurisdiction "on all civil and criminal cases involving the abuse of authority of members of the PNP, whether in or off duty."

 

The Police Court will handle cases arising out of violations by a member of the PNP of its operational procedures, rules of engagement and other protocols, as well as complaints for violation of constitutional rights involving police officers. Gordon added that the Police Court would also have original jurisdiction on cases involving the writ of habeas corpus "when there is evidence that the victim is held under the custody of any of the members of the PNP."

 

The bill will also mandate the creation of an "Appellate Police Court" among the divisions of the Court of Appeals (CA) that will tackle appeals coming from the Police Court. Under the bill, he said the Supreme Court will provide periodic and continuous program for training "so that they would be familiar with police procedures in terms of rules of engagement."

 

Gordon said the reforms under Senate Bill 1399 are meant to provide an impartial and speedy disposition of complaints for violations of constitutional rights and PNP rules and procedures, "free from the 'kabaro' (colleague) system."

 

He said much is to be desired in the pace of prosecuting abusive police officers, noting the performance of the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS), the body authorized to conduct investigations and hearings on PNP members facing administrative charges.

 

As of August 2016, the IAS has reported only 839 pending cases, while the National Police Commission data from 2010 to 2015 showed 1,255 cases pending against nearly 4,000 police officers, Gordon said. "It takes years for a simple administrative matter to put a policeman under the heel of discipline," he pointed out. The bill, he added, is also a "cogent involvement and intervention by the legislature on the issues of extrajudicial killings, salvaging and riding-in-tandem crime."

 

"The police must be expected to perform their duties vigorously but, in so doing, they have no license to use overwhelming force or eliminate criminals acting as judge, jury and executioner. There are no shortcuts, and the police force must follow the rules of engagement and the rule of law in their operations against illegal drugs and other criminal activities," Gordon said.

 

 

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Police step up campaign vs. rogue cops

THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE continue its campaign against rogue members following the arrest of several officers accused of rape and the killing of a senior police official in a drug sting operation recently.

PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said: “Tayo ay nalulungkot kung bakit hanggang ngayon meron pa rin tayo nakukuha or nahuhuli or minsan na eengkwentro na miyembro ng PNP na nai-involve sa illegal activities particularly sa illegal na droga. Although we want to assure the public, the Filipino people na hindi po tayo titigil hanggat maubos sa aming hanay itong mga tiwaling pulis."

He said some 1,700 cops are on the police counter-intelligence watch list suspected as involved in illegal activities.

Among the police officers killed in counter-intelligence operations were Senior Insp. Raymond Hortezuela who was slain in Mandaue City in Cebu; PO2 Gemmo Meneses who was killed by police operatives in Morong, Rizal; PO3 Marco Hashim Alegre who was killed in a buy-bust in Occidental Mindoro; and PO2 Ian Rey Abitona who was killed in Infanta, Quezon. PO3 Ronald Bernardo and PO2 Maria Oliver Olaso were killed during a buy-bust in Barangay Ayala in Zamboanga City. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)

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Crackdown on rice hoarders continue, smuggling too

POLICE SAID IT is continuously working with different government agencies in its campaign against suspected rice hoarders in the country.

“Sa ngayon, we are having close coordination sa DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and DA (Department of Agriculture) and NFA (National Food Authority). Binigay naman natin lahat, continuous monitoring natin sa rice hoarders. Meron na nga order coming from the Office of the President,” said Director General Oscar Albayalde after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police to crackdown on rice hoarding.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, however, said Duterte has actually issued the same order not only to the police, but also to Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año. He said Duterte’s order shows government’s resolve to combat rice hoardings.

Roque insisted there was no rice shortage in the country and said the supply will be sustained with the arrival of additional imported rice this year. He accused some rice traders of creating artificial shortage by resorting to hoarding to jack up the prices of rice.

He said opposition politicians have been using the issues of rice shortage and high prices of commodities against the Duterte administration.

Roque said National Food Authority Council has already allowed private rice dealers to import supply beyond the minimum access volume aimed at stabilizing prices and supply of rice. The Philippines is allowed by the World Trade Organization to import 800,000 metric tons of rice per year.

Just recently, thousands of bags of confiscated rice suspected to have been smuggled from nearby Malaysia had mysteriously disappeared from the custody of the Bureau of Customs in Zamboanga City.

 

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar speaks to Customs District Collector Lyceo Martinez at City Hall. (Photo by Kathy Sit)

And this has forced Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar to again call the attention of Customs District Collector Lyceo Martinez and told him to act and be accountable for the smuggled rice and other items proliferating in Zamboanga.

She said millions of pesos worth of dried sea horses seized in Zamboanga also disappeared from the Bureau of Customs.

“Clearly, there is really an anomalous activity that is preferential towards those that are smuggling. I will never tolerate it,” Salazar said. “Smuggling activities must be stopped in our city, and I’m calling on his (Martinez) authority to act and be accountable for the smuggled rice.” (With a report from Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)

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