News Roundup 18 October 2022
Oct 18, 2022 • 7 min Read
Percy Lapid slay case: Gunman says ‘someone from Bilibid’ gave kill order | INQUIRER.NET – “Someone from Bilibid” gave the order to kill veteran broadcaster Percy Lapid. Confessed gunman Joel Estorial revealed this on Tuesday as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Philippine National Police (PNP) presented him to the media following his supposed surrender to authorities on October 17. “Galing po sa loob, sa Bilibid po (Someone from inside the Bilibid),” said the 39-year-old suspect in the killing of Lapid, whose real name was Percival Mabasa, when asked who instructed him and his accomplices to ambush the radioman. Bilibid is the common term for the New Bilibid Prison – the country’s main penitentiary managed by the Bureau of Corrections under the Department of Justice – located in Muntinlupa City. Estorial, in the same press briefing where he was presented, also identified his alleged partners in crime as brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan, and a certain “Orlando” or “Orly” – all of whom are still at large as of this posting. He then detailed how they allegedly plotted to gun down Lapid last October 3. “Iyong usapan, kung sino po ang matapat kay Percy po, siya po ang babaril. Nagkataon po natapat sa akin. Sabi naman po, kung hindi ko binaril, ako po ang papatayin kaya nga, binaril ko na po si Percy,” Estorial narrated, recounting what Orly allegedly told him before they committed the crime. (Our arrangement was for whoever got closest to Percy would be the one to fire the fatal shot, and I was in that position. I was threatened with death if I didn’t shoot Percy at that moment, so I did.) Estorial maintained they were following the orders from Orlando, who in turn received instructions from whoever was in the Bilibid. “Iyong kumontrata po, sir, galing sa loob ng Bilibid. Tinawag po sa amin na ganoon daw po (The one who booked us came from inside Bilibid. Someone called us to do it),” he added. According to Estorial, a total of P550,000 was distributed among the people involved in Lapid’s killing. He also said that around P140,000 has since been deposited in his bank account. Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., for his part, urged the mastermind and the other three suspects to surrender to the police. “We have to get the mastermind. That’s very important,” he said, noting that the PNP is still conducting follow-up investigations. The administrations of both former President Rodrigo Duterte and former President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. were targets of Lapid’s scathing criticism. He was ambushed and killed outside the gate of the Las Piñas City neighborhood where he lived. He was the voice of DWBL 1242’s biting political commentary program “Lapid Fire.”
SC sets oral argument on barangay, SK elections postponement | INQUIRER.NET – The Supreme Court will hear on Friday oral arguments on a petition to strike down Republic Act 11935, the law that allows postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections. The SC scheduled the oral arguments for October 21 at 3 p.m., according to the Public Information Office. Meanwhile, the SC gave the respondent Commission on Elections (Comelec) until 12 noon on Friday to file their comment. Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal filed the petition to overturn RA 11935, arguing that while Congress has the authority to set the term of office of Barangay officials, it does not have the authority to postpone the barangay elections or extend the term of office of barangay officials. Macalintal also urged the SC to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of RA 11935.
In Lupang Ramos, resistance and hope after a letdown at polls | PHILSTAR.COM – In September, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed an order freezing payments of amortization and loan interests of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, a move that would let them use the money to develop their farms instead. This came as a welcome development for beneficiaries who need to pay the government for land awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform program. The one-year moratorium on payments will cover around 654,000 ARBs but for Miriam Villanueva and her neighbors in Cavite, they cannot benefit from this move. Villanueva and her neighbors are farmers in Lupang Ramos — a 372-hectare plot of agricultural land in Dasmariñas, Cavite. To this day, they are still fighting for their rights to the land they assert is theirs. “Paano naman ‘yung mga nakabinbin ang mga kaso sa lupa? Wala namang silbi sa amin ‘yung [moratorium] dahil hanggang sa kasalukuyan ay patuloy pa rin kaming lumalaban para sa karapatan namin sa lupa,” said Villanueva, a farmer-leader of Katipunan ng mga Lehitimong Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Lupang Ramos (KASAMA-LR). (What about those who have pending land cases? The [moratorium] is no use to us because we are still fighting for our rights to this land until now.) Lupang Ramos, sandwiched between commercial and industrial estates, has been the subject of decades-long agrarian disputes and years-long resistance to attempts to evict farmers tilling the land there. Entry into the community is through a checkpoint manned by residents. This meant to discourage attempts to drive some people out of the land they have been cultivating. The community in Lupang Ramos has had to weather attempts to scare them off, with some of those incidents descending into violence. A few meters from the entrance and near the houses is where residents gather to talk or eat meals from crops grown in the community. Overlooking them is a mural of farmers shows their continuing calls: The distribution of Lupang Ramos to farmers and genuine land reform across the country. A chronology of Lupang Ramos’ previous owners reflects the country’s colonial history: It was previously held by Spanish friars but is also more popularly and more recently known as “Lupang Kano” for the Americans who planned to turn the land into either a golf course or a memorial park. “Noong 1903, ‘yung mga magulang namin — ‘yung mga ninuno namin — hindi nakapag-rehistro dahil pagpunta nila ng mga munisipyo ay English ang salita so hindi agad nila maintindihan pag-proseso ng mga dokumento,” Villanueva said. (In 1903, our parents — our ancestors — were not able to register [the land under their name] because when they went to the municipal office, everything was in English and they did not understand how to process the document.) Emerito Ramos, from Novaliches in Quezon City and who was engaged in livestock, got the multiple titles to the 372-hectare plot in 1965 for agricultural production. The titles were eventually used as collateral under a mortgage program with the central bank to fund operational costs. Farmers and residents began trying to reclaim the land in the 1990s, forming Buklod ng Magbubukid sa Lupang Ramos in response to growing interest in the area from land developers. Without a legal title to the land, the organized farmers continued to face intimidation from authorities and from businesses with competing claims to Lupang Ramos. They also had to contend with the challenges of farming that have driven many who till the soil into debt. When money was tight because of low production, some farming families reluctantly gave up their claim on the land in exchange for cash. This is a common scenario in the Philippines where farmers have to contend with the high price of seeds and fertilizer and low farmgate prices. “Nawala ang direksyon ng paglaban para sa karapatan sa lupa. Ngayon mula sa 40 pamilyang naliliwanagan, binuo ang KASAMA-LR para itama ang landas ng tama sa karapatan at muling buuin ang pagkakaisa ng mga mamamayan at pasiglahin muli ang agrikultura,” Villanueva said. (The struggle for land rights was derailed, so we formed KASAMA-LR with 40 families who saw the importance of the struggle. We wanted to get back on track and to work together to bring back agriculture to the area.) KASAMA-LR was formed in 2010 and the first two years of their existence was spent organizing among themselves and making sure the group was distinct from those who were willing to give up their claims to Lupang Ramos. In 2017, members of KASAMA-LR reclaimed parcels of land in a bungkalan activity, which is a form of collective land tilling and an assertion of their rights over the land.
