News Roundup 20 July 2023
Jul 20, 2023 • 5 min Read
Teachers press DBM for accountability after failure to blacklist overpriced laptop supplier | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — A nationwide group of teachers has scored the Department of Budget and Management over its failure to blacklist the supplier of laptops for public school teachers that were found to be pricey and outdated in 2022.
Based on the Commission on Audit’s 2022 report for DBM’s procurement arm, the agency has yet to comply with last year’s audit recommendation to blacklist the supplier involved in the Department of Education’s controversial purchase of P2.4 billion worth of entry-level laptops.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said that this speaks of the DBM procurement arm’s “lack of accountability and dereliction of duty to safeguard public funds from malversation.”
“This is a clear form of negligence to protect public funds that should have benefited the people directly,” ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said in Filipino.
According to the audit report, while the PS-DBM management said it has submitted a resolution on the blacklisting of the supplier for approval, state auditors said that the “blacklisting and termination review committee has not yet conducted blacklisting proceedings over the subject contracts.”
“Thus, a resolution on the termination of contracts or blacklisting of suppliers has not been issued,” state auditors said.
Full Story at: Teachers press DBM for accountability after failure to blacklist overpriced laptop supplier | Philstar.com
ICC can now issue arrest warrants over drug deaths | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court can now apply for the issuance of arrest warrants at the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber.
The Philippine government has said it will not implement any arrest warrant from the ICC.
“At this stage, the prosecutor can actually already decide who he might charge with crimes against humanity, which is what the original request to be allowed to investigate was meant to do,” International Center for Transitional Justice senior expert Ruben Carranza said yesterday in an interview on ANC.
But Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla said on July 17 that the government will not execute arrest warrants that the ICC may issue.
“They have nothing to do here. What will they do? Invade us? Do they want to invade us like a colony again?” he said.
ICC judges can issue warrants of arrest – or alternatively, a summons – to ensure that persons appear at trial and do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, or prevent persons from continuing with the commission of a crime.
The ICC’s judgment published on July 18 allowed the resumption of the investigation into the thousands of extrajudicial killings and rights abuses committed during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The drug war’s chief implementer Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said he is “unbothered” by the ICC decision.
Under the drug war, at least 6,200 people were killed in police operations based on government records. Human rights groups, however, said the actual death toll could be from 12,000 to 30,000.
Full Story at: ICC can now issue arrest warrants over drug deaths | Philstar.com
DND studying options to recover P1.9 B downpayment for scrapped Russia chopper deal | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The Department of National Defense (DND) is looking at possible legal options to recover almost P2 billion advance payment from Russia following the termination of the P12.7-billion helicopter purchase deal between the two countries, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
“We’re studying our legal options,” Teodoro said during a press conference at the Department of National Defense (DND) headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
“That is a purely legal question already … on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of a contract, so we have to study the best legal option as to the way forward,” he added.
In November 2021, the Philippine government and Russia signed a contract for 17 units of Mi17 heavy-lift helicopters for the Philippine Air Force.
On June 25, 2022, however, then Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana — who now heads the Bases Conversion and Development Authority — terminated the chopper deal.
Full Story at: DND studying options to recover P1.9 B downpayment for scrapped Russia chopper deal | Inquirer News
Army head Brawner named military chief | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commanding general of the Philippine Army, as the next Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, replacing Gen. Andres Centino.
Centino, the only officer to have been named military chief twice, will continue to serve the president as presidential adviser on the West Philippine Sea.
Brawner, who also attended the University of the Philippines in 1984, graduated second in the 1989 “Makatao” Class of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and has served the military in various capacities over the past 34 years.
He has been company commander of the 6th Special Forces Company, battalion commander of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion, operations officer of the airborne Special Forces Regiment, chief of staff of the 6th Infantry Division, public affairs chief of the Army; AFP spokesperson and commander of the civil-military operations regiment.
He was one of the key commanders of Task Force Ranao during the five-month terrorist siege of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur in 2017 and was promoted to chief of the Mindanao-based 103rd Infantry Brigade the following year.
Brawner also holds graduate degrees from Ateneo de Manila University, the Asian Institute of Management, the European School of Management at Oxford University, and the US Army War College.
Full Story at: Army head Brawner named military chief | Inquirer News
