News Roundup 05 July 2024
Jul 05, 2024 • 5 min Read
Trillanes files plunder, graft charges vs former President Duterte | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:19 p.m.) — Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) plunder, graft and corruption charges against former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and two other individuals related to the senator over infrastructure contracts in Davao City.
The former senator, a staunch critic of Duterte, said that his office collected evidence indicating that Duterte and Go allegedly facilitated corrupt practices, specifically the continuous awarding of government contracts to infrastructure firms owned by Go’s father and brother, totaling P6.6 billion in contracts from 2007 to 2018.
This is the second criminal charge filed against the former president since his term ended in 2022. The first was filed on Oct. 24, 2023, when Rep. France Castro (ACT-Teachers) filed grave threat charges against Duterte. However, the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the charges saying that the evidence is “insufficient”.
In this case, Duterte and Go were accused of violating Republic Act (RA) No. 7080, or the Anti-Plunder Act; RA No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and RA No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
According to Trillanes’ complaint, Duterte and Go are guilty of the crime of plunder as they were public officials and they allegedly used their position to continuously award the construction firms of Go’s father and brother contracts worth billions of pesos.
The firms owned by Go’s father and brother mentioned in the complaint are CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply.
Full Story at: Trillanes files plunder, graft charges vs former President Duterte | Philstar.com
SolGen files petition to cancel Mayor Guo’s birth certificate | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra announced on Friday that the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has petitioned for the cancellation of suspended Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo’s certificate of live birth.
In a message to reporters, Guevarra said that the OSG filed the petition on behalf of the Philippine Statistics Authority before a Regional Trial Court in Tarlac City.
According to the Solicitor General, the cancellation of the suspended mayor’s birth certificate can be a basis for filing a quo warranto petition to remove Guo from her post as mayor.
“If her birth certificate is canceled, she will lose her most important defense evidence about her identity,” Guevarra said in an online message to reporters.
However, Guevarra said that the issue of her alleged foreign citizenship would be addressed separately in the quo warranto petition.
If proven not to be a Filipino citizen, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) previously said that Guo could be stateless.
“No country will accept her. Let us remember that China has no dual citizenship, and based on what was told by our Chinese counterparts, because she gave up her ‘Chinese citizenship’ and she obtained Philippine citizenship and passport, she has lost her right as a Chinese citizen,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in an interview with OnePH on June 29.
Guo’s identity has come under scrutiny due to her suspected ties to Philippine offshore gaming operator hubs raided by authorities.
On June 27, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) revealed the fingerprints of the suspended mayor and a certain Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping matched.
Full Story at: SolGen files petition to cancel Mayor Guo’s birth certificate | Philstar.com
9 foreigners found dead and scattered in Pampanga | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The bodies of nine foreigners were recently discovered in different parts of Pampanga, the provincial police said on Friday.
“Yung siyam na natagpuan po dito, ang anim po dito ay Chinese, one Vietnamese, one Malaysian, and one Japanese,” Pampanga Police Office Director Col. Jay Dimaandal said over radio dwPM.
(Six of the victims were Chinese, one Vietnamese, one Malaysian and one Japanese.)
Three of the dead Chinese nationals were found in Porac town.
A raid was conducted in a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) complex in Porac last month, where 186 individuals were rescued amid reports it was being used for human trafficking, with some of the foreign employees allegedly tortured or sold for sex.
But Dimaandal said it could not be determined if the deaths of three Chinese victims were Pogo-related.
Full Story at: 9 foreigners found dead and scattered in Pampanga | Inquirer News
Lacson says Binay-Cayetano feud over new Senate home ‘painful to watch’ | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines—Former Senator Panfilo Lacson said he is saddened by the quarrel between two incumbent senators over the new Senate building in Taguig City.
It was “painful to watch,” according to Lacson, referring to the bitter exchange between Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Nancy Binay.
Cayetano and Binay traded barbs last Wednesday as the Senate committee on accounts began reviewing the cost of the building.
Both Lacson and Binay previously chaired the committee.
The panel is currently headed by Cayetano following a change in Senate leadership last May.
“While the public hearing conducted by the Committee on Accounts is a correct call by the present Senate leadership since the issue involves public funds, the ensuing exchange between two former colleagues last Wednesday was painful to watch, to say the least,” Lacson said in a statement on Wednesday.
When he was the head of the committee, Lacson envisioned the new Senate home to be “world-class” and “iconic.”
But he is now saddened that it is now perceived “as another symbol of government abuse of public funds.”
“While a century-old dream for the Philippines Senate to finally have its own home, one that is iconic, secure, functional and green is about to come to fruition, it is sad that it is now perceived, rightly or wrongly, as another symbol of government abuse of public funds,” Lacson said.
Full Story at: Binay-Cayetano feud over new Senate home ‘painful to watch’ (inquirer.net)
