Kudos sa DSWD sa kanilang bagong programa

PINUPURI natin ang Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) dahil sa pagsulong nila ng bagong programa para sa kapakanan ng may 2,000 street children.

Ang naturang programa ay tinawag na “Bata, Bata, Marami kang Magagawa.”  Ito ay naglalayong hubugin at linangin ang mga kapabilidad ng mga street children, gayundin ang values formation ng mga ito nang sa gayon ay mabawasan at paglaon ay mawala na ang mga batang pakalat-kalat sa ating lansangan.

Ang mga street children na kalahok sa proyekto ay manggagaling sa siyudad ng Maynila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Pasig, Marikina at Mandaluyong.

Maganda ang nasabing proyekto dahil bukod sa mailalayo na sa lansangan ang ating mga kabataan ay mailalayo rin sa bisyo at droga ang mga ito!

Dagdag  pa rito ang paglinang sa kakayahan at personalidad ng ating mga kabataan.  Dahil dito ay matuturuan na sila upang maging kapaki-pakinabang na mamamayan at hindi na mga “eyesore” at kalat sa kamaynilaan.

***

Noong araw, ang pagdodroga ay gawain ng mga kabataan na walang magawa sa buhay. Ngayon, tila maraming puno na ng uban ang ulo ang nag-aadik-adik na rin! Kung ito ang kanilang paraan ng pakiki-uso, sila marahil ay nababaliw na!

Tingnan mo na lang itong si Antonio Torefranca, 54 anyos na at kilalang adik pa rin sa kanilang barangay sa Cagayan de Oro City.

Marahil dahil sa kanyang bisyo, madalas nakakaaway nitong si Mang Tony ang kanyang mga anak. Ayaw umanong kunsintihin ng kanyang pamilya ang kanyang masamang gawain. Sa katunayan, minsan pang sinampahan ng kaso si Mang Tony ng kanyang sariling anak!

Sadyang walang direksyon ang buhay ng mga gumagamit ng ipinagbabawal na gamot.

Bukod sa pagdo-droga, mahilig din  makipag-inuman si Mang Tony. At noong nakaraang Huwebes, masaya siyang nakikipag-inuman sa Apovel Subdivision kasama ang kanyang barkada.

Bigla na lamang lumapit sa kanya ang isang hindi kilalang lalaki, bumunot ng kalibre .45 na baril at tatlong ulit pinaputukan sa ulo si Mang Tony. Matapos nito, kalmadong lumakad papalayo ang suspect, sumakay sa isang motorsiklo at sabay tumakas.

Wala na si Mang Tony. Hindi pa kilala ng pulisya ang killer at hindi pa rin tiyak ang motibo sa pagpatay. Subalit hinala ng hepe ng Bulua Police Station na si Romulo Paza, may kaugnayan sa droga ang naganap na krimen. Kasi po, bukod sa pagiging user ng droga, si Mang Tony ay suspected drug pusher din!

Sumalangit nawa ang kanyang kaluluwa, ngunit paki-usap, huwag natin siyang tularan! At diyan po nagwawakas ang isa pang totoong kwento ng isang tao na minsan ay “tumikim,” nalulong at napahamak dahil sa droga.

***

Nakakabahala ang dumadating sa akin na mga intelligence reports galing sa mga reliable source na may mga Kapitan, Konsehal at mga Mayor na protektor o kaya naman ay nagtutulak na ng droga.

Sabi nga nila “he who has the gold makes the rule”. Ito ba ay dahil sila ay makapangyarihan sa kani-kanilang mga lugar?  Mahiya naman kayo sa mga balat niyo! Kayo ay ibinoto ng mga nasasakupan niyo para maging ehemplo!

***

Isa sa mandato ng DDB ay ang pagbibigay ng seminar sa mga law enforcement officers, prosecutors at mga judges tungkol sa R.A.9165.

Ang “chain of custody” ay ang pinakamainit na pinag-uusapan tuwing may seminar. Subalit kahit anong seminar ng mga judges ay mababa pa rin ang conviction rate sa mga kaso ng droga.

Di kaya naman dahil sa mga seminar na ito ay natututunan din ng mga judges, prosecutors at law enforcers ang kahinaan ng batas?

Hindi kaya ito rin ay nagagamit  sa pag exploit at nagiging dahilan upang humina ang kaso at tuluyan maabswelto ang mga akusadong drug pushers at users?

Kaya naman pansamantala kong pinatigil ang pag-conduct ng seminar sa kadahilanang ito.

Ito ang dahilan kung bakit ang probisyon sa R.A. 9165 tungkol sa “chain of custody” ay kasalukuyang pinag-aaralan ng ating mga mambabatas para ma-amyendahan ang batas sa tulong ng iba’t ibang ahensya sa pangunguna ng DDB.

Ang batas kasi ay ginawa upang makatulong sa problema hindi upang maging karagdagang problema ng bansa!

(Para sa inyong impormasyon, suhestiyon o reklamo, mag-text lamang po kayo dito sa numberko: 09159509746 o ’di kaya ay mag-email sa wagkukurap_101@yahoo.com.ph)

PNP’s Unholy Trinity: Gambling, Drugs, and Prostitution

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I just browsed recently some “sensitive” leaks released by Wikileaks from the U.S Embassy to the Internet about police corruptions in the Philippines. As a columnist for sometimes now I rubbed elbows with some middle and upper ranked officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP), susmariosep, I could not agree more to these incriminating releases.

Here are some excerpts how the “Kano (Americans)” and their moles derisively look at our police force in this Julian Assange (Wikileaks’s founder) illegal expose’ entitled “Law enforcement corruption in the Philippines”.

It says there that the Americans compared the PNP to police forces in gangster Al Capone’s Chicago and the Los Angeles, California police in the 1940s.

“The Philippine National Police is the most corrupt national institution in the Philippines. Corruption in the PNP and related agencies stems primarily from the unholy trinity of gambling, drugs, and prostitution that beset law enforcement organizations worldwide. However, PNP corruption is exacerbated by Philippine Law, which gives local officials control  over the appointment and dismissal of local PNP commanders, encouraging corrupt city mayors to make common cause with dishonest police commanders,” stressed by Wikileaks’ whose motto written in bold letters that say ““ HELP WIKILEAKS  KEEP GOVERNMENTS OPEN".

The U.S embassy cable also say that in the absence of such systematic PNP reform, popular impatience for better police performance and management (that were  exacerbated by the belief that everyone in the force is corrupt)  encourage public support for  elected officials who  abet extra-judicial killings (“salvaging” in police language) to suspected criminals.

“Such an outcome would be disastrous to the human rights climate in this treaty ally and democratic partner, and would also undermine or harm progress on major USG goals here to combat terrorism, narcotics trafficking, trafficking in persons, and other transnational problems,” the “Kano” at the U.S embassy - headed presently by their ambassador who looks like Light heavyweight boxer James Toney – deplores.

Wikileaks also mentioned there the “malfeasance” between former presidential husband Mike Arroyo and the police.

It was about the controversial procurement decision in 2003 to replace existing stocks of 9mm handguns with .45 1911-A1 pistols.

“In a P20 million contract, the PNP amended its 1995 specifications for caliber .45 handguns. This change caused gun dealers to complain the changes were made to allow only the purchase of model 1911-A1 pistols made by Arms Corporation of the Philippines (Armscor)”.

U.S officials said that the police change the rules to favor the company owned by Demetrio “Bolo” -- first cousin of Arroyo.

Disgruntled gun dealers complained that in the tests conducted by the PNP the pistols’ safety broke during the drop test and jammed at 3,000 rounds, when the PNP’s minimum for an endurance test is 5,000 rounds.

“During training conducted in 2005 in the Philippines by Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – West personnel, trainers commented that the Armscor .45 were unreliable, inaccurate, and potentially dangerous to the operator. Nevertheless, Armscor remain an approved supplier to the PNP,” embassy officials complain.

Geez man, you Americans could only cry your heart’s out. This is the Philippines were relatives of the power-at-be have a say on what things to do and not to be done.

We would not land at Transparency international’s top list as one of the most corrupt country in Asia if not the world for nothin’, man.

Oh by the way, to peasants out there who just learned how to use the ‘Net (Internet, you idiot!) you can read the other shenanigans of the PNP at the cable released by the Caucasians at their Roxas Boulevard, Manila’s fortress by clicking this site http://wikileaks.org/cable/2005/04/05MANILA1506.html.

And for more police corruptions, you can click too, at my, aheem!, thousands of hits blog entitled “WICKED Leaks (Julian Assange’s worst nightmare) at  http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com/2011/02/showboating-of-wealth-at-pma-alumni.html.

(You can send your violent comments at totomortz@yahoo.com).

MEDIA IN ACTION

 Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim (third from left) discusses a wide range of issues raised by local newsmen during last Wednesday’s Media in Action Forum hosted by the Pangasinan Press Club headed by Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque at the Pedrito’s Restaurant. Also in photo (from left) are Atty. Napoleon Arenas and broadcaster Inciong Tamayo.  

Calasiao has areas for other investors

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – With the expected influx of investors after giant mall Robinson opens anytime from now, the mayor here said that the town has areas reserved for other investors.
Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay said Barangays San Miguel and Mancup are the commercial districts that could accommodate investors.
He said that it was no longer necessary to pass a new Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) in this town’s legislative body for the advent of the new economic development.
“Madugo ang proseso noon. Pupunta ka sa maraming dadaanan nito,”he said.
He said that Brgy. Mancup is a good haven for investors because they can expand development up to the subdivision that borders Brgy. Buenlag.
An economic expert said this rice-cake producing town can be likened to what ensued in the town of Bayambang which after Grand Royal Mall opened, immediately attracted Manila and provincial based investors who put up shops at stalls there.
Macanlalay believes that Robinson would be a catalyst for business not only here but for the neighboring towns of Malasiqui and Sta. Barbara.
He said that many investors are mulling to invest here than in the already congested Dagupan City.

Thailand has left the Philippines far behind

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In case Board Member Danny Uy stands by my allegation that he told me and countless media men at countless occasions that most of his colleagues were recipients of P40 thousand each from jueteng payola, he earns a propaganda quo for himself.

He, a last termer provincial dad, would get the affection of Pangasinenses.They would say “here is a man with “balls” who was not afraid to stand on what he told media men about the payolas”.But as we know, Danny boy ain’t got “balls”.He denied to heaven and earth that he told me about the payola thing.He ain’t fit for the vice gubernatorial post that I egged him to run in 2013 because of his incorruptibility.Danny boy should know, Pangasinan needs an incorruptible man with “balls.” Danny failed to get the last one.His chance to be the no.2 man of the province crashed before it was given a chance to take off.Alaga-an niyo na lang ang babuyan ninyo after your term.You ask newsman Paquito Basila: “Di ba pare, parang kolumnista din ng pahayagan na di na sumikat, diretso la-os na?”.***When Rep. Kimi Cojuangco (5th District, Pangasinan) told me recently that three decades ago our Asian neighbor Thailand has almost the same population with the Philippines, I could not get the Thais present demographic number. Thus I clicked the site of the Central Intelligence Agency’s World’s Facts Book.It says there Thailand got a July 2011 population estimate of 66,720.153 while my dear Philippines hit the 101,833,938 mark.Because I know that the culprit that helps aggravate our penury is the vigorous opposition of the Catholic hierarchy to the government’s program to thwart population explosion through contraception, they should know the economic price we are now paying.According to the World’s Facts Book, the Gross Domestic Product-Per Capita Income (GDP-PPI) (to peasants who just learned how to read, it means a approximation of the value of goods produced per person in the country, equal of the country’s GDP divided by the total number of people in the country ), lucky Thailand has a 2010 estimated Gross Domestic Product- Per Capita Income of U.S $8,700 (or Philippine peso’s equivalent of 365, 400 a year salary),while pathetic Philippines who is scared to the threats of myopic clergies and anti-RH Bill advocates got a sorry U.S $ 3,550 (P149,100 a year).Family planning conscious Thailand who is not only known as the coup’d’ tat capital of East Asia, it is also known as the Detroit of the South East Asian Region.Her industry and tourism (buttressed by legal prostitution industry that thrives despite the AIDS scare) earned her the present GDP-PPI.***My townmates and schoolmates who are teaching English language to the English handicapped Thai kids posted pictures at Face Book about the classrooms of public schools there. I died with envies how the Thais (who look like Pinoys) have trail-blazed us in the four-walls of public education. Public classrooms there – even in far-flung areas – got all the amenities of exclusive private schools here with all the air conditioned system, white boards, latest speech labs, and latest computer gadgets.Our overpriced corruption tinted public school room here that cost more than half-a-million (its real price can be as low as P350 thousand) would looked like the Thai’s stockroom.Anti RH Bill advocates might dispute my observations that Mainland China’s liberal “Constitution” that allows 100 percent foreign ownership of industries there. They would cite too China’s countless nuclear powered plants that sells cheap electricity that likewise entice investors be it Chinese and foreigners to put shop there and avail of the Sino’s strike-free basement priced minimum wage.***“So we should allow 100 percent foreign ownership, and nuclear plants in the Philippines. But we should not tinker with God’s mandates in the Bible to ‘go and multiply,” the anti-RH advocates probably would rebut me.That’s idiotic. More number of children to a poor family means poverty. Why not start first with free contraception at the villages followed later by 100 percent foreign ownership and nuclear power plants.Is that not commonsensical?Geez, China has been requiring her people with Great Premier Deng Xiao Ping’s edict in 1979 about “One child one policy” for a nuclear family to the extent of doing abortion to many mothers who violated the edict.This policy made China experience ‘the great economic ejaculations that averagely run to 8 percent Gross National Product (GNP) every year for the last two decades.Our government need not muscle our people. We are a democratic country, but for God sake my Dear Procopio can these narrow minded priests and other anti-RH bill advocates give us options.“Walang puwersahan. Kung gusto mo ng sampung anak, go ahead! kailangan mo ng tulong, at gusto mo mag plano ng anak ninyo, tatlong anak lang, you can come to your municipyo, to your health clinic at humingi ka ng libring contraceptives!(No force. If you like10 children, go ahead! If you need help and you want to plan your family like three children you can come to your municipyo, to your health clinic and you can ask for free contraceptives!)”That’s what Rep. Kimi Cojuangco recently told me.If the Texans have the battle cry “Remember the Alamo!”We Flips should have “Remember the Thais” who have long eclipsed us.These sons of guns Thais were once our “students” on how to plant high breed rice at University of the Philippines at Los Banos, Laguna in the 1960s.Now they got all the high breed rice in the world, we Filipinos got all the high blood every time our government imports the staple from them and Vietnam through another corruption tinted transaction.And we should remember too, susmariosep, the basket-case Vietnam and Cambodia who are already just below our butt in terms of economic development (You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).

Illegal drug trade talamak sa ARMM?

Ni Secretary Antonio "Bebot" Villar


LUBOS po akong nabahala sa isang liham na aking natanggap mula sa isang respetadong personalidad sa Muslim community na nagbubunyag na talamak na umano ang illegal drug trade sa Autonomous  Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Ayon sa aking source, na hindi ko na muna papangalanan para sa kanyang kaligtasan, sangkot sa droga mula sa pinakamatataas hanggang sa pinakamababang mga opisyales ng pamahalaan sa mga probinsyang sakop ng ARMM.

Kabilang aniya sa mga protektor ng droga ang mga gobernador, bisegobernador, mayors, vice mayors, mga konsehal hanggang mga barangay chairmen!

Pati daw mga PNP provincial at station commanders ay nakiki-sawsaw na rin sa masamang gawain. At hindi lang ‘yan, pati raw mga negosyante at ibang mga ginagalang na tao sa kanilang komunidad ay nabahiran na rin ng drug money!

Ibinunyag pa ng naturang source na ang paglaganap ng iligal na droga sa ARMM ay pinasimulan daw ni dating Governor Zaldy Ampatuan! At pinakamalala raw ang problema ng drug addiction sa mga lalawigan ng Basilan, Sulu at Tawi-Tawi -- kung saan pangkaraniwan na lamang ang mga taong sugapa sa Shabu!

Napakabigat ng mga akusasyon na ito at ayaw ko sanang paniwalaan!Subalit bilang chairman ng Dangerous Drugs Board ay hindi ko maaaring balewalain ang ganitong salaysay mula sa isang “credible source” na handang lumantad sa tamang panahon.

Sa ngayon, ang tanging magagawa ko ay ang magpakalap ng impormasyon para patotohanan o pasinungalingan ang nilalaman ng liham na aking natanggap. Kailangan pakilusin ang mga ahente ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) para mabigyang linaw ang bagay na ito.

Bagama’t hindi nakakalampas sa ating kaalaman na ang problema mula sa ilegal na droga ay kalat sa buong bansa, hindi rin natin sukat akalain na ganoon kalala ang problema sa mga nabanggit na probinsya!

Kawawa naman ang mga residente doon kung ang problema ng poverty at insurgency ay madadagdagan pa ng talamak na drug addiction!

Sakaling totoo nga ang natanggap nating impormasyon, asahan niyo na hindi natin sasantohin kahit itong mga “warlords” sa ARMM! Ang droga ay hindi lamang problema ng Kristiyano, Muslim o ano pa mang pananampalataya! Itoý suliranin na tumatawid ng racial, ethnic at religious bounderies. Itoý problema na sambayanang Pilipino! Labanan po natin ang iligal na droga!

***

Isang bayan sa Batangas ang lunod na rin daw sa negosyo ng iligal na droga dahil ang namununo rito ay isang mataas na opisyal!

Sinasabi ng ating impormante na patuloy ang pagtaas ng pagtutulak at paggamit ng bawal na gamot sa kanilang bayan sapagkat wala raw magawa ang kapulisan!

Ang kapulisan daw ay nasa ilalim ng kapangyarihan ng mataas na opisyal at hindi maaaring suwayin kung kaya’t pati silang dapat manghuli ay nagtutulak na lang din!

Kawawang mamamayan at bayan! Saan ang tungo ninyo kung kayo ay alipin na rin ng negosyong ipinagbabawal??

Sino na ang maaasahan ng mamamayan lalo na ng mga kabataan kung ganito ang kanilang nakikitang trabaho ng opisyal na ito na kanilang inihalal?

Ang opisyal daw ay gumagamit ng “dummy” sa kanyang iligal na negosyo! Syempre, upang maprotektahan ang kanyang imahe na magsilbi kunwari sa bayan!

Kawawang bayan ito sa Batangas kung hindi mapipigil ang opisyal na ito sa kanyang lumalakas na negosyo na sumisira ng buhay!

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Hindi mo na talaga basta masasabi kung sinu-sino ang mga adik ngayon! Pati mga taong akala mo ay kagalang-galang hindi mo alam ay mga sugapa na pala sa ipinagbabawal na gamot.

Ito ay senyales ng napakalala na ng problema ng ating bansa sa iligal na droga.

Tingnan mo na lang itong si Allan Patrick Atup, edad 38,  court stenographer sa Butuan Regional Trial Court Branch 4, na inaresto ng mga operatiba ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) matapos magsagawa ng raid sa kanyang condo unit sa Barangay Libertad sa Butuan City.

Ang raid ay isinagawa sa bisa ng isang search warrant dahil ang condo ni Atup ay pinaghihinalaang drug den. Nakumpiska mula sa nasabing lugar ang mga empty plastic containersna may traces umano ng shabu at assorted drug paraphernalia.

Huling-huli din si Atup na nakikipag-pot session kasama ang isang BS Education student na kinilalang si Kira Mae Pabia, edad 22. Hindi nila maitatanggi na sila’y nagdo-droga dahil pareho silang lumabas na positibo sa isinagawang drug test matapos ang insidente!

Ngayon, pareho silang nahaharap sa mga kasong paglabag sa Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2001. May karagdagang kaso pang isasampa laban  kay Atup dahil bukod na siya ang may ari ng alleged drug den, empleyado pa siya ng husgado!

Mantakin mo, isang court employee -- drug user pala! Ano ang kanyang moral authority na magtrabaho para sa isang institusyon na nagpapairal ng hustisya?

At sa kaso naman ni Pabia, ano na lamang ang kanyang ituturo sa kanyang mga estudyante kung tuluyan siyang maging isang teacher balang araw? Kaya niya bang pangaralan ang mga ito na umiwas sa iligal na droga?

Nakaka-awa sila dahil marahil silaý alipin na ng droga. Subalit pangkaraniwan na lamang ngayon ang kaso ni Atup at Pabia. Marami pang katulad nila. Mga taong maayos sa panlabas ngunit nabubulok na pala sa loob!

***

Sumulat sa atin ang isang opisyal ng PDEA upang magsagawa ng isang “Seminar-Workshop for Judges, Prosecutors and Law Enforcers “ para sa Region V.  Isa kasi ang programang ito na ginagawa ng Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), ayon sa Republic Act 9165.

Milyon na rin ang nagastos sa pagdadala ng programang ito sa iba’t-ibang rehiyon ng bansa na naglalayon sanang makatulong upang mapaayos at mapa-bilis ang mga kaso ng iligal na droga sa ating mga korte.  Sa katunayan, katuwang natin dito ang Supreme Court at ang Philippine Judges Academy (PHILJA).

Ngunit sa kabila ng programang ito, kapansin-pansin na  marami pa rin ang drug-related cases na nadi-dismiss! Ibig ko sanang ipaalala sa ating mga naging participants ang kahalagahan ng seminar-workshop na ito na dapat ay makatulong sa kanilang paglilitis at hindi makatulong makapag-dismiss ng kaso!

Kung walang magandang resulta ang pag-sasagawa namin ng seminar na ganito sa mga kinauukulan, hindi ba’t parang nagsasayang lamang tayo ng pondo ng bayan???

(Para sa inyong impormasyon, suhestiyon, o reklamo, mag-text lamang po kayo dito sa numberko: 09159509746 o di kaya ay mag-email sa wagkukurap_101@yahoo.com.ph)

P-Noy should have vision to RP’s run-away population- Rep. Cojuangco

The author after his interview with Rep. Kimi Cojuangco at the swanky bayside residence of former House Speaker Joe  and Rep. Gina de Venecias in Dagupan City.

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY- A pro-Reproductive Health lady solon said that the president of this country should have a vision on how to do with her spiralling and bourgeoning population.

Rep.Kimi Cojuangco (5^th District, Pangasinan) could not imagine a small country like the Philippines besieged by a 100 million run-away population

She recalled that when she was a mayor of a 4^th Class town Sison in Pangasinan she was “barred” to provide contraceptives at the town’s and villages’ health clinics as it would opposed the “anti-contraceptives” policy of the then Gloria Arroyo Administration.

“Ganito iyan, depende kung sino ang presidente. Kung anti-RH Bill ang president, it would not be available. Kung pro-RH Bill ang president it would be available. Hindi naman puweding ganoon. Dapat merong vision kung saan papunta ang bansa natin”.

She said that during her mayoral stint, there was a list for essential medicines that towns in the country should procure.

“That time 4^th class municipality ang Sison, saan kami kukuha ng perang pambili ng contraceptives?, “ she posed.

She hoped that the enabling law of the RH Bill should mandate that every municipality will provide contraceptives to people who want to plan their family.

“Walang puwersahan. Kung gusto mo ng sampung anak, go ahead! kailangan mo ng tulong, at gusto mo mag plano ng anak ninyo, tatlong anak lang, you can come to your municipyo, to your health clinic at humingi ka ng libring contraceptives”.

She said that three decades ago Asian neighbour Thailand has the same population with the Philippines. But now it tamed almost by half her population compared to the latter.

According to the CIA World Fact Book, Thailand has a July, 2011 populaltion estimate of 66,720.153, while the Philippines has 101,833,938.

 The former has a 2010 estimated Gross Domestic Product- Per Capita Income of U.S $8,700, while the latter has U.S $ 3,5500.

Rep. Cojuangco was here recently as a guest of former House Speaker Joe and Rep. Gina  de Venecia  at their swanky bayside residence in Brgy. Bonuan Binloc.