Filipinos Were Better-Off During Duterte than Marcos Admin

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 Below was my brief conversation with a town mate in Cotabato Province where I spent some decades of my younger years:

Dr. Maria Theresa Tejada-Gundaya: We have been studying how much we earn per hectare (of palay). If we harvest at least 60 sacks per hectare for example, we only have P10, 000 net per hectare. That is for six months since we only plant twice a year. Ten thousand pesos divided by 180 days, we only earn P56 per day. How could we possibly live or survive if our source of income depends on farming alone? Sad but it's reality.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte (left, photo) and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.(Photo credit: Yahoo)

 Me: I felt sorry for the pathetic plight of the Filipino farmers. Your calculation is P1,666 a month earning for a peasant. Good I didn’t become a farmer tilling our humble lot in Cotabato otherwise I’m still a bachelor since I could not feed a family.

Dr. Tejada: In 1980's our parents even exported rice to Vietnam and Cambodia, that is where they got the money to send five of us siblings to college in Manila. Now we are the ones importing rice from Vietnam and Cambodia.

(The comment of Tess came from my post on those poor farmers’ force to sell their land to developers like Sen. Cynthia Villar because the family of the solon buy it expensively than what the land could lousily produce through the staple. The farmers, I added, can use the dough, er, money to buy cheaper lands somewhere or send their love ones overseas to work).

***

The price of red onion is P325 a kilo now while it was P85 per kilo during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

A minimum wage earner in Mindanao and Northern Luzon who earns P350 a day will be struggling for the wild spike of the onions and other basic commodities.

The good thing about Duterte he allowed more importation of onions for example to ease up the plight of the Pinoys.

President Marcos economics managers should know about EQUILIBRIUM our economics teachers mentor to us in high school and college where the onion farmers in the 22 provinces should meet somewhere about a common price.

For farm gate price of red onions at P100 and retail price in the market of the commodity at P150, for instance, could be satisfactory between the planter and the buyer for a meeting of mind.

This could happen on the amount of the tariff the government could impose to the importers of onions in the country.

The present dilemma is insane. How could half-a-million (my hypothetical estimate) planters and workers of the staple hold hostage the 109.5 million Filipino- consumers on this inflationary pricing?

***  

When I cracked a joke about how poor in grammar some teachers and their principal in a school in the boondock ran by the Department of Education, one of the countless comments in the social media I got was from an alumnus of the University of the Philippines and a person of high standing in the community.

Before I post here the comment of my friend, who requested for anonymity, here’s my humor:

Sa isang malayong paaralan na pag- aari ng DepEd ay may isang guro na narinig na tumatawag sa kanyang mga estudyante.

GURO - 1: Hey childs! All of you come here. Childs! Childs!

Narinig ito ng isa pang Guro at pinuna siya.

GURO - 2: Hala naku mare! Dapat childrens kasi plural.

Narinig ito ng principal at pinuna silang dalawa dahil mali ang mga grammar nila.

PRINCIPAL: Teka, anong childs? Anong childrens? My goodness, what kind of English do you has?!

Here’s the comment of my pal:

“Alam mo ba kaya di ko itinuloy and MaEd (Master in Education) ko nawalan ako ng gana kasi iyong head ng program na Education ay sadyang nakakasukang mag-Ingles”.

He told me that college was the Pangasinan State University.

“Kaya ko pa ang funny accent niya pero ang grammar atrocious,” he said why he forego his intention to finish his graduate school there.

What happened to the leadership there in the PSU? I thought your professors there possess Ph.D or Doctor of Philosophy as government scholars to mold high quality education for your wards in the tertiary? What happened to the leadership of exiting President Dexter Buted in case there was truth to the discontentment of this student?

New P140-M DPWH Projects in the 3rd District

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The Department of Public Works & Highway (DPWH) has approved the bidding of the P140, 224, 280 government projects to contractors intended for the 5^th Congressional District in Pangasinan.

DPWH District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales.

The following projects are the construction of additional extension office building at the 4th district engineering office (DEO) based in Tuliao, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan. It has an approved budget of P12, 824, 280 and a contract duration of 150 days;

 Construction of slope protections along Ingalera River, Lumbang Section in Calasiao, along Panaminditaan Creek, Barangay Gamata-Balaya in San Carlos City, along Aponit River, Barangay Abanon in San Carlos City, along Ingalera River, Macabito Section, Calasiao and along Panaminditaan Creek, Barangay Talang, San Carlos City. All these slope protection projects have an approved budget of P127, 400,000.

The DPWH DEO is under the supervision of District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales.

Prov’l Dad Assails Critics of SP’s Silence on Biggest Narco Hoard

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Amid the criticism of some opinion writers that the administration of Governor Ramon Guico, III and the Sanggunian Panlalawigan (provincial legislature) have not condemned the biggest narcotic raid by law enforcers in Pangasinan, a provincial lawmaker disagreed with the flaks because he authored a resolution lauding the seizure.

Board Member Vici M. Ventanilla

Board Member Vici M. Ventanilla said that Resolution No. 695 -2022 co-authored by the members of the S.P and passed in August 22, 2022 was titled: Congratulating the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO) in Their Recent Drug Offensive Operation in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan.

It can be recalled that in August 12, 2022 the PDEA and the PPO have seized P2.5 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu in the vernacular) in a buy bust operation.

“The significant accomplishment of the PDEA and PPO highlighted by one of the biggest buy-bust operations in Pangasinan happened in Barangay Banding, Pozorrubio, Pangasinan last August 12, 2022,” the Resolution cited.

 Ventanilla said that under the leadership of Pangasinan Provincial Director Rechie Q. Camacho and Police Colonel Richmond L. Tacadina, respectively, have proven their dedication and determination to focus on an intensified implementation of drug clearing program of the present and past administration of the national government.

The 3rd District Representative cited that the Province of Pangasinan fully supports the accomplishments of the PDEA and PPO since one of its growing concerns is the proliferation of illegal drugs in the province which considered a menace of the society.

Lingayen Least Affected of Budget Slash Next Year

 Compared to San Fabian, Basista, Manaoag, Binmaley

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – Among the local government units (LGU) in Pangasinan, it is probably the capital town Lingayen that faces a small reduction of its budget next year compared to towns like San Fabian, Basista, Manaoag, and Binmaley.

Due to the three years as basis of the division of the national tax allotment (NAT) to every LGU in the country, Lingayen has to heed the entreaty of the Sanggunian Panlalawigan (provincial legislature) to reduce by P3 million its proposed budget of P380, 650, 708 for fiscal year 2023.

LINGAYEN MAYOR Leopoldo Bataoil (upper left photo and clockwise), Basista Mayor Jolly R. Resuello, Manaoag Mayor Jeremy Agerico Rosario, and San Fabian Mayor Constante Agbayani.

“That’s the projection we’re expecting to achieve but then we were tempered by the Sanggunian Panlalawigan whom I attended. We explained we were optimistic that we are able to achieve that much. How they tempered us we respect the suggestion of the august body,” Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil told Northern Watch Newspaper.

Because of the reduction of the P3 million, the additional four positions he wanted to be created “have been relegated to the sideline”.

During his First 100 Days Report to his constituents on October 10, 2022, Bataoil was zealous to collect more taxes like those in the market stalls, real property taxes, and other sources to buttress the public coffer.

San Fabian Vice Mayor Danny Agbayani said his first class town will have a P274 million budget next year after P43 million was not included to it.

Despite the shrinking of the coffer, the former mayor said his town under the leadership of his wife Mayor Marlyn Espino-Agbayani has countless farm-to market roads, road pavement, slope protections, and creation and repair of public schools.

He said the hundreds of millions of pesos of projects from the national government were through the intercession of his relative Senator Imee Marcos – the brother of the Philippines President.

“Marami. Kasi from the north ako pero relatives ko sila,” he said about the Marcosses.

Basista Mayor Jolly R. Resuelo deplored the P32 million reduction from the present P157 million budget for his fourth class town next year.

“Dito sa amin mababawasan kami ng P32 million. Malaki na iyan para sa amin kasi maliit na bayan lang kami”.

Despite the more than P130 million budget there will be no retrenchment for the present number of the municipal employees.

Mayors Jeremy Agerico Rosario and Pedro Merrera of Manaoag and Binmaley, respectively, told Northern Watch Newspaper that they face a budget shrinking. Manaoag and Binmaley have a present budget of P268 million and P350 million, respectively.

With P40 million and P44 million taken from the present budget, the proposed budget of Manaoag and Binmaley in fiscal year 2023 will be reduced to P228 million and P306 million, respectively.

The Local Government Code of the Philippines cited that the LGUs shall have a share in the national internal revenue taxes based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year as follows:… (c) On the third year and thereafter, forty percent (40%).

According to the Department of Budget and Management, due to the drop in tax revenues collected by the government in 2020 at the onset of the Corona Virus Disease - 19 pandemic local governments’ share in the proposed 2023 national budget will be diminished to P820.3 billion,
A local budget memorandum issued by the DBM said  that LGUs share from all tax collections in 2020, which was the basis of their 2023 national tax allotment (NTA), included P665.8 billion from the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax take two years ago; P154.4 billion from the Bureau of Customs’ collections of import duties and other taxes, and; P32.6 million in national taxes collected by other agencies.

When divided to all local government units, the country’s 82 provinces will have an NTA share of P188.7 billion, which they will divide among themselves; the 146 cities, also P188.7 billion; the 1,488 municipalities, P278.9 billion; notwithstanding the P164.1 billion to be subdivided among the 41,935 villages or barangays nationwide.

Next year’s NTA will be below the record P959.04 billion in this year’s P5.02-trillion national budget—the first annual appropriation that implemented the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling. LGUs’ 2022 NTA was based on all tax collections in 2019.

 

 

Filipinos as Infamous Cheaters

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Many Filipinos have been scandalized about the cheating bravado of international renowned boxing referee Carlos “Sonny” Padilla on the match of the then unheralded Manny Pacquiao and Australian Nedal Hussein as shown on his video interview. This was a day before his August 2022 induction at the iconic Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in the United States. The Fame honors those individuals for their efforts, achievements, and contributions to one of the Americans favorite pastimes.

BELEAGUERED retired international boxing referee Carlos "Sonny" Padilla in his recent induction to the renowned Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Padilla - a former actor - stirred a hornet nest in the world of boxing when he told the interviewer in a social media's Q&A a day before his induction that he cheated twice to see fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao won against Australian Nedal Hussein for the international WBC Super Bantamweight's tilt.

I first saw Padilla in boob tube when he refereed the classic boxing rubber match or third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dubbed Thrilla in Manila held in October 1, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. It was for the heavyweight championship of the world.

The collision between these two mammoth personalities of the heavyweight was death defying. Padilla stopped the brutal fisticuff in the 14^th Round because the still gung-ho Frazier could no longer see in his both swollen eyes due to the punches of Ali.

Louisville Lip’s Ali nearly gave up, too, on that merciless slugfest.

"It was like death. Closest thing to dyin' that I know of," the battle scarred pugilist said later of the hell he and Frazier fought amid the Philippines' scorching daytime 125 degree Celsius aggravated by the heat emitted from the bodies of the sea of humanity in the coliseum that overpowered the air conditioning system.

Padilla's fortune shined on that marquee fight because it was watched by one billion viewers around the world.

When Padilla - the actor-father of actress Zsa Zsa Padilla – met World Boxing Council’s President Jose Sulaimán in a confab held in the U.S, the latter told him he was impressed about his performance in the Thrilla in Manila. From thereon there was no turning back to the fame of the son of Philippines Olympic pug Carlos Padilla, Sr.

He became the third man in the high-profile classic global boxing matches like those of Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán - 1, Thomas Hearns vs. Roberto Durán, Julio César Chávez vs. Ruben Castillo and Salvador Sánchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez. He refereed his final bout on October 14, 2000, between Manny Pacquiao and Nedal Hussein in the Philippines. This fight would haunt him and his family 22 years later.

In his interview uploaded by the WBC last October 6 in YouTube, the animated retired Ref answered the posers of the interviewer’s WBC President José Sulaimán Chagnón - the son of  Jose Sulaimán.

He described Hussein as tall, younger, stronger, and a dirty pug. In the fourth round he knocked down Pacquiao who could not get up immediately as his eyes crossed (naduling in the vernacular).

 The 88 years old Padilla, whose blabber could be at the league of Gen. George “faux pas” Patton, said: “I am Filipino, and everybody watching the fight is Filipino, so I prolonged the count. I know how to do it. When he got up, I told him, ‘Hey, are you okay?’ Still prolonging the fight. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Okay, fight!” he proudly told the interviewer.

The Ref –  the grand dad of prolific actresses Karylle and Zia Quizon -  ordered a point deducted from Hussein for pushing Pacquiao to the floor since he felt the Pinoy fighter had no chance to brawl until the end of the 12^th Round.

Padilla declared Pacquiao's head butt on Hussein as a legal punch. The mestizo looking Ref initially did not let the doctor take a closer look at the cut because he said it was not serious.

“When the doctor was approaching (Padilla’s moved sideways his left lower lip as signal to stop the fight) hahaha!” he said on the later round.

The doctor sensed what he meant examine the cut to the head of the Aussie and signaled to the public the end of the match on the tenth round.

Hussein, a salesman now, in a statement in the social media called the WBC to take action on the case.

"They should be held accountable for the sport we love," he wrote on Instagram.

With that bombshell that could taint all his feats in boxing, Padilla and the Doctor should be condemned and reprimanded on their chicanery. The Hall of Fame should strip off its conferment with the beleaguered Ref. The offense he committed could not only ruin him and his family but the entire Filipino nation inhabited by miscreants and knaves who were notorious in not only cheating in countless public posts held in an election but in the beauty and baseball tilts  as shown by the Manila Films Festival’s scandal in 1994 where the winners were rigged by celluloid screen personalities like Lolit Solis, Ruffa Gutierrez, and Gabby Concepcion and the cheating by Filipino officials that saw baseball players from Zamboanga won the championship against the athletes from Long Beach, California in the Little League World Series held in Aug. 29, 1992 in the United States. Two of the excerpts from the prestigious Washington Post said:

“It turned out that only six of the 14 team members came from Zamboanga. Philippine Little League officials had substituted eight ineligible players, plus an ineligible manager and coach, from other places across the Philippines to create an all-star national team in violation of Little League tournament rules”.

“There were also allegations -- so far unproved -- that some of the players were over the age limit for Little League. The tournament requires players to be under 13 on Aug. 1”.

  These rigging brouhahas were widely covered by international media at the expense of the reputation of us Flips, er, Filipinos. And now here comes Sonny Padilla shooting himself on the foot with his big mouth, salamabit!

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

Mayor Denies He Shamed VM in Public

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BINMALEY, Pangasinan – The Mayor here denied he humiliated his predecessor who walked out in a public assembly the former hosted.

Mayor Pedro Merrera said Vice Mayor Simplicio Rosario misunderstood him when he compared the expenses during the stints of the latter when he was the mayor of the coastal town for nine years and his (Merrera) nascent administration.

THE LOGGERHEAD Mayor and Vice Mayor of Binmaley, Pangasinan. Mayor Pete Merrera (left, photo) and Vice Mayor Sam Rosario.

“Hindi pinahiya iyon. I’m just trying to evaluate iyong pag-gastos. Evaluation naman iyon, e. I have the right to report to the people so the public may know. Na misunderstood niya. Bakit siya lang ba masasaktan iyong sinasabi ko naman noon at pagastos ngayon? Kung nakatipid so much the better”.

Affronted by the remarks of the incumbent mayor that some of the projects done during his stint as nine years’ mayor like the P11 million overpriced mobile clinic and gasoline consumption, Rosario stormed out from the Ulat ng Bayan attended by town officials and their constituents.

“Nag walked out ako, sumigaw ako. Sabi ko: “magdemanda ka na lang!” kaysa sasabihin mo pa sa mga tao. Ano ang gusto niyang e proved doon parang may ginawa ako? Hindi ako mag – rereact sasabihin niyang may ginawa?” a livid Rosario said in a radio interview.

Merrera said that his predecessor should be happy about the belt tightening measures he undergoes amid the yearly amortization of the local government unit to the bank on the loan contracted by Rosario when he was the chief executive.

“Dapat sinabi niya tama iyang ginagawa mo Mayor at least makakatipid may pambayad tayo ng utang. Hindi ba iniisip na maraming utang? Iyon ang inaano ko. Wala naman akong pinapatamaan e. Ang sinasabi ko based on the report based on the actual. Ano ang kailangan kung sabihin doon? E actual iyon na pangyayari,” Merrera told Northern Watch Newspaper.

Merrera proposed budget of P306 million for next year is still pending in the legislature controlled by the mostly majority allies of Rosario.

It was a reduced annual budget from the present year’s P360 million due to the preceding three years or 2021 as the basis for the allocation of the national taxes to local government units in the Philippines.  2020 was the year the country reeled financially on the scourged of the pandemic.

Merrera said this town saves a lot financially under his leadership compared to the time of Rosario.

“At least malalaki ang natitipid ko. Kung sila ang gumagastos ng 900 ako gumagastos ng 200. Dapat matuwa sila”.

He shrugged off when asked if this first class town will suffer the fate of nearby Dagupan City when the majority opposition councilors there are up in arms to Mayor Belen T. Fernandez by stonewalling her proposed programs.

When former Mayor Brian Lim - the patron of the Magic 7 - was the chief executive of the second class city, majority of the councilors allied with Fernandez procrastinated in approving the 2022 budget.

The inaction prejudiced the Lim Administration to meet its responsibility to his constituents.

“Kung iyan ang gusto nila. Wala akong ano doon pero I will tell the people ano ba ang ginagawa ninyo (Sangguniang Bayan)? Ano ba ang ano natin?” Merrera told how he would deal in case the law making body headed by Rosario would paralyze his government.

To solve soil and infrastructure problems here, the Mayor, a Civil Engineer, reached out to his contractor-friends to lend him their heavy equipment gratis. The actuation saves the public coffer by P6,000 and P7,000 per hour for the loader and grader, respectively.

Bantag could Suffer the Fate of Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Former Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag was caught lying through his teeth when exposed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla that he ordered the excavation through a deep hole and a tunnel at the compound of the BuCors to foray for the fabled Yamashita Treasure.
The beleaguered Bantag told the media in November 11 he ordered the excavation to build a swimming pool because he is a “master scuba diver.”

A horseshit we learned later.

BELEAGUERED suspended former Bureau of Corrections Chief Gerald Bantag (left, photo) and Chicago's Mafia Boss Al Capone. 

Those who vigorously believed - like his fellow Cordillerans - that Bantag was an upright man and did not mastermind the murder of acerbic tongue Percy Lapid and Cristito Palaña would have a second thought about his credibility after his rebuffed from Remulla.

 Can you still remember the legal Latin maxim: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (False in one thing, false in everything)?

With and without his credibility, Bantag for me, however, can still weather the storm on the double murder cases he faces.

The criminal charges filed by the law enforcers and consolidated by the prosecutors at the DOJ have holes.

 Bantag could be exonerated by the Supreme Court if ever he would be convicted by the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.

Without his alleged butcher (berdugo) Superintendent Ricardo Zulueta – absconded because he was accused to order the three gang leaders to kill Palana who ordered the murder of Lapid – exposing Bantag as the master mind, the Court of Appeals (CA) or the Supreme Court – after five to seven years of litigation will absolve Bantag in case the judge of the Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest and eventually convicted him.

The C.A or the Supreme Court will acquit Bantag due to the cardinal principle of “Proof beyond reasonable doubt”. It means the evidence presented by the prosecution must produce in the mind of the Court a moral certainty of the accused's guilt against any cloud of doubt.

Without Zulueta who had the personal knowledge that Bantag allegedly ordered him to do those dastardly acts I mentioned above, the case will not stand on the cold neutrality of a competent judge.

***

Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

Even if he would not be convicted eventually, he could still suffer the fate of U.S Mafia’s Boss Al Capone.
Known too as "Scarface", Capone attained notoriety during the Prohibition era (illegal selling of alcoholic beverages) as the co-founder and honcho of the mafia’s Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.
When Capone replaced syndicate’s godfather Johnny Torrio – after he was almost killed in a rival gang’s ambush -- the former expanded the bootlegging business through violence against his nemesis.
He was responsible for the killing of more or less 100 persons that interfere with his vice and gambling houses in Chicago.

One of the milestones of his infamy, Capone helped the victories of Republican mayoral candidate William Hale Thompson in the 1927 electoral derby. Thompson supported the reopening of illegal saloons that made him a recipient of the mafia's boss $250, 000 election contribution. Thompson beat William Emmett Dever.
The mafia chief backed up to the hilt the mayoralty bet through his bomber James Belcastro. The factotum bombed to death 15 of Thompson's opponents. Belcastro was accused too of murdering lawyer Octavius Granady, an African American who challenged Thompson for the African American votes.
Capone was accused too of the 1926 murder of Assistant State Attorney William H. McSwiggin, the 1928 murders of chief investigator Ben Newmark and former mentor Frankie Yale.
The end of his infamous career started when he was suspected for ordering the massacre of seven rival gang’s members dubbed as the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.
In the wake of the carnage, Walter A. Strong, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, asked his friend President Herbert Hoover for federal intervention to mitigate Chicago's lawlessness that went haywire.
The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and charged him with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted of five counts in 1931.
The Scarface – whose life story became a model of mafia flicks like his snazzy coat and tie dressing - was jailed in May 1932 at Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary and in August 1934 at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California.

***

Now! Where’s Gerald Bantag on this Al Capone’s equation? Not on the number of killings in the slammer because the mafia boss’ 100 people killed would be a child’s play on Bantag's 3,002 dead con men - many mysteriously - from his 2019 to 2021 stints at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa.

Incase Bantag escapes conviction in the murders of Lapid and Palaña, he can be convicted and be jailed – through direct witnesses like Remulla – that he ordered the illegal digging at the expense of the government.

Here are some of the law provisions that can be used against him:

- Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, treasure hunting in government properties or portions of the public domain shall not be allowed, except upon prior authority of the President of the Philippines, according to the Marcosian Law in the 1980s (Presidential Decree No. 1726-A – Providing Guidelines on Treasure Hunting).

- The Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act provides:
 (a) Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority… (Section 3).

Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government (paragraph e, Section 3)

h) Directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest (Section3).

Section 9. Penalties for violations. — (a) Any public officer or private person committing any of the unlawful acts or omissions enumerated in Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six years and one month nor more than fifteen years, perpetual disqualification from public office, and confiscation or forfeiture in favor of the Government of any prohibited interest and unexplained wealth manifestly out of proportion to his salary and other lawful income.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.