from abs-cbnNEWS.com
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/03/01/10/whistleblowers-murder-linked-pork-barrel-scam
MANILA, Philippines – A retired priest on Monday said the murder of jueteng whistleblower Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor in Pasay City illustrates the dangers faced by a government witness years after giving his testimony in a congressional probe.
Former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said he believes Mayor was killed because he was about to expose an alleged anomaly regarding construction projects in Albay that were funded using the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) pork barrel.
“[Mayor] said there was a big corporation that is bagging all the construction projects in Albay. All the …

by Erick San Juan
 
Every time an incredible news floated, speculations and a lot of questions will arise. Take the “Dulmatin,  still alive Marine chief says” story.  Imagine, after two years that we never heard from this most wanted terrorist and then suddenly, the “authorities” will say that Dulmatin is still alive. This recent news was picked up (or parroted) by different news agencies worldwide. Is he the Osama bin Laden, Jr. in the making? That, whenever and wherever convenient, his handlers will “release” him and surely will cause fear and …

by Artemio A. Dumlao
BAGUIO CITY (February 9, 2010) – It is ‘win some, lose some’ in the government’s fight versus the communist insurgency in the North.
Only last Sunday and earlier than they have targeted, government troopers nabbed four ranking communist guerillas in Isabela province, the hotbed of the the longest running Maoist-inspired rebellion in Southeast Asia in the 80s.
Identified by the military as Michael Eraña alias Poktong, Marlo Agustin alias Aki, Raffy Valencia alias Butch or Donald, and Junior Soria alias Manny.
The four who were collared in sitio Dibigin, barangya …

by Christine Avendaño
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100207-251827/Lacson-camp-Why-use-old-affidavits-in-Dacer-slay
MANILA — One of the lawyers of Sen. Panfilo Lacson questioned the move of a judge to use the old affidavits of the senator’s two former police aides in issuing the warrant of arrest against him for the Dacer-Corbito murders.

The testimonies of Glenn Dumlao and Cezar Mancao II before the Manila City Regional Trial Court Branch 18, the latest of which was given only last Jan. 28, would show Lacson was not involved in the November 2000 slaying of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his …

by Michael Lim Ubac, Marlon Ramos, Tina Santos
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100207-251720/International-manhunt-on-for-Lacson
MANILA, Philippines–The Interpol is seeing red.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson may be arrested on sight in any of the 188 member-countries of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) once he is included in the “red notice” list, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Ricardo Diaz, spokesperson of the NBI and chief of its Counter-Terrorism Division, said the bureau would file on Monday a letter of request to the Interpol to include Lacson in the “red notice” list.
“We’re doing our best to …

by Artemio A. Dumlao
“Huge Counterfeit Money Ring Busted In Baguio”

BAGUIO CITY (February 5, 2010) – Politicians reportedly patronizing counterfeit Philippine bills are being tracked down by agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the PNP after a huge ring manufacturing 1,000, 500, and 200 bills was busted Thursday night here.
“We are deep into investigating initial information that some politicians are patronizing their products (counterfeit money),” said Chief Inspector Lucrecio Rodrigueza Jr, chief of the Baguio CIDG team that busted four members of the fake money ring inside …

by Artemio A. Dumlao
 
BAGUIO CITY (January 26, 2010) – An all out drug war already netted at least P1.3 billion worth of marijuana along Northern Luzon’s tri-boundaries.
 
In an unprecedented record breaking feat, a  composite group of law-enforcement agents led by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Regional Office (PDEA) Task Group Alpha launched a major anti-narcotics operation that led to the destruction of 1.3 billion worth of the banned cannabis sativa plant at the tri-boundaries of locos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Benguet.
Dubbed “Operation Plan Farmville”, the six days operation that started last …

Theres The Rub
by Conrado de Quiros
from Philippine Daily Inquirer 

 MANILA, Philippines–“He has a killer instinct.” That was how a police officer described Jason Ivler after their shootout with him. “You could see it in the way his eyes blazed (nanlilisik). He was prepared to kill.”

A curious way to put it, the more normal one being, “You knew he was determined not to be caught.” But you saw Ivler’s face as he lay on the floor with his hands twisted behind his back, you knew the police officer described it perfectly. It …

by Benjamin G. Maynigo*
The most significant event in the Philippines during 2009 is what is now called the Maguindanao massacre. I believe that based on the reports and comments of respected journalists, columnists and media outlets, the murderous acts would qualify as a “crime against humanity”. Let us read what they all said:
Jose Ma. Montelibano: “the barbarism of the Maguindanao massacre is a class of its own in the history of brutality in the Philippines.”
Philippine Daily Inquirer, “Roots of the Massacre”: “THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE, a crime so horrific, so unspeakable …

by Artemio A. Dumlao
Bantay, Ilocos Sur (January 8, 2010) – Unidentified gunmen ambushed but failed to finish off a radio anchorman Thursday night along the national highway in Bulag Sento, Bantay town, Ilocos Sur.
Eugene Paet, known among media circles as “Commando Uno” of the private-run DWRS “Commando Radyo”, is now in stable condition at the Metro Vigan Cooperative Hospital where he was brought after he was shot 7:37 Thursday night along the highway just a few meters away from the Ilocos Sur provincial police office at Camp Pres. Elpidio Quirino.
Colleagues …