Category: congress

Garma “sings” — good for her, good of her

Read “Garma’s metanoia” by Philstar‘s Tony Lopez.

While mayor of Davao in 1998, Duterte had taken a liking on the beauteous young police officer, then Lieut. Garma, 23, a 1997 graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy, and who was a city police station commander. She would enjoy a rapid rise, from senior officer of the Davao Police, to regional police chief based in Cebu, Central Visayas, where she was accused of her own EJKs, then to a cushy job inside Malacañang’s Office of the President on police matters, and finally to a lucrative early retirement sinecure as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

… Garma tried to escape the QuadComm dragnet on Aug. 28, 2024 but was stopped at the airport. (Her US visa was cancelled). Initially, she ignored House summons. During previous appearances (Sept. 12 and Sept. 27, 2024), she was a picture of monstrous defiance and contempt, forcing QuadComm to detain her indefinitely.

Suddenly, after “considerable reflection,” a tearful Garma on Friday decided to finally face the music, and tell the truth before the powerful House Quad Committee….

In her three-page 1,372-word affidavit, Garma claimed to have told “everything I personally know about the war on drugs during the former administration” … despite fears they could “significantly endanger my life, the safety of my family, and others close to me.”

Detained in Congress since September 12, having been cited in contempt for lying, Royina Garma decided to come clean a month later. The truth would set her free.

She implicated President Rodrigo “Roa” Duterte as the mastermind behind his horrific regime’s thousands of extrajudicial killings with huge cash rewards liberally doled out, for three purposes: one, for officers who executed the kills; two, to finance the operations, and three, refund operational expenses, while replicating nationwide, the so-called Davao model of EJKs, Death Squads that seemingly solved the southern city’s illegal drugs problem.

The weeks in detention must have had her flashing back, reflecting on her career in the PNP, what she went through to win respect and acceptance in the macho culture of law enforcement, and tracking when it was that things took a turn, and next thing she knew, she had become complicit in a deadly drug war, never mind due process. She may even have wanted to get out, give it all up, perils and perks and all, but really, how could one do that without incurring the ire of the powers-that-be and becoming a target herself.

Truth be told, there is no setting her free. She will continue to be detained and eventually charged for her part in the drug war. Also it looks like the QuadComm isn’t done  grilling her yet; they are convinced that she has yet to tell-all, since it would seem that she was part nga of Digong’s inner circle.

I was watching when she started weeping as she read that affidavit, and when I realized how explosive her revelations were, I was impressed.  I could understand why she broke down, reading that confession — a point of no return — realizing the consequences not just for herself but for everyone she was naming, colleagues and superiors alike. Nakakaiyak naman talaga iyon. 

“…  at least I will be able to contribute if we really want to make this country a better place to live…for our children,” Garma said in response to a query from Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez.  “I think we have to do something para maibalik ‘yung trust sa PNP, magkaroon ng reform sa PNP,” she added.

Brave woman. Now let’s hear it from the men. 

Alice & Cassandra

I was hoping to finish a post on that million-$ surprise birthday gift to the prez but was completely distracted by the QUAD hearing that saw Alice aka Guo Hua Ping and Cassandra Ong back in their hot seats in Congress.

While the girls continue to invoke their right against self-incrimination, the fact that they fled the country back in July has been taken, naturally, as sign of guilt in connection with POGOs and related crimes, from falsification of documents to human trafficking to money laundering.  alice-guo-timeline/story/

Nakaka-impress ang documented info that Senators Risa and Win, and now the QUAD Reps, are surfacing in the course of interrogations and interpellations. Great research work. Or have these files/dossiers long been in the gathering by, maybe, civil society stalwarts, or plain political operators — Pinoy, Chinoy, CIA, whatever — just waiting for the right time to share with legislators?  At may matrix na rin daw, a la Dutz back in EJK days, how audacious.

But the most intriguing of all are these two girls, who are such unlikely Pinays, neither ever having gone daw to regular school, and yet we would never have guessed, given the confident way they carry themselves, with good command of English and Tagalog, one even got elected Mayor of Bamban at 36 (maybe 32, depending on what year she was really born); the other at 24 is the Authorized Rep of the Porac POGO Lucky South 99, and also the girlfriend of Alice’s brother Wesley, whose Chinese name Alice doesn’t know daw, I can’t imagine why.

Kapani-paniwala tuloy ang suspicion ni Tony Lopez ng Philstar that Alice speaks the truth when she says she grew up in a farm. /farm-spies-and-romances

Alice of Bambanland is determined to wear the senators’ patience thin by simply lying, lying, lying. Yes, this is a 34-year-old woman raised in a farm – a spy farm. Her training is good. In the CIA farm, one learns about “explosives, booby traps, escape and evasion techniques, survival training and interrogation.”

Per Quora, spy farms indeed were farms which were commandeered during World War II, along with the farmhouses, and repurposed into training schools for spy officers. So when Alice Guo says “laki ako sa farm,” she just might be telling the senators the truth. In this light, hindi kaya Guo’s lawyers are also “laki sa farm?” They lie better than Guo herself.

So maybe the Chinese version of a spy farm, complete with a piggery whose pigs had to be protected from germs from the outside world, which Alice alleges is the reason she wasn’t allowed to leave the farm and go to regular school like ordinary Pinoy kids. Kahit wala pa namang swine fever dito noon.

Fast-forward to QUAD. When she said she would only name names in an executive session because of death threats, the Reps asked if she would name the Filipino officials who facilitated her July escape, among other amazing stunts. Her reply was very definite: no local officials involved. Which of course raised everyone’s eyebrows. And when allowed by the Reps to make a final statement re an executive session, she said she would be willing if the Reps promised to believe her, referring I think to her earlier insistence that she could only tell of what and who she knew and she truly didn’t know a lot.

Quad comm’s mandate is [to] conduct hearings into the possible connection between Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs) and illegal drugs, extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and human rights violations during the bloody war waged by the six-year Rodrigo Roa Duterte presidency. /farm-spies-and-romances

I find myself giving Alice the benefit of the doubt only in the matter of how much she knows about the larger operation. I can believe that she’s a low-level player in the POGO game — her handlers tell her only what she needs to know. But it doesn’t mean she’s an insignificant catch, not when she was rising, slowly but surely, in the political arena.

It was like she came out of nowhere in 2022 — BBM had never heard of her before she was elected Bamban mayor as an independent, besting the NPC candidate in a 7-way fight.  And take note: during the campaign she endorsed BBM and Sara but “Angat Buhay” PINK was her color. What was up with that?

In the run-up to her election in 2022, Guo flew to a campaign event in her helicopter (black with a pink stripe) while crowds were treated to a huge firework display and DJ set. theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/04/inside-mystery-alice-guo-missing-philippines-mayor

By the 3rd quarter of 2023, she had so impressed the DILG — Benhur Abalos, was that you? Ikaw talaga! — that she was awarded a Seal of Good Local Governance, which apparently qualified her to join the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the most sosyal of political parties founded by Danding Cojuangco. will-alice-guo-run-under-marcos-jr-slate-in-2025-elections-053

She has, of course, since been expelled from the party.

“The NPC will not tolerate any unlawful acts or any appearance of impropriety by its members that will undermine the principle of our party,” NPC President Vicente Sotto III said in a letter to Tarlac Gov. Susan Yap, the NPC provincial chairperson.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/06/24/2365131/alice-guo-expelled-npc-member

Sabi nga ni NPC-affiliated Ping Lacson sa X:
https://x.com/iampinglacson/status/1833087910851260596

The way Guo Hua’ping a.k.a Alice Guo was taking the senators for a ride during the hearing, she could be a trained and smart foreign spy who had already started to climb the ladder of the country’s political structure as an elected municipal mayor.

In the realm of possibilities, she could be a member of Congress who has access to highly classified information with national security implications.

Had PAOCC not exposed her illegal activities, what if, in the long term, she and her handlers, using money and/or influence, manage to get her appointed as DND secretary or National Security Adviser?

Paktaylo na tayo!

Indeed. That was a close call. Question is, how many more Alices and Cassandras are running around our political circles, if not already deeply highly embedded.

VP Sara’s offensive

It was quite a startling show of hubris and chutzpah, the way VP Sara Duterte (of the 32.2 million votes) went on the offensive in the budget hearing where the House Reps dared make her kulit about how she spent past confidential funds instead of just focusing on the 2025 OVP budget.

Sara was likely still smarting from the Senate hearing that surfaced her Php10million children’s book project which has since been the talk of the hard-up indie writing and publishing world. And the Reps’ public hearing was the perfect platform to show her disdain for Congress by refusing to answer questions from a “convicted child abuser” (medyo unfair), trading snide for snide, and venting her own grievances, among them the rumors of HOR plans to impeach her, never mind that certain Reps have denied it again and again.

At some point it was clear that the VP was baiting daring challenging the Reps to cite her in contempt but the Reps didn’t bite. I suppose because there are other ways to skin a cat? Read “Unhinged” by Philstar’s Ana Marie Pamintuan. https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2024/08/28/2381011/unhinged

The hearing was held on the same day that the second quarter OCTA survey results were released, showing BBM’s trust ratings rising and the VP’s falling, with the President rating higher than the VP for the first time.

If VP Sara’s game plan for the budget hearing was that the best defense is a good offense, it didn’t succeed. It was painful watching the VP in her bratty worst, answering questions about the budget with non-sequiturs, and showing zero respect for committee on appropriations chair Stella Quimbo.

Perhaps all the frustrations over the loss of the VP’s perks – the P650 million in confidential funds, her Cabinet portfolio and seat in the anti-communist task force, and likely rejection even of the P10 million for her children’s book project – had all boiled over.

In going ballistic, the VP came off unhinged.

Even folks who had no love lost for Quimbo and several of the lawmakers at the hearing found themselves cheering for the House members.

If the VP keeps this up, by the time the 2028 elections roll around, her ratings could be below zero like her staunch supporter GMA in the twilight of the Arroyo presidency.

Impeaching VP Sara won’t even be necessary.

Unless, of course, the BBM admin messes up on Quibuloy, the West Ph Sea, and the POGO ban. Then all bets are off.

Maritime Zones Act, bakit wala pa rin?

As far as I can tell from online sources, the House of Reps passed the Maritime Zones Act (MZA) in May 2023, the Senate passed it in Feb 2024, and the bicam review was passed by both chambers on the 19th of March. It should have lapsed into law 30 days after, if the President had not yet acted on it. But almost two months later, on May 15, the House of Reps recalled the ratified MZA for “further refinement.” At hanggang ngayon, wala pa rin. What’s going on? Are we “seeing” the hand of China in Congress?

WHERE’S THE LAW FOR PHL TO GET EVEN?
By Jarius Bondoc

Is there a peaceful way to retaliate against China’s attacks in the West Philippine Sea? Yes, says international maritime lawyer Jay Batongbacal, PhD.

With the Maritime Zones Act, the Philippines can demand diplomatic parity. Here’s how, says Batongbacal:

• If China assaults our resupplies and fishing in Ayungin and Panatag Shoals, then we can forbid Chinese passage through our internal waters.

• Reciprocally, if China respects our right to our own exclusive economic zone, then we will let them through.

Recall the June 17th atrocity. Five speedboats of more than 40 Chinese coastguards rammed a Philippine Navy rubber craft beside BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin. Eight Filipino sailors were about to unload food, water and equipment.

The enemy boarded, knifed and axed the rubber boat, fired lasers and looted supplies. They barred medivac of one Filipino whose thumb was severed by the ramming. All this was videoed.

China’s barbarism was well planned. Propaganda was ready. Within an hour its embassy disinformed that the Filipinos did the ramming and provoking.

On June 19th four People’s Liberation Army-Navy warships entered Philippine internal waters on “innocent passage.” Philippine Coast Watch monitored them.

Destroyer Luyang III (DDG168) and frigate Jiangkai II (FFG570) entered Balabac Strait between Palawan and Mindanao at 1:49 p.m. Destroyer Renhai (CG105) and replenishment oiler Fuchi (AOR907) followed at 3:56 p.m.

All sailed the international sea lane in our inner waters for hours then exited Surigao Strait to Pacific Ocean.

It’s impossible that the PLA-Navy didn’t know what its coastguards had done two days prior. They all report to the China Communist Party-Central Military Commission.

With the Maritime Zones Act we can bar any more Chinese naval pass through. No longer may it cross to and from South China Sea and Pacific Ocean via:

(1) Balintang and Babuyan Channels between Batanes and mainland Luzon;
(2) Balabac and Mindoro Straits on the west through Sulu Sea to Surigao Strait on the east and
(3) Sibutu Strait 16 nautical miles wide between Tawi-Tawi and Sabah onto Celebes Sea.

Without Balintang and Babuyan passage, China warships will have to sail farther north via Bashi Channel between Batanes and southern Taiwan. Or between northern Taiwan and Okinawa.

Without Mindoro, Balabac and Sibutu passage, China warships will have to veer far west between Singapore and Borneo, turn south at the Indian Ocean, then east to Celebes Sea onto the Pacific.

PLA-Navy sail times will prolong, costs will rise, operations will be hampered. As Sun Tzu said, “Begin by seizing something your opponent holds dear, then he will be amenable to your will.”

But where’s that Maritime Zones Act (MZA)? Where’s that potent legal weapon against China?

The Senate unanimously ratified the bicameral conference committee report on March 18th and the House also unanimously on March 19th. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should have signed it or it should have lapsed into law by now.

It has been reverted to the bicam, principal Senate author Francis Tolentino told Gotcha Monday. Why that procedural breach? Because of an apparent oversight.

“We need to reconcile the legal definitions of internal and archipelagic seas,” Tolentino said. “Since Congress is in recess, the bicam can’t muster a quorum, so we’ll have to wait ‘til July resumption.” Principal House author Rufus Rodriguez was askance: “I am puzzled why the bill has not yet been sent to the President for signature despite bicam approval last March.”

Sources blamed the Office of the Solicitor General. It belatedly questioned the constitutionality of the proviso on internal and archipelagic waters, they said. That’s strange, because the Senate and House consulted OSG lawyers every step of the way.

Queried, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra texted: “I’m not at liberty to comment on the bill. Final version is pending with Congress.”

Marcos is raring to sign the Philippine MZA, he told the Shangri-La Dialogue on global security, Singapore, May 31st. That will have to wait ‘til after his July 22nd State of the Nation.

The MZA rankles Beijing. It bad mouthed the bill for months. On April 21st the China Communist Party English-language organ Global Times lengthily quoted ex-president Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque bashing the MZA.

In December 2021 then-Senate president Tito Sotto urged Malacañang to certify the bill as urgent. Pro-Beijing, Duterte declined.

A Philippine MZA will blunt China’s expansionism. Other Asia-Pacific states might follow suit. Only 22 states are archipelagic. [Emphases mine]

We must do whatever the enemy doesn’t want. “A great soldier fights on his own terms,” Sun Tzu also said.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM). Follow me on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/Jarius-Bondoc