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SPECIAL REPORT ON THE ECONOMY (Sections D, E, F)
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‘FROM FAT TO OBESE: POLITICAL DYNASTIES EXPANDING’ By Joyce Pangco Pañares
‘Stimulating the PH Economy‘
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ALMOST a third of all local elected positions in the 2019 midterm polls were won by candidates belonging to “fat dynasties” made up of several family members holding elective positions simultaneously, a study by the Ateneo School of Government showed. Despite a provision in the 1987 Constitution prohibiting political dynasties, and in the absence of an anti-dynasty law, fat political dynasties have “expanded dramatically” over more than three decades now, said AsoG Dean Ronald Mendoza and research associates Leonardo Jami-
nola and Jurel Yap in their recent study entitled “From Fat to Obese: Political Dynasties after the 2019 Midterm Elections.” “Clearly, political clans have found a way around term limits, by fielding more family members in power—giving rise to more fat political dynasties. The recently concluded 2019 midterm elections demonstrate the staying power of dynastic incumbents... For these dynasties, their extended—and for their clans, expanded‚stay in office affords them more control over the domestic economy, which in turn fuels their continued expansion and staying power,” the study Next page said.
FAT DYNASTY SHARE (2004-2019 ELECTIONS) POSITION
2004
2007
2010
GOVERNOR
56.96%
VICE GOVERNOR
53. 85%
48.10% 5.75% 52.56% 4.46%
PROVINCIAL BOARD MEMBER
39. 78%
37.73% 2.05% 42.90%
LOWER HOUSE
48. 11%
MAYOR
55%
2013
2016
2019
1.96% 71.79% 16.79% 82.50% 10.71% 76.25% 6.25% 80.25%
65%
4%
12.44% 53.16% 11.84% 67.90% 14.74%
5.17% 41.95%
0.95% 45.77%
3.8% 45.20% 0.57%
1.89% 55.56% 5.56% 56.84%
1.28% 55.6%
1.24% 66.67% 11.07%
39.56%
41.15% 1.59% 47.84% 6.69% 48.87%
1.03% 50.81%
1.94% 53.38% 2.57%
VICE MAYOR
27.84 %
29.10% 1.26% 34.06%
4.96% 36.17%
2.% 38.99% 2.82% 38.91% 0.08%
COUNCILOR
20. 85%
20.22% 0.63% 22.51% 2.29% 22.63%
0.12% 22.71% 0.08% 23.15% 0.44%
50%
VOL. XXXIII • NO. 214 • 6 SECTIONS 36 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Trackers hunt down convicts 10 murders linked to mess at BuCor
Two of Chiong killers still on the loose—DOJ
TWIN TOWERS OF CORRUPTION.
The facade of the Bureau of Corrections headquarters where, a BuCor official himself told the Senate Blue Ribbon, ‘unholy alliances’ and shady deals have been forged between prisoners and prison guards, a telling revelation that came to light during the probe of the abuses made under the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law that set free almost 2,000 convicts. Inset shows the NBP maximum security compound. File Photo By Lino Santos
By Macon Ramos-Araneta
By Rey E. Requejo
SENATOR Richard Gordon has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the killings of at least 10 prison officials and personnel, including a doctor of the New Bilibid Prison Hospital amid the ongoing Senate probe of corruption at the Bureau of Corrections. Gordon, who chairs two Senate committees investigating the abuse of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, said the murders by unidentified gunmen could be related to various forms of corruption at the BuCor. Frederic Anthony Santos, chief of the BuCor Legal Division, testified before the Senate that life was cheap in the New Bilibid Prison, and said “unholy alliances” between prisoners and prison guards have spawned an “intense” code of silence. A prison guard before becoming a lawyer in 2017, Santos who has been
P
OLICE are set to deploy 121 tracker teams nationwide Thursday to hunt down heinous crime convicts released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law.
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2 witnesses vs. De Lima asked to reveal all on Bilibid rackets By Macon Ramos-Araneta
Hog raisers need P26b to contain ASF By Rio N. Araja HOG raisers belonging to the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. want the government to allocate P26 billion or 10 percent of the worth of the P260-billion hog industry to contain the spread of the African swine fever. They made the request even as Agriculture Secretary William Dar appealed to backyard swine raisers over the weekend to report sick and dead pigs to their
respective municipal or city veterinarians to determine the cause of sickness or death and stop the sickness from spreading and prevent any more losses to the swine industry. He made the appeal in the wake of the dozens of pigs found floating along Marikina River and a creek in Quezon City. “It was utterly irresponsible on the part of the backyard raisers as they did not only violate current laws, but their
Oil price upsurge seen at P1.3/liter
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By Alena Mae S. Flores
revolt that has raged for the last 99 days. But the rally descended into violence when small groups of hardcore activists—known within the movement as “braves”—tried to attack the city’s main government complex. Police fired repeated volleys of tear gas and deployed water cannon trucks after Molotov cocktails and rocks were
THE oil distributors may implement a price increase of as much as P1.30 per liter on Tuesday as the world’s oil markets react to the drone attack on Saudi Arabia that is likely to affect the global oil supply. “Expect fuel prices to go up next week [September 17 to 23, 2019]. Diesel should go up by P0.70-P0.80 per liter and gasoline should go up by P1.20P1.30 per liter,” Unioil Philippines said in its weekly price forecast. On Saturday, drones attacked Saudi Arabia’s Khurais oil field and a processing facility in Abqaiq, and the kingdom announced that 5.7-million barrels
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HK still in chaos: Protesters defy riot cops HONG KONG riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at hardcore prodemocracy protesters hurling rocks and petrol bombs on Sunday, tipping the violence-plagued city back into chaos after a brief lull in clashes. Tens of thousands of people defied authorities to march through the streets of the city in an unsanctioned rally on Sunday, the latest expression of a popular
SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said they asked two witnesses in the drug cases against detained Senator Leila de Lima to testify because it was difficult to link high-ranking officials to the massive corruption at the Bureau of Corrections and denied any effort to pin her down. In an interview on radio dzBB, Lacson denied claims that last Thursday’s Senate hearing was aimed at shifting the blame on De Lima, who has been detained on drug charges for more than two years.
Lacson said touching on De Lima’s drug charges was “just incidental and inevitable.” “Of course, incidentally, we can’t avoid not mentioning her name, but the focus and the purpose in inviting former BuCor OIC Rafael Ragos and NBI Intelligence agent Jovencito Ablen to the hearing was to determine the other rackets at the BuCor, particularly inside the New Bilibid Prison [NBP],” Lacson said. Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon said he will also ask former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to appear before
Brig. Gen. Bernabe Balba, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation and Dtection Group said each tracker team, composed of five personnel, will be deployed after the 15-day grace period set by President Rodrigo Duterte for their surrender lapses. “We have already organized teams and even before the deadline, we are helping to locate these convicts and there were those who surrendered. In fact, we have already listed 47 surrenderers in the CIDG,” he said in Filipino in a TV interview. Philippine National Police spokesman Brig. Gen Bernard Banac said as of 6 a.m. Sunday, 431 convicts released under the GCTA law have surrendered to the different police stations nationwide. Of the total, 252 have already been turned over to the BuCor. He said 138 were cases of murder, 130 cases of rape, 42 cases of robbery with homicide, 28 cases of homicide, 14 cases of rape with homicide, nine cases of robbery with rape, 18 cases of dangerous drugs, and eight cases of parricide. Justice Undersecretary Deo Marco, however, admitted that two of the convicted rapist-murderers of the Chiong sisters of Cebu who were erroneously released on good conduct have not surrendered, despite feelers that were sent out last week. Four of the seven men convicted in the rape and killing of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong reportedly benefitted from Republic Act 10592 or the GCTA law. Two of the released convicts, Ariel Balansag and Albert Caño, have already complied with President Durterte’s order Next page and turned themselves in.
READY TO DEPLOY. The police Security Protection Group conducts a consolidation and accounting of its personnel, many of whom will soon deploy as tracker teams to go after the rest of convicts set free erroneously by flaws in the GCTA Law. Lino Santos