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Discaya couple, ex-DPWH men under DOJ protection
FIVE LOCAL HOLIDAYS IN OCT. NEWS / A3
By Pot Chavez
ISRAEL CONTINUES TO POUND HEZBOLLAH
JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla confirmed on Wednesday that five high-profile individuals linked in the multibillion-peso anomalous flood VOL. XXXVIII • NO. 227• 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 •MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 •as control projects are now considered VOL. XXXIX • NO. WORLD / A6220 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 • “protected witnesses”.
PNP resurrecting probe Elusive ex-DPWH exec Heading heading facesPCSO Blueheading Ribbon today heading head into official's slay Former Usec. Bernardo may drop bombshell of his own Speaker grateful for PMA Class '83 vote of confidence in Quad Comm
By Ram Superable and Vito Barcelo By Rio N. Araja
F T
ORMER Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) HE Philippine undersecretary National PoliceRoberto Bernardo is set take center stage at (PNP) is to reopening theinvestigation Senate today,into where he is expected its to deliver a potentially explosive tellthe 2020 murder of all before the Blue Ribbon Committee. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Senate President (PCSO) board secretaryPro Tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday conWesley Barayuga. firmed Bernardo’s at-
tendance, saying the On Sunday, PNP Chief Police former official had General Rommel Francisco Maralready submitted bil said he ordered the reopening of a prepared affidavit the cold case after whistleblower and Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza told also signaled the House Quad Committee that plans he to file a supplemental helped carry out the killing at the affidavit. behest of ex-PCSO general manager“I don’t know if he will change his Royina Garma. mind. He already Mendoza narrated before cona previous gressmen how Garma allegedlysubmitted faMONITORING ‘OPONG’. President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. presides over the affidavit, but he said he would file a supplemental one," cilitated the PCSO official’s roadside situation briefing on response operations on the effects of Super typhoon Nando and said Lacson, who the Blue assassination on also July chairs 30, 2020 by Ribbon panel. preparations for severe tropical storm ‘Opong’ at Camp Aguinaldo. Inset shows the Bernardo’s appearanceinformation comes after his name surproviding the necessary Opong's track. With the President are NDRRMC Chairperson and DND Secretary Gilberto faced in earlier hearings linking him to anomalous C. Teodoro, Jr., DILG Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla, Special Assistant to the President about his schedule, details about his flood control allegedly Secretary Antonio Lagdameo, Jr., and other key government officials. vehicle and theprojects fundingthat necessary to cost billions of page pesos.it out. ANext WEB OF CRIME? House leaders Aurelio Gonzales and David Suarez presented this matrix during the last QUAD carry Comm hearing which shows the operations of a criminal syndicate allegedly led by fugitive Michael Yang, then economic The whistleblower also implicated adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte, that controlled the illegal activities of the POGOs and was involved in the drug incumbent National Police Comtrade and extrajudicial killings. missioner Edilberto Leonardo in the planning of the murder. Barayuga was a retired police general and lawyer who supposedly Gerard Opulencia, Danilo Villa, and threatened to expose corruption withBy Darwin G. Amojelar Brando Raya for lavish lifestyle; in the PCSO shortly before he was and Vito Barcelo Gerald Pacanan, substandard projshot dead in Mandaluyong City. ects; Khadaffy failure to coGarma, herself an ex-police Lt. THE legal counsel of Chinese adviser of former President Rodrigo of illegal drugsTanggol, and illegal activities DEPARTMENT of Public Works and operate with ongoing investigation; Colonel, allegedly gained the top businessman Tony Yang sought to Duterte. associated with POGOs,” Suarez said Highways Secretary and Isabelo Baleros, Almer Miranda, spot at the PCSO because of her indisparage lawmakers’ conclusions Fortun, a(DPWH) lawyer who oftenVince finds in a mixture of Filipino and English. Dizon onat Tuesday ordered several Next page GilThe Lorenzo, L. Gonzales, Jr., about his client’s supposedly himself the center high-profile solonsArturo explained how the other DPWH regional directors and and Johnny substandard sketchy past and his alleged ties cases, apparently sought to mock matrix detailsProtesta, Yang’s Jr., connections to district engineers to explain lavprojects. with Philippine Overseas Gaming congressmen, calling theirtheirprobe other individuals involved in illicit ish lifestyles. “We are giving them five days of to Operators (POGOs) and even “unacceptable.” activities, including the operations Dizon identified the officials as submitPOGOs. their written explanations of organized crime. However, House members argued illegal Lawyer Raymond Fortun they did not come by their suspicions Among the companies implicated questioned the House Quad about Yang recklessly. are Brickhartz Technology Inc. Committee’s impartiality and its On Friday, Senior Deputy Speaker and Xionwei Technology Co. Ltd., ability to pin Chinese national Yang Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga which are being linked to alleged down for ay wrongdoing in a real and Deputy Speaker David Suarez of kidnapping. criminal court. Quezon presented a matrix showing The two firms supposedly “I am very interested in how they Yang’s first appearance and his have connections with the Baofu [Quad Comm members] can prove subsequent activities at the Quad Compound in Bamban, Tarlac, this criminal network in court. In Comm hearing. which, in turn, can be directly traced Congress, lawmakers as both “We saw a pattern, and we tracked to disgraced ex-mayor Alice Guo. PROTECTED WITNESSES. Former DPWH Bulacan 1st Assistantact District Engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza arrive yesterday at the Department prosecutor and judge,” he said. of it to the top of these corporations... During Friday’s Quad Comm Justice (DOJ). Norman Cruz Yang, who already admitted we stripped it of its layers , to get to hearing, lawmakers cited Tony Yang having a fake Philippine birth the top and through it all, we have in contempt for “lying” to about his stole beforeis they can avail of govBy Charles Dantes certificate, the brother of Michael discovered and identified at least two businesses and business partners. ernment aprotection, as it emphasized Yang, presidential economic main actors or players in the issue Next page that President Marcos is outraged by MALACAÑANG yesterday said the extent of that participantsthe corruption turned-whisscheme being tleblowers in unraveled by anomalous flood Senators. control projects Presidential must first return Zaldy Co went to the US for ‘medical treatment’. BAUTISTA the money they Next page NEWS / A3
The group included former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, assistant district engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, as well as contractors Pacifico Discaya II and his wife Cezarah Rowena alias Sarah. Next page
PBBM orders all handsreadies on deck Gov’t for storm P1.48b aid‘Opong’ as PAGASA
Charles Dantes 'By Jandulian' strengthens Rio N. Araja
THE government has readied P1.48 PRESIDENT Ferdinand Jr. billion worth of aid for Marcos communion Wednesday ordered government ties that may be hit hard by typhoon agencieswhich to maximize logistics and ‘Julian’ PAGASA says could resources as the country faces overturn into a supertyphoon. lapping responses, continuAs ofdisaster 5:00 PM on Sunday, PAing recovery operations in storm-hit GASA raised Tropical Cyclone page Wind Signal No. 3 over Next Batanes and the northeastern portion of Babuyan Islands. “’Julian’ is forecast to continue intensifying over the next 24-36 hours as it moves towards Batanes and/or Babuyan Islands. With the current trend in its intensification, the possibility of reaching super typhoon category is not ruled out,” PAGASA said in its advisory. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that a total of 1.9 million family food packs worth P1.48 billion, other food items worth P276 million, and non-food items (NFIs) worth P919 million were already prepared by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Some P171 million in standby fund is also available for utilization by the DSWD, including P123 million which can be allotted as Quick Response Fund (QRF) in the central office of the DSWD. In Batanes, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) advised residents to secure their roofs and install window shutters as Typhoon Julian is expected to make landfall Next page
PH lobbies UN WPP applicants must return Dizon flags ‘lavish lifestyles’ of DPWH for Security officials that we haveseat received against stolen infra funds—Palace Yang's lawyer mocks probers amid heated inquiry reportsCouncil
DOTr’s Bautista says online news report‘unfounded'
them, and later on, depending on the THE government on resultsPhilippine of the investigation, appropriSunday publicly called for the will Unit-be ate administrative charges ed Nations (UN) to give it asaid. seat on filed against them,” Dizon the UN Security Council, Dizon also warned thathighlightif evidence ing the country’s record would and warranted, thosestrong responsible dedication to upholdingand the the ruleinforof be held accountable, law. mation would be forwarded to the DepartmentCommission of Foreign for Affairs Independent Infra(DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo in Next page structure. a speech delivered at the UN General Assembly in New York said the Philippines continues to emphasize the “importance of upholding the rule of law and the integrity of the multilateral system in the face of today’s global challenges.” Quoted by reports, Manalo also said: “The Philippines has consistently pursued peace, the sovereign equality of states, the rights and dignity of all persons.” He added that the country is also recognized as the “first Asian ReNext page
CBCP offers sanctuary Navy spokes debunks China claim for whistleblowers
of military exercises in Scarborough shoal
By Darwin Amojelar
Nothing irregular with cell visit to Rody—DFA
TRANSPORTATION Secretary Jaime Bautista denied an online news report claiming that Malacañang was angry with the increase in airport fees without the approval of the Cabinet members. “The Bilyonaryo article is malicious and unfounded,” Bautista said ByaKatrina Manubay in Viber message, referring to the website that published the said story. THE Department of Foreign “Bilyonaryo is inconsistent,” heAffairs added. (DFA), through the Philippine EmbasBilyonaryo reported online that sy in the and Hague, on Wednesday con“Bautista his long-time protege in firmed thatAirlines, embassy officials visited Philippine Undersecretary for former president Rodrigo Duterte at Aviation and Airports Bobby Lim, are thethe International Criminal at center of the storm Court after it(ICC) was detention center to conduct a "welfare check." Next page
By Rex Espiritu
cent Trinidad told reporters that Manila troops did not monitor any such activity, adding that BeiTHE Philippine Navy debunked jing’s statement was meant only on Sunday the recent announcefor its internal audience. ment by China that it conducted “Our troops did not observe military exercises off Bajo de any exercise, we have to underMasinloc, also known as Scarborstand that sometimes, China is ough Shoal, in the West Philipdoing this for their internal audipine Sea (WPS). ence, right? For them not to look China reportedly made the anweak and embarrassed,” Trinidad nouncement coinciding with the said. fourth Multilateral Maritime CoTwo Chinese warships were operative Activity between the HIMBON AT SM AURA. A milestone celebration unfolded at SMX Convention monitored at a distance ranging Philippines, Australia, Japan, Center, SM Aura, as HIMBON: The 39th Negros Trade officially Tuesday,miles. fromFaireight to opened 14 nautical New Zealand, and the United treating guests, partners, and officials to the finest of Negrense food, fashion, One of these went up and to artistry. 1,000 States within Manila’s exclusive The fair will last until Sept. 28. The traditional Arima thatatsignals the opening ofbut the evenfair yards the MMCA site economic zone (EEZ) in the reis led by Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio José ‘Bong’ V. Lacson, Negros Oriental tually went away. “It was not gional the weekend. and other Governorwaters Manuelover ‘Chaco’ L. Sagarbarria, government officials of the region, threatening, normal,” Philippine Navy Spokesperson together with Taguig City Mayor, Lani Cayetano, Association of just Negros Producersaccord(ANP) and WPS SM Supermalls Executive Roy Vice President for Rear Admiral Vin- for Marketing Joaquin L. San Agustin. Next page
BI monitors Co bound for Madrid By Ma. Katrina Mikaela Manubay
Singapore, where he spent some time before traveling to Dubai. He also visited New York City from August 26 to September 13, raising questions about AKO Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co his availability during the ongoing inreportedly flew from Dubai to Mavestigation. drid, Spain, on September 24, amid On September 18, House Speaker allegations pocketing billions AWARD.ofHans Sy, Chairman of from the Executive Committee of SM Prime Faustino ‘‘Bojie’’ Dy IIIHoldings, revoked the ghost and overpriced flood Retailers control Association was honored by the Philippine (PRA) with its Outstanding lawmaker’s travel clearance and orFilipino Retailers President Award for his visionary leadership in retailtodevelopment. projects. dered him to return the Philippines (From left to right): PRArecords Directorfrom and Director of SM Retail Jorge T. Mendiola, PRA According to flight a within 10 days. Vice President President andofCOO ABC, Inc. (The Penshoppe Group) reliable source and in the Bureau Im-of Golden,To recall, former Department of PubAlice T. Liu,Co SMdeparted Prime Holdings Executive Committee Hans T. Sy, migration, Dubai Chairman at 8:05 of the lic Works and Highways PRA President and Chairman of Quorum Inc. (Toby’s Sports)(DPWH) Roberto Bua.m. and is scheduled to arrive at Ma- International, lacan districtInt’l. engineer Alcantara S. Claudio, and PRA Director and President of Sportshouse Leisure,Henry Inc. and drid Airport at 7:20 p.m. Manila time. said Co allegedly received kickbacks of proponent of PRA OFR President’s Award Mars C. Chua Prior to his Dubai trip, Co was in Next page