Maniolas

Kin grieve for fallen cops at necrological service. Relatives of the 44 slain PNP-SAF commandos killed in the January 25 Mamasapano clash attend the wake and necrological service at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Friday, January 30. President Benigno Aquino III offered his condolences to those left behind by the heroes. Danny Pata Was some P300 million in discretionary presidential intelligence funds used for last week’s operation that killed 44 Special Action Force policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao? Militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Sunday said President Benigno Aquino III has some explaining to do on the matter. The group said the Mamasapano operation involving 392 SAF troopers would require funding and logistics, and that transporting SAF elements from different parts of the country alone would already require a considerable amount of money. “If the operation was not run via the (Interior department) and the PNP, then someone else must have authorized the funding. The approval can only come from one other source, Malacañang. The funding could have come from the unaudited P300 million intelligence and confidential funds of the President. It would then be easy for Aquino to deny involvement,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said. “When the President has control of such unaudited funds, it is very easy for him to bypass other government agencies and embark on covert operations that can have disastrous consequences,” he added. Reyes also said suspended Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima and the United States government should Read More …

Kin grieve for fallen cops at necrological service. Relatives of the 44 slain PNP-SAF commandos killed in the January 25 Mamasapano clash attend the wake and necrological service at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Friday, January 30. President Benigno Aquino III offered his condolences to those left behind by the heroes. Danny Pata The remains of the last two Special Action Force policemen killed in a clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25 were brought out of Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City before dawn Sunday. Departure honors were rendered for the remains of Inspector Rennie Tyrus and PO3 Virgil Villanueva, radio dzBB’s Luisito Santos reported. The remains were brought out of the police facility at 1:50 a.m. and were to be brought to Zamboanga del Sur province, the report said. It added, a Cebu Pacific flight will carryTyrus’ remains, while a Philippine Airlines flight will take Villanueva’s. In the past days, the nation mourned the deaths of the 44 SAF men in Maguindanao. President Benigno Aquino III declared last January 30 a day of national mourning. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The International Monitoring Team (IMT) that oversees the implementation of the cease-fire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it would start its own investigation of the Jan. 25 clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which claimed the lives of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) and 14 MILF rebels. Malaysian Gen. Yaakub Samad, IMT head, said the IMT board of inquiry would start its investigation on Feb. 7 “to determine the real circumstances that led to the SAF-MILF encounter.” The IMT is made up of representatives from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, Indonesia, Japan, Norway and the European Union. It has been in existence since 2003. Asked why the IMT would start its investigation 13 days after the incident, Samad said they had to coordinate with potential witnesses first. The IMT’s inquiry into the incident would be done in partnership with the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the government and the MILF, according to Samad. The IMT was instrumental in the disengagement that led to the retrieval of those who were killed and the evacuation of those wounded in the Mamasapano clash. IMT’s Norwegian member, William Hovland, said it took them hours to establish contacts “due to lack of telecommunications signal in the area.” Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., government ceasefire panel chair, said the entry of IMT representatives in Barangay Tukanalipao during the firefight helped “deescalate” the situation and allowed other government troops to evacuate wounded policemen from the Read More …

Rene Amancio of Bohol sought the assistance of Bantay OCW. According to him, it was in August 2014 when his wife Grace went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to work as a domestic helper. Grace was always the center of her Arabian female employer’s jealousy. Her madame is a full-time housewife who keeps her eye on her. She would follow Grace wherever she goes, monitored her every move, making sure that she’s always under her watch. If her female employer is not satisfied with her work she hits Grace. Aside from that, Rene also said that Grace didn’t get her salary. Rene pleaded for his wife to be sent home and made an appeal to our government agencies to help Grace the soonest. He even mentioned that he would never allow Grace to return to Saudi Arabia anymore. Bantay OCW awaits positive result of this case from our Philippine Consulate in Jeddah and hoping Grace will be reunited with her family soon. Maltreated OFW returned home Honorato Madla of Nueva Ecija came to Bantay OCW regarding his daughter who was being maltreated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Our overseas Filipino worker (OFW), Verna Madla Jacinto, complained that her employer poured hot water on her. Her employer always shouts at her and makes her work long hours. The most inhumane thing was they fed her only with bread for the whole day. She finishes work until midnight. In correspondence with our different government agencies, our Philippine Embassy in Riyadh immediately took action, and Read More …