DAVAO City has faced a turbulent year marked by political clashes and significant changes within its police force, leaving major projects hanging.
Current and former city officials found themselves under fire from the administration, creating a climate of political instability.
Adding to the turmoil, the Davao City Police Department underwent a major shake-up, with 65 officers relieved from their posts and reassigned. This internal disruption has raised concerns about the department’s stability and effectiveness.
The combined impact of political infighting and police force instability has cast a shadow over several big-ticket projects in the city. With resources and attention diverted to address these challenges, progress on crucial infrastructure and development initiatives has slowed.
This situation raised questions about the city’s ability to move forward with its development agenda. The lack of stability and the ongoing conflicts have created an uncertain environment, potentially hindering investment and progress in Davao City.
VP Sara unfazed by impeachment cases
EMBATTLED Vice President Sara Duterte “welcomes” the filing of two impeachment complaints against her, amid the ongoing issues involving her personnel at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and her former staff at the Department of Education (DepEd).
“I welcome the fact that the impeachment cases, which they’ve been talking about filing since last year, have finally been filed,” she said in an interview streamed on Dec. 9, 2024.
She added, “It’s okay that the impeachment case has been filed because it’s only me being targeted. I’m the one being investigated and attacked in this case. My colleagues at the OVP and my former colleagues at the DepEd are not included. This will finally provide a clear answer to the accusations against me.”
In a separate interview with the media, Duterte stated that having impeachment cases filed is beneficial because it provides an opportunity to address the accusations against her within the legal framework. “It’s better that there are impeachment cases so that any accusations can be properly addressed, as our laws regarding impeachment are clear and well-established,” she said.
She also noted, “It’s better that the impeachment is focused on me, as it ensures that the members of the House of Representatives are only targeting me. They are no longer terrorizing my colleagues in the OVP.”
Ombudsman finds no case vs VP
OMBUDSMAN Samuel Martires told Department of Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres to shut up after the latter said the anti-graft body should conduct an investigation and discipline Vice President Sara Duterte, on Dec. 1.
Martires explained that VP Sara can only be charged for acts related to the performance of her duties in office.
“As far as we are concerned right now, we have not seen any acts of the vice president to investigate,” he said.
“Well, we do not find any violations of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act and any of the offenses in the Revised Penal Code aboutation to the Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” he added.
Duterte clarified that her violent words during a Zoom press conference on Nov. 23, regarding President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez were not a threat.
She said there was no reason for her to harm the President as she also faced a threat to her own life.
Duterte said her words were “maliciously taken out of logical context.
Duterte also clarified that the phrase “Kung mamatay ako (If I die) was due to the fact that, from the start, she received death threats as the vice president.
It can be recalled that the vice president made this statement during a press conference on Saturday, following her visit to her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, who had previously been cited for contempt.
“Don’t worry about my safety. I have talked to a person and I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM [Marcos], [First Lady] Liza Araneta, and [Speaker] Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke,” she said during a Zoom press conference on Saturday.
“I said, do not stop until you kill them and he said yes.”
Zuleika Lopez cited in contempt
AS HER reward for enduring nine hours of grilling, Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez was cited in contempt by the last interpellator, ACT Teacher’s Party-list Rep. France Castro.
Castro made the motion supposedly due to “undue interference” in the panel’s investigation of confidential funds in the OVP. The contempt order will detain Lopez, the former city administrator when Vice President Sara Duterte was mayor, in the House of Representatives holding office until Nov. 25, 2024.
Castro’s motion was based on a letter sent by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (COA), asking the agency to decline the House panel’s subpoena to submit a report on the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd.
“Is it right to simply request the COA to disregard our request for the subpoena?” Castro asked Lopez.
Lopez maintained that it was a “respectful request” made to the state auditors.
“The OVP is not a bully. It was just really a respectful request, your honor, for them to consider our position. Like all position papers filed, we feel that these are the issues we need to raise,” Lopez said.
However, Castro stood by her motion.
“In the totality of the discussion, from 10 o’clock up to now, we have seen that Attorney Lopez’s answers were very evasive.”
“And we saw, not only this letter but also the totality of the discussions earlier, that is the reason why we moved to cite in contempt. So I stand by my motion, Mr. Chair.”
FPRRD: ‘Country is in hemorrhage’
FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte said the country is already bleeding money due to the P250 billion Maharlika Fund and the estimated P129 billion gold reserves sale that the administration could not account for, on Nov. 26.
Duterte made the statement during a press conference in Davao City when asked if there would be a potential people’s movement in response to the country’s current issues. He also mentioned the realignment of savings from the government-owned and controlled corporation back to the treasury.
“Filipinos need to know that the country is in hemorrhage. And even PhilHealth—which is not directly managed by the government—is suffering. We contributed to it because if you need hospitalization, you pay depending on your category,” he said.
He said government officials must be sued for estafa and malversation. The Supreme Court already issued an injunction to stop PhilHealth from transferring its savings to the national treasury. From the original P89.9 billion, the Department of Finance already withdrew some P60 billion from PhilHealth’s savings before the temporary restraining order in October this year.
“You used our money—even Congress cannot do that. It’s a trust fund, it’s from you and me. It’s our contribution, meant for situations like when someone gets sick with cancer or needs surgery,” Duterte explained.
Duterte continued: “The government right now has no projects. You don’t see any projects, only maintenance, only aid programs like [AKAP, AICS, TUPAD]. And they’ve exhausted all of it.”
Baste questions national budget
MAYOR Sebastian Duterte doubted whether ordinary Filipinos truly feel the impact of the massive ₱5.768 trillion allocated for 2024 and the ₱6.3523 trillion for 2025.
Duterte criticized the disproportionate attention given to the ₱125 million confidential fund of the Office of the Vice President while billions in confidential funds and projects across other government agencies remain unexamined.
According to Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangadaman, the budget is equivalent to 22% of the GDP and is 10.1% higher than this year’s budget of P5.768.
Hearings on war on drugs
FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte admitted during the 11th hearing of the House quad committee on November 13, that he had no patience when it comes to criminals.
Duterte also admitted that he had already killed and was involved in the deaths of six to seven criminals when he was still the mayor of Davao City.
However, he insisted there was no reason to shoot innocent people.
Moreover, the former president stood by his command regarding the war on drugs, saying that police officers were instructed to kill suspects who resisted arrest.
He stated that law enforcement officers have their own lives to protect and that if criminals fight back, they should rightfully be killed.
When asked if he could acknowledge accountability before the families of alleged victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), Duterte maintained his previous position to take full responsibility.
“I assume full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by the law enforcement agencies of this country to stop the drugs or the serious problem of the drugs affecting our people,” he said.
Unapologetic
FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte remained unapologetic in his strong campaign against illegal drugs, emphasizing his lifelong commitment to the nation’s welfare and expressing his unwavering patriotism and love for the Filipino people.
The former president was invited by the Blue Ribbon subcommittee on the Philippine war on illegal drugs, chaired by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel II probe the Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drugs program on Oct. 28.
“The war on illegal drugs is not about killing people; it is about protecting the innocent and defenseless. It is about eradicating illegal substances such as shabu, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, party drugs, and others. This menace ruins people, families, and communities, tearing apart the social fabric that binds society together in peace, harmony, and brotherhood.
“Make no mistake about it: I hate drugs. I loathe the purveyors, merchants, and pushers of this destructive element. I have consistently emphasized this throughout my campaign when I ran for president in 2016,” Duterte said.
This was my covenant with the Filipino people: to believe in me, and to this day, we must agree on what my government has achieved. Unfortunately, drug-related crimes are on the rise again. Every day, we hear about children being raped, people getting killed, and robberies occurring.
Duterte to military: Stop fence-sitting
FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte challenged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to protect the Constitution and fix the mess as the country faces a “fractured governance” due to weak leadership and corrupt politicians.
“The people have nowhere to turn. Imagine, at one point, there was an order to transfer OVP chief of staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez to a correctional institution. If that had gone through, it would have shown the fracture in governance. It’s not just a small break,” Duterte said.
He said nobody can correct President Marcos Jr. and House Speaker Martin Romualdez since it “will take years to reach the Supreme Court” if they file a case.
“If you want redress for grievances, there is no urgent remedy. The only one who can fix this is the military. I’ve been president, and I saw the situation. If the president is facing so many mistakes and there’s a fracture in governance, it’s only the military who can correct it.”
“I’m saying it clearly: Only the military can fix this,” Duterte added.
He said soldiers don’t have to stage a coup, overthrow the government, and establish a junta. Instead, they could only stop cooperating as a form of silent protest, telling the Marcos administration, “We don’t want to play your game anymore.’”
“Without the military, the game is over,” he said.
“If the military stands up and says, ‘You are oppressing the people, spending our money recklessly, and even threatening our future retirement benefits,’ that’s not a coup. They’re just rejecting the system.”
Nearly P20 million worth of seized drugs incinerated
ALMOST P20 million worth of confiscated and surrendered illegal drugs under THE PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Davao Region and Soccsksargen incinerated about P20 million in illegal drugs on Monday, Dec.2, in Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor’s cremation oven.
Data from the Davao Region showed that marijuana, shabu, and expired medicines worth P16 million were destroyed, while drugs worth a total of P3.4 million were also incinerated in the same thermal facility.
Quiboloy surrenders
KINGDOM of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy surrendered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP’s) Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces (Isafp) on Sunday evening, September 8, 2024.
Let’s look back at what transpired in the 16-day raid of the PNP at the KOJC compound in an effort to capture Quiboloy and his co-accused.
Armed with only an arrest warrant for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and his co-accused, the Philippine National Police (PNP) initiated a search of the 30-hectare Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) Central Compound in Davao City on August 24, 2024.
Despite deploying 2,000 armed personnel, the operation, which began at 3 a.m., has yet to result in any arrests. This marks the fourth raid since June 10.
65 cops and personnel reassigned
SIXTY-FIVE police and non-commissioned officers from the Police Regional Office XI were relieved and reassigned to various regions effective Nov. 25.
The personnel included seven police majors, one executive master sergeant, and a senior master sergeant (SMS) who were reassigned to Cagayan Valley (PRO II); Three staff sergeants, two corporals, and four captains were transferred to Mimaropa (PRO IV-B); and one major, two captains, one chief master sergeant, two EMS, and one SMS reassigned to the Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO CAR).
Meanwhile, six majors, one captain, and three staff sergeants were reassigned to the Bicol Region (PRO V).
Police Regional Office XI spokesperson Major Catherine Dela Rey confirmed earlier to TIMES that 11 officers and 20 police non-commissioned officers were also reassigned to the mentioned regional offices.
POGO hub
FIFTY-EIGHT foreign nationals and one Filipina were caught in a National Bureau of Investigation-Southern Eastern Mindanao raid on an alleged POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) hub in Barangay Manay, Panabo City, around 2 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6.
NBI XI director Archie Albao said they arrested 55 Chinese nationals and three Malaysian nationals in the operation.
10th ID assures no NPA resurgence
THE 10TH Infantry Division has assured the public that there will be no resurgence of the New People’s Army (NPA) despite recent reports of the group’s presence in Davao Oriental.
While the division acknowledges the sightings, it maintains that its troops are actively pursuing and dismantling the remaining NPA units in the region.
Major Ruben Gadut, the division’s public affairs chief, explained that the military is conducting focused military operations to target the NPA’s remaining leadership and armed components.
Major General Allan Hambala, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, said Davao Region has remained insurgency-free since October 2022, so they are recalibrating their trolls to hunt down 12 remnants of the New People’s Army (NPA).
“This is the price we must pay for being vigilant and for dismantling all threats in the Davao region. Of course, we couldn’t have achieved this without your [media’s] help. You are the voice of the people in understanding what the 10th ID is doing. Since we have a limited audience, you are not only our voice, but also our watchdogs,” Hambala said.
