Written report - Calamities and Crimes PDF

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Calamities and Crimes...

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Readings in Philippine History “High Profile Scandals/Crimes and Calamities/Disasters” Prepared by: BSA 1-2 Group 6 Members: Alesin, Ferly Ann Bartolome, Jonaline Canillo, Lovely Joy Cruz, Jasmine Angel Marañon, Fionnah Marie

I. HIGH PROFILE SCANDALS/CRIMES 1)

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Golden Arinola Scandal  Possibly the mother of all high-profile controversies that rocked the whole nation —and costed another shot at the presidency—was the “golden bedpan” of former president Elpidio Quirino.  Though lavish display of wealth was actually unverified, it made rounds and became a national sensation because of an article fabricated by Manila Chronicle editor Celso Cabrera. The rumor, which later former senator Francisco Tatad revealed to be untrue, sparked an outrage among the public and forever painted him as an American shill.  Eventually, the rumors were dispelled. Cabrera admitted that the former President’s bedpan was far from gold. Vizconde Massacre  The Vizconde Massacre is one of the most high-profile rape and murder cases in the Philippines. It occurred on June 30, 1991 when three members of the Vizconde family were brutally murdered in their home in B.F. Homes, Parañaque.  The victims were Carmela Vizconde, 19, Jennifer Vizconde, 6, and their mother, Estrellita Vizconde, 49. Lauro Vizconde, the father and husband of the victims, was away on a business trip in the U.S.  Estrellita suffered thirteen stab wounds. Carmella was raped before she was murdered, sustaining 17 stab wounds. Jennifer, who was only 6 years old, had 19 stab wounds.  There had been no leads in the case until, in 1995, Jessica Alfaro stepped forward as a self-described key witness to the crime. She implicated the sons of some of the country’s wealthiest and powerful families. Among the accused were Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano II, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada, Joey Filart and Artemio Ventura. Webb is the son of former senator Freddie Webb.  According to Alfaro’s testimony, she was friends with the suspects, and they were having a “drug session” when Hubert Webb allegedly decided to rape Carmela Vizconde. Alfaro said that when they got to the residence, Webb instructed her to come with him because Estrellita would only allow Carmela to entertain female guests. Once in the residence, Alfaro claimed that Webb followed Carmela to the dining room, so she went out to have a smoke. From outside the house, Alfaro said she saw Lejano and Ventura take a knife from the kitchen, and proceeded to kill the mother first. Alfaro further explained that after Estrellita was killed, Webb proceeded to rape Carmela, but Jennifer woke up and saw what he was doing to her sister, so she jumped on Webb and bit him. Alfaro reported that Webb threw Jennifer across the room to a wall, and then stabbed her repeatedly. Alfaro’s testimonies were corroborated by other witnesses.

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 Almost a decade after the massacre, on January 6, 2000, the court ruled that Webb and company were guilty beyond reasonable doubt.  After another decade, In December 2010, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove that Webb and company were guilty beyond reasonable doubt.  The Supreme Court decision broke the heart of Lauro Vizconde, who, since the murder of his family, dedicated the rest of his life with the group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. Mayor Antonio Sanchez Case  Antonio Leyza Sanchez is a Filipino politician who served as Mayor of Calauan, Laguna from 1988 to 1993. He is the mastermind in the rape-slaying of Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of Allan Gomez in 1993. Sarmenta and Gomez were both students of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB).  On the night of June 28, 1993, Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez, students of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, were abducted by men of Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez at gunpoint.  The two were brought to Erais Farm in Barangay Curba, owned by the Mayor. Eileen was gagged by a handkerchief and her hands, like Allan, were tied. A white towel was wound around Allan's mouth. Court records showed Sanchez's men also brought Gomez along "to avoid complications". The two were brought inside the resthouse where Eileen was taken to Sanchez's room and Allan was badly beaten up by Luis Corcolon, Rogelio "Boy" Corcolon, Zoilo Ama and George Medialdea and thereafter thrown out of the resthouse.  At around 1:00 a.m. the next day, a crying Eileen was dragged out of the resthouse by Luis and Medialdea, her hair disheveled, her mouth covered by a handkerchief, her hands still tied and stripped of her shorts. The Mayor, clad merely in a white polo, appeared and thanked Luis and Medialdea for the gift. He is alleged to have stated: "I am through with her. She's all yours." When asked what would happen to Allan, Medialdea assured the Mayor that they would also kill him for full measure. Eileen and Allan were then loaded in the Tamaraw van by the appellants and headed for Calauan, followed closely by the ambulance. Kawit finished off Allan with a single gunshot from his Armalite.  The men then stopped at a sugarcane field in Sitio marupok, Kilometro 74 of Barangay Mabacan, and gang-raped Eileen. Kawit invited Centeno to join the sexual fiasco but Centeno refused as he could not, in conscience, bear the bestiality being committed on Eileen.  Despite Eileen's pleas to spare her life, Luis Corcolon fired his baby Armalite at her, and ordered Centeno to get rid of Eileen's body.  On March 14, 1995, Pasig Judge Harriet Demetriou concluded the 16-month Sarmenta-Gomez murder trial with the finding that Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez and several henchmen (only some of whom were policemen) were guilty

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of raping and murdering Sarmenta and killing Sarmenta's boyfriend. Demetriou, in her 132-page decision, described the crime as being borne out of "a plot seemingly hatched in hell".  Sanchez is currently serving seven (7) terms of reclusión perpetua (40 years per term) for the crime. On January 25, 1999, the Philippine Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Regional Trial Court. On August 29, 1999, Sanchez was given a double life term by the Supreme Court for a different case. Together with his seven life terms for the Sarmenta-Gomez murder, Sanchez will have to spend a total of 360 years in jail. PEA Amari Scandal  President Fidel Ramos was accused of corruption in the PEA-Amari deal. The controversial deal involved the acquisition of 158 hectares of reclaimed land on Manila Bay that was to be converted into so-called Freedom Islands. The deal was forged in April 1995 as part of the Ramos administration's Manila Bay Master Development Plan (MBMDP).  The PEA-Amari deal – in addition to other projects in Manila Bay - displaced over 3,000 fishing and coastal families in Manila Bay just to give way to what fisherfolk activists from Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) described as "an immoral, illegal and grossly unconstitutional state venture".  The project, Hicap added, also violates the principle of social justice; the PEAAmari deal involves “the crudest form of corruption among bureaucrat capitalists in the government in conspiracy with their business clients."  Data obtained from PEA revealed that the property was sold to Amari for P1.9 billion or P 1,200 pesos per square meter although the value of properties in adjacent areas were pegged at P90,000 per square meter. The Senate in its inquiry in 1998 found a paper trail representing commissions paid to certain PEA officials amounting to P1.7 billion.  Former President Ramos denied accusations that the PEA-Amari deal was clinched to benefit members of the ruling Lakas-NUCD as alleged by opposition groups. The Chiong Murders  The Chiong murder case is one of the most controversial rape-slay cases in the Philippines because of the amount of publicity it gained.  On July 17, 1997, sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong went missing. According to the prosecution, Jacqueline and Marijoy were waiting for a ride home when they were forced into a car at about 10 p.m. on July 16, 1997 at the Ayala Center Cebu.  According to the Chiong family, Marijoy and Jacqueline were brought to a house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, where they were raped. Then, they were transported to Carcar, where they were again raped. Two days later, Marijoy's

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body, bruised and raped, was found at the bottom of a ravine in Carcar. Jacqueline's remains are missing to this day.  For some reason, the prosecution identified Francisco “Paco” Larrañaga, as the mastermind of the crime. In 2004, Larrañaga, along with six other men, were convicted of raping and murdering the Chiong sisters.  But Larrañaga had an ironclad alibi: he was not in Cebu but in Quezon City the whole time, attending his classes in school. The school logs actually show his attendance, which was corroborated by his classmates and teachers. He even answered an exam.  Larrañaga holds dual citizenship as a Spanish-Filipino. He was extradited to for Spain in 2009, and has since sought help from the entire European Union for his case. Spain’s royal family appealed to the Philippines to admit a mistrial, while the Spanish government and the European Union lobbied for the Philippines to declare Larrañaga and his co-accused innocent.  Some people consider Paco Larrañaga lucky that he is a citizen of the powerful and influential European Union, but for the six of his co-accused, they remain in prison to this day. Hello Garci Scandal  "Hello Garci" refers to the alleged wiretapped conversations where vote rigging in the 2004 elections was discussed by, among others, a woman presumed to be President Arroyo and man presumed to be COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.  The controversy that nearly toppled the Arroyo administration started at the Palace, when Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye released CDs of the Hello Garci conversations on June 6, 2005. The revelation spawned House and Senate investigations, as well as calls for President Arroyo's resignation. The President was steadfast in her refusal to step down. She admitted talking to a COMELEC official during the canvassing period and apologized for her "lapse in judgment" in making such a call.  Garcillano's whereabouts became unknown after the Hello Garci CDs came out; there had been rumors that he slipped out of the country. He resurfaced more than five months later, admitting that he had conversed with President Arroyo during the canvassing period--after the votes had been counted. He denied that President Arroyo instructed him to cheat in the 2004 elections. He had since appeared in House hearings on the wiretapping controversy.  In the tape, exposed a year after the 2004 elections, Arroyo was heard asking Garcillano if she would still lead the count by more than 1 million. That 1 million she did get over her opponent, Fernando Poe Jr.  On Dec. 17, 2018, the Pasay City Regional Trial Court dismissed the very last case Arroyo was facing, for electoral sabotage — not even over the “Hello, Garci” case, but on charges that she ordered the manipulation of the 2007 senatorial race

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in Maguindanao to ensure a 12-0 administration victory. The court said the prosecution failed to prove Arroyo’s guilt. Maguindanao Massacre  On the morning of November 23, 2009, a group of people including 31 reporters accompanied the family of Esmael Mangudadatu, a rival of the Ampatuans, a powerful political clan, to witness the filing of his election papers for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Maguindanao, a province on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.  According to Reuters, “The convoy was attacked, leaving 57 dead in a massacre described by the International Crisis Group as “one of the worst acts of political violence in modern Philippine history, and the largest number of journalists slain on a single day ever, anywhere in the world.”  About 100 armed men ambushed the convoy of vehicles on a lonely stretch of highway and drove them to the top of a hill before killing them all. Several women were raped before they were killed. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the patriarch whose family ruled poor and troubled southern Maguindanao for nearly a decade and has close ties to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was charged with murder in February 2010, along with 196 others including his relatives, soldiers, police officers and members of a civilian militia.  The Maguindanao massacre is also known as the Ampatuan massacre after the town where the mass graves were found.  The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called the Maguindanao massacre the single deadliest event for journalists in history. At least 34 journalists are known to have died in the massacre. Bong Revilla Plunder Case  An anti-corruption court in the Philippines has acquitted movie star-turnedpolitician Ramon Revilla Jr. of plunder, the first verdict among several highprofile cases in the biggest corruption scandal to hit the country in the last decade.  Revilla's plunder case was part of a larger "pork barrel" scam involving another two former senators and several other congressmen who allegedly pocketed a total $189m.  The Sandiganbayan court convicted Revilla's aide Richard Cambe and his alleged co-conspirator Janet Lim-Napoles of the same crime.  It said the prosecution failed to prove that the former senator was "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" of conspiring with Cambe and Napoles to embezzle more than $4m of his "pork barrel" discretionary funds.  The court ordered Revilla to return the equivalent of $2.3m to the national treasury.  Revilla also faces corruption charges but with the resolution of his plunder case, he has been allowed to post bail and be released from jail. Mamasapano Clash

 The Mamasapano clash was an incident that occurred during a police operation, codenamed Oplan Exodus, which took place on Sunday, January 25, 2015, at Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao, by Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) (allegedly joined by United States Army Special Forces) against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The operation was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the BIFF.  The operation caught the attention of many for the relatively high number of police officers killed. The clash has been dubbed as the biggest loss of government elite force in history.  A total of 44 SAF personnel were killed during the encounter. #Fallen44 became a worldwide trend on social media site Twitter as an effort to honor the 44 slain SAF members. The SAF casualties were later dubbed as the Fallen 44. The incident saw one of the highest fatalities of government forces in a single peace time operation.  The two agencies that cooperated during the battle, the Philippine National Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed on Wednesday February 4, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. that Zulkifli Abdhir, also known as Marwan, was officially killed during the Mamasapano encounter, based on a matching DNA test.  Aquino’s failure—or refusal—to prevent the massacre of our elite troops in Mamasapano by Muslim rebels is the worst crime ever committed by a Philippine President.  Aquino had been told early that morning that troops of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) tasked with terminating an international terrorist were pinned down, and that its commander Getulio Napeñas, was pleading for his troops to be rescued. Yet Aquino did nothing the whole day. 10) De Lima Drug Case  Senator Leila De Lima was had a 3 charges against her regarding illegal drugs last 2017.  First Case- Branch 204 is handling Criminal Case Number 17-165, one count of violation of Section 5 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which penalizes the "sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of illegal drugs." According to the charge sheet, between November 2012 and March 2013, De Lima and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos allegedly extorted money from Bilibid inmates. According to the charge sheet, De Lima allegedly asked money from the inmates to fund her senatorial bid in 2016. The inmates, according to state prosecutors, traded and trafficked drugs inside prison and were able to produce P5 million in November 2012 and another P5 million in December 2012. The inmates are the same ones who testified against De Lima in a probe before the House of Representatives.

This combined P10 million, with the addition of P100,000 collected from the “tara” of each of the high-profile drug inmates in NBP, was allegedly given to De Lima through Ragos and De Lima’s former aide, Ronnie Dayan.  Second Case- The second count of drug trade, handled by Branch 206, was filed against De Lima; former BuCor chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu; Bucayu’s former staff, Wilfredo Elli; inmate Jaybee Sebastian; Dayan; De Lima’s former security aide, Joenel Sanchez; and a certain Jad de Vera. The charge sheet accused De Lima and Bucayu of tolerating the “widespread drug trade” inside the maximum security compound. This was from May 2013 to May 2015, according to the charge sheet. De Lima and Bucayu allegedly conspired with Elli, a former police; and Sanchez, who was a member of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) assigned to De Lima, to again extort money from unnamed inmates. This time, the inmates were able to allegedly produce P70 million, which was given to De Lima through Sebastian, Sanchez, and De Vera. Part of the money was also allegedly given to Bucayu through Elli. Bucayu and De Lima allegedly raided the maximum security compound after that, but spared Sebastian to allow him to have sole control of the drug trade.  Third Case- Criminal Case Number 17-166, handled by Branch 205, is another count of drug trade against De Lima and De Vera. De Lima and De Vera allegedly had influence over high-profile inmate Peter Co. As in the other two cases, De Lima allegedly extorted money from Co, who was able to produce P30 million and 4 vehicles which were given to De Lima through De Vera. This allegedly happened in March 2016.The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the drug charges against inmates Herbert Colanggo, Engelbert Durano, Vicente Sy, Jojo Baligad, and Peter Co because “they will be utilized as prosecution witnesses.” De Lima’s camp has filed motions to quash before the courts. Aside from the question of jurisdiction, which De Lima has also pleaded before the Court of Appeals (CA), the senator’s lawyers are arguing that the information does not constitute the crime of drug trade. In their motion, they said that if the allegations are true, De Lima’s participation only falls under Section 26 of the Dangerous Drugs Act which is attempt or conspiracy. De Lima's lawyer, Alexander Padilla, told Rappler that the charges of drug trade were intentional on the part of the DOJ to ensure that the charges will be non-bailable. Violators of Section 5 of the Dangerous Drugs Act face 12 years to life imprisonment. Under criminal procedures, "no person charged with an offense punishable by life imprisonment shall be admitted to bail regardless of the stage of the criminal prosecution."Padilla also questioned the filing of 3 separate complaints when they could have consolidated them into one to constitute drug trade. II. Historical Calamities and Disasters

1) Mayon Volcano Eruption  World renowned for its almost perfect cone shape, Mayon is the country’s most active volcano. Albay’s Daragang Magayon (Bicolano words for "beautiful lady") – is very temperamental. It has erupted nearly 50 times since its first recorded explosion in 1616. Those eruptions caused untold destruction and claimed many lives.  At 8am on February 1, 1814, began the most deadly recorded eruption of Mt Mayon, in which more than 1,200 people were killed.  After a number of seismic shocks, a thick column of stones, sand and ash shot high into the air. The sides of th...