Political Cartoon

Gov’t brass caught betting in a cockfight

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

“Huwag na daw nating pag –usapan iyon (We will not discuss it),” my radio tandem Harold Barcelona, who was already on air for two minutes with the traffic chief, blurted out when I entered the radio booth of DZRD 981 Sonshine Radio.

“Huwag na nating pag usapan” means we would not discuss on air the photos of Carlito Ocampo, Dagupan City’s traffic chief, who went viral at social media Face Book after he was pictured releasing his fighting cock in a cockpit arena in the City.

“Why would we not discuss it? It’s the big talk of the town and that’s what people want to know why the Public Order & Safety Office (POSO) chief was inside the arena’s glass wall covered platform preparing to release his cock, er, rooster to duke out with its opponent by slashing each other with their “Blade of Gory”. Besides, there was nothing illegal there since Ocampo was inside the cockpit in that weekend,” I countered.

Before the second half of the program and with some seven minutes commercial break, Ocampo, a retired policeman, acquiesced to my prodding to go public and explained that the picture taken by an elected barangay official a certain Village Kagawad Decano,who was identified with the mayor’s rival, took the photos on November 19 a Saturday.

“How about the two POSO enforcers who were seen escorting Ocampo inside?” Harold posed.

“If they were there inside to inform Ocampo of a pressing problem and they did not bet, there was no irregularity there,” I retorted.

Ocampo, who was probably enlightened about my argumentation, warmed and heated up and prepared himself for a tit-for-tat of with his critics who relished demonizing him at radio and social media when he was seen inside the “bulangngan”.

He said it was not true that it was taken last December 7, a Wednesday.

“You go to the OSSBC (One-Stop-Shop Business Center), you can see there that the Tapuac Cockpit Arena opens only every weekend".

He said he was a cock fighting aficionado since he was a policeman.

The small amount he bet, he explained, came from the hard earning he got from his security agency.

“Mga ilan ang security guards niyo all over Region-1?” Harold posed.

“Mga 400,” Ocampo answered

“So kumikita pala si Kuya Lito (Ocampo) ng more or less P800,000 a month,” I mentally calculated at P2000  per guard and quipped.

“Kinsenas lang iyon,” Harold, who was poor in math, butted in.

“Hinde naman!” Ocampo coyly denied.

Ocampo said he was willing to be investigated by anybody where they could include his cockpit days when he was a policeman.

“Why make a big fuss on this, you go to the cockpit every weekend and you can see elected officials bet there for their favorite cocks,” he emphatically argued.

“Pati iyong nag picture elected government official, kasama ko ring nagsasabung,” he added.

“In pari delicto (in equal fault) pala kayong dalawa,” I blurted out with amusement.

“Saan nabibili iyang “In pare delicto”, kasamang Mortz?” Harold asked me again.

“Sa Quiapo” I told him to the amusement of Ocampo.

Ocampo told his detractors that in case he would be sacked from his post at POSO “hinde  ko iiyakan iyan, magpapa-inum pa ako!”

He said he accepted the thankless job at the traffic office because it was “pay – back time” to the mayor who played a significant part of his burgeoning business.

***

Are government officials like Ocampo allowed to gamble during weekends?

Political Cartoon

Insatiable greed of Filipinos

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

If Senator Leila de Lima cited “human frailties” in committing the criminal case of concubinage when she had illicit relationship with her married driver, “human frailties” could be cited why government officials commit corruption, a malady since time immemorial.

If dangerous drug pushers mended their ways and avoid narcotics because they are being assassinated, I think assassination would be the deterrence for government officials to shun corruption.

BRIBERY.Bureau of Immigration officials Al Argosino and Mike Robles hold P30 million out of the
 P50-million alleged bribe money from  Gambling TycoonJack Lam on Tuesday, December 13, 2016
16 days after they received it in a restaurant last November 27, 2016. PHOTO CREDIT: mb.com.ph

Remember two top officials in the executive branch were ambushed to death recently.

How many government officials would die in assassination because of their insatiable greed to pocket public funds?

***

Son of a gun, the axiom in Filipino “Ang kapwa magnanakaw ay galit sa kapwa magnanakaw” has a grain of truth among beleaguered officials of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) who were accused by their briber to have received P50 million.

Retired police colonel Wally Sombero said he gave P50 million to BI Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles in exchanged of the release of the 600 of the 1,316 Chinese nationals detained at the BI.

 These chinks worked at the 300-hectare Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga of gambling tycoon Jack Lam without working permits for aliens.

The P50 million pay- off was recorded by the security cameras at the second floor and the cameras set up by the men of BI Intelligence Chief  Charles Calima at the parking lot of the of City of Dreams in Paranaque.

Calima, a former police general did not trust Argosino and Robles in the transaction, thus he did not only video recorded them in the consummation of the crime, but even attached an audio recording inside the dress of Sombero, a retired police colonel.

One of the paper bags, reports said, that contained the ten million pesos “exploded” due to the weight of the bills inside.

 BI Intelligence Chief Calima was dragged on this bribery scandal because he told the duo that their transaction with Sombero was recorded. To keep the act from exploding before the public, Argosino and Robles gave P18 million to Calima while P2 million went to Colonel Sombero.

Why a Leila, not a Rody, serves more jail time

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 When I was in a huddle with some politicians in a recent government function, I eavesdropped on the conversation between a lawyer and his lawyer-son regarding my recent column titled “The Immoral Senator De Lima”.

I wrote there that the controversial and hated lady senator could not be sued by the People of the Philippines because her offense of concubinage was a private crime.

It means it was only Norlyn Magalanes Dayan, the wife of De Lima’s paramour her driver Ronnie, who could sue her with that criminal case and no other person or institution.

“Are concubinage and adultery supposed to be public crime?” the lawyer asked his son.

“No, it’s only rape”.

When I bumped into fellow radio commentator Ruel Camba, I told him about the lawyers and that private crime.

“Ina-antay ko lang i correct ako ng old lawyer that concubinage is not a private crime, e ni researched ko iyong anak ng bakang column ko na iyon,” I told Ruel with a funny bravado.

“This is the first time I heard about private crime, I thought all crimes are public,” he excitedly quipped.
"No, it's just like toilets, may private toilet may public toilet din," I sheepishly retorted.

Private crime, to the uninitiated who read this blog, is an offense which cannot be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the aggrieved party (batasnatin.com).

 Do you know that a reader, a niece of a congressman, of my blog reacted on that same column?

COP faces mendicancy problems in former narco haven

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – After he transformed an infamous “sitio” from haven of narcotics peddlers, the chief of police here faces a growing problem of mendicancy and prostitution among the people there.

Beggars in the Philippines. Photo Credit: ABS-CBN

“The guy who used to peddle shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and earned two thousand pesos per day could be seen begging the chief of police for a bowl of rice to feed their families,” a police officer who asked anonymity told Northern Watch Newspaper.

Superintendent Neil Miro, this City’s chief of police (COP), said that even the wives of these former peddlers succumbed into prostitution to meet economic end.

“During the heyday of the illegal trade at Sitio Aling, you can even see bystanders there with toy dog breed’s Shih Tzu. Where did they get the monies in buying and feeding those pets?” the same police source posed.
Miro said that to mitigate the impact of unemployment, he already talked with friends in  the construction business in Manila and Pampanga to employ the jobless males in Aling.

Shame on you, Senator Leila!

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

My radio tandem Harold asked me the difference between promiscuous Senator Leila de Lima and West Point graduate Captain Elisabeth Campbell in the movie “General’s Daughter”.

ME: Campbell allowed herself to be screwed by Captains, Majors, Colonels while De Lima allowed herself to be bonked by security guards like Ronnie, Jomel, Warren, and whatchamacallit!

***

Senator Leila de Lima lamented recently the outcome of the probe of the House of Representatives: "As a woman, it breaks my heart that my private life and personal relationship (to her body guards) has become subject of the public and Congress' ridicule."

What a nerved for her to say that.

She acquiesced early this month her “illicit” relationship with a married driver and body guard at Winnie Monsod’s TV talk show at GMA-7.