Reoteres tried to stop around thirty people from drag racing along the boulevard last Saturday. But instead of following the traffic aide, the drag racers mauled Reoteres. The traffic aide sustained wounds in the head and back and had to be rushed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital for treatment.

Sheena Villena of the MMDA Traffic Discipline Office said the agency has yet to get a firm identification on the suspects. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino earlier said several witnesses have surfaced and claimed the suspects appear to belong to ‘rich’ families.

Meanwhile, Reoteres has been discharged from the hospital and resting at his home, Villena said.

Villena said the MMDA would continue to review footage from security cameras along the highway as well as interview other witnesses.

Tolentino has said that the latest incident highlights the need to arm the MMDA traffic enforcers.

Last year, an MMDA traffic aide was shot in San Juan while apprehending a traffic violator.

According to reports, unidentified men rushed the victim, Marvin Reglos, 25, to Unciano Medical Center in Antipolo City at around 3 p.m. The men, on board a red Honda City (WMF-174), immediately left after he was pronounced dead by emergency room doctors.

Reglos bore bruises all over his body. He also bore an injury on his nape, which police said, could have been the fatal blow.

Police arrested two suspicious-looking men who later arrived at the hospital and inquired about Reglos’ condition. Police identified them as Eric Castillo, 28, and Bodjie Yap, 24, both senior law students of San Sebastian College.

The two suspects are detained at the Antipolo police headquarters and charged with violation of the Anti-Hazing Law. Police seized the suspects’ mobile phones, which bore incriminating messages such as, “news blackout, don’t forget. Erase all messages on your phone regarding the initiation. Don’t answer if asked to name your officers,” and “nobody talks. That’s the order. Erase all messages ASAP, even this one. You must all obey” from a certain RJ Gregna.

When he died, Reglos was wearing a shirt with the words, “Lambda Rho Beta.” Chief Inspector Zaldy Aquino, deputy head of the Antipolo police, said they are verifying information given by an anonymous caller who named three Lambda Rho Beta members responsible for Reglos’ death.

The hazing supposedly happened last weekend at Guillen Private Resort in Barangay San Roque. Police said the resort’s security guard positively identified the two suspects as among those seen at the resort during that period.

The love story of Noel Orate Sr. and former Quezon City Rep. Nanette Castelo-Daza is one.

Orate died from gunshot wounds in the Daza residence in Quezon City last Friday (February 10). The shooter is Daza’s son-in-law, Allan Robes.

The circumstances of Orate’s death is replete with controversies, one that could provide a storyline for a suspense-drama-mystery movie.

SPO1 Joselito Gagaza said the incident took place past 11 p.m. inside Daza’s house at 51 Maningning St., Barangay Teacher’s Village East.

Supt. Rodelio Marcelo of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit head said Daza asked for police assistance at 10:45 p.m. due to an ongoing commotion at her house.

Responding policemen Sr. Insp. Gloriano Manalo and PO2 Wenzel Nojor of station 9 came and heard successive gunshots as they approached the house.

The two policemen said they saw the suspect, who later turned out to be Allan Robes, coming out of the house holding a gun.

Robes, a board member of San Jose del Monte City and husband of councilor Jessica Daza, immediately dropped the gun upon seeing the police. He immediately surrendered.

The people in the house at the time were Daza, her son, Robes, his wife Jessica and the housemaids.

In an interview, Daza said Orate Sr. tried to take them all hostage and if not for Robes, all of them would have been dead. Robes has undergone inquest for homicide charges.

Daza said she already broke up with Orate last January 18. And on that fateful Friday night, Orate arrived at her residence, demanding a reconciliation. According to her, a drunk Orate threatened to kill her family if she didn’t take him back.

In a separate press conference, her daughter Jessica Daza-Robes, who is seven months pregnant said her husband had to do what he had to do. She said a drunk Orate arrived with a gun.

Lawyer Alfredo Villamor, Daza’s counsel said Robes simply wanted to protect his wife, their unborn child, and his mother-in-law.

In a statement, the Daza camp said there were reports that Orate was drinking with friends in a Quezon City tennis court and was reportedly feeling depressed over his break-up when he decided to proceed to Daza’s house that night.

The statement said that once at Daza’s house, Orate reportedly engaged Daza in a heated argument. At the height of the discussion, Orate was said to have herded Daza, her daughter, and son-in-law in one of the rooms. He then pulled out his gun, threatening to kill them one by one before shooting himself.

Unknown to Orate, Robes had a gun of his own, which was placed in his pant’s pocket. “Dito na matatapos ito. Headline tayo bukas,” Orate reportedly said. When Orate raised his hand with the gun, Robes immediately grabbed it and a violent scuffle between the two ensued. Moments later, shots were fired from Robes gun sending Orate down the floor bloodied.

Orate’s son Noel Jr. however claimed it was his father who had ended the relationship and that Daza was the one who summoned his father Friday night.

Orate Jr.’s lawyer, Eduardo Bringas noted that the victim’s body was facing the floor when he died. He said this indicted that the victim was killed from behind. He added that three of the shots were to the victim’s heart, which he claimed showed that the suspect “made sure” that the victim would die.

Orate Jr. maintained that Robes should have been charged with murder and not homicide. He noted that if it was an act of self-defense, his father should not have been shot repeatedly in the chest. He also doubted that his father was drunk that night, noting that the victim’s vehicle was properly parked outside the Daza residence.

Orate Jr. also claimed that Daza had called up his grandparents in the United States, telling them that their son had committed suicide.

Last Sunday (February 19), the remains of Orate were laid to rest. Noel Jr., who said he’s a dead ringer for his father, vowed to fight for justice. In his Facebook post, Noel Jr. said no amount of words can explain the pain of losing his father.

“I’ve been used to seeing you everyday, having a brief chat in the evening after you arrive home, and half awake watch you have coffee and read the paper every morning at 6am.”

“I love you so much papa and we will fight for your justice no matter what. And to all our family and friends who’ve shown their support, I am forever thankful,” Noel Jr. said.

From Arlington Memorial Chapel in Araneta Avenue in Quezon City, the remains of Orate Sr. were taken to Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City. At one point, the funeral procession stopped in front of Daza’s house on Maningning Street in Teacher’s Village.

Orate’s family, their relatives and some of their friends alighted from vehicles and shook the gate of Daza’s house.

They also dropped some flowers in front of the house, before getting back into their vehicles.

Whether he was killed in self-defense or not, love proved tragic for Orate.

Thirty-seven-year-old Antonina Labing was found dead along a grassy area beside the Provincial Road in Barangay Nanhaya in Victoria around 6:40 a.m. The victim is a resident of Barangay San Roque in Victoria.

Laguna Provincial Director Gilbert Cruz said that Labing may have been killed after fighting off the robber.

Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said witnesses saw Labing onboard a tricycle on her way to school before she was killed. Police are now hunting the tricycle driver who is the primary suspect.

This is the gist of unconfirmed reports based on a newspaper column by former Arroyo spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao

According to Tiglao’s column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the impeachment trial is a power game that has nothing to do with an anti-corruption crusade but, in fact, a way for Mar Roxas to win his Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) complaint against Binay.

Tiglao said that as startling as the claim may seem, the facts supporting it are unassailable. He noted that Roxas filed an electoral protest in July 2010 with the PET alleging massive cheating by Binay.

In the electoral protest, Roxas alleged that Binay’s lead over him of 730,000 votes would have been wiped out and he would have won by a landslide if the optical-scan counting machines had not voided 3 million of his votes.  Tiglao said the PET has already secured the ballots in the areas where Roxas claims he was cheated, and its pre-hearing investigations are underway.

Tiglao said the PET, many have forgotten, is the Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Corona. “If Aquino gets to control the high court, which he will if Corona is taken out, and with the rest of the justices frightened either by the prospect of their own impeachment or media demonization, he controls the PET, which would fast-track Roxas’ protest, declare him the winner, and proclaim him the Republic’s vice president,” he said.

Tiglao said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, assisted by a new member of the Commission on Audit, would hurl a flurry of graft cases against Binay to demonize him. Tiglao noted that Morales is a cousin of Justice Antonio Carpio, and the law firm he founded, now the Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco, is also Roxas’ counsel for his electoral protest.

Tiglao noted that recent impeachment of Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo “bolsters fears that the regime can browbeat justices to submission.” The former Arroyo spokesperson said that despite Corona’s ongoing trial, the House of Representatives’ justice committee still rushed Del Castillo’s impeachment February 7. “Two days later, the embattled Del Castillo voted with Carpio and with Aquino’s three appointees – Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Bienvenido Reyes and Estela Perlas-Bernabe – for the Senate to scrutinize Corona’s dollar accounts,” he said.

Tiglao noted that four Liberal Party senators unabashedly want to prove Corona guilty, even assisting bungling prosecutors.

Tiglao said the people in the campaign to take out Corona are all from the Liberal Party production — from party chairman Aquino to vice chairman Franklin Drilon who has been accused of practically being a prosecutor in the trial, to executive vice president Feliciano Belmonte, speaker of the House of Representatives that filed the complaint, to Niel Tupas Jr. head of the prosecution panel, down to the prosecutors’ belligerent spokespersons.

“This is not because of the party’s servility to Aquino, but because its future depends entirely on party president Roxas becoming vice president soon, which will be his jumping board for the 2016 presidency,” Tiglao said.

According to PNP Spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. said crime records culled by the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) showed a sharp decline in index crime cases recorded in January 2012.

Index crime incidents dipped 20.01% from the 14,227 cases in January 2011 to 11,379 cases in January 2012.

Cruz explained that index crime cases are valid indicators of the prevailing crime situation. Index crimes include crime against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injuries and rape; and crime against property such as robbery, theft, carnapping and cattle rustling.

The crime trend in January 2012 showed similar double-digit decline in crime against persons and crime against property compared with the previous year’s record for the same month.

Cruz said if the January crime trend is an indication of things to come in the months ahead, then we can certainly look forward to an improved peace and order situation towards the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, the PNP’s Crime Solution Efficiency in January 2012 rose 28.02% indicating better police performance in solving crime cases.

Cruz said that even with this noteworthy crime solution record, the PNP leadership believes that police operations must be focused more on crime prevention mainly thru increased police visibility and patrol operations.

Cruz added that contrary to opinionated perceptions of a crime wave sweeping the country as highlighted by some sensationalized reports of isolated incidents of heinous crime–factual and verifiable records in the form of crime statistics say otherwise.

“Crime is not a runaway problem because the criminal justice system is fully functional and certainty of punishment has been fully established as an effective deterrent to crime,” Cruz said.

In a report to CIDG Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr., Police Senior Superintendent Generoso Bonifacio, the CIDG chief of Region 9, identified the suspect as Abdulhan Ussih alias Jeron, 28, a resident of Vajada Meramar, Sinunoc, Zamboanga City.

Pagdilao Jr. said Ussih is the third Abu Sayyaf terrorist who fell into the hands of the joint PNP-CIDG-AFP operating units following the arrest of Harun Jaljalis alias Abu Indal in Basilan last January 26 and Sonny Bakim Barahim alias Abu Ismael of Isabela City, Basilan last January 17.

Ussih, also known as the “Black Tungkang”, was arrested by joint elements of 9RCIDG, 3rd Air Division of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), and members of local police inside the Zamboanga Public Market around 6 p.m. by virtue of an arrest warrant for six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention. He was a sub-commander of Abu Sayyaf Group leader Radulan Sahiron alias Putol in Sulu.

Bonifacio said that Ussih served as the liaison of the terrorist group to those who provided them with food supplies. He added that Ussih was involved in the infamous Sipadan, Malaysia kidnapping incident as well as the succeeding series of kidnapping activities of the Abu Sayyaf from 2001 to 2003.

Bonifacio added that Ussih is marked as number 11 in the list of most wanted persons for national level category and has a bounty of P3.3-million for his arrest by virtue of the Joint Order of the Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local Government number 15-2011.

Bonifacio further said that Ussih is currently engaged in the buy and sell of fish and other marine products in Zamboanga public market. However, Bonifacio added that they are still looking into the report that Ussih and his group is up to another terrorist plot and that he was just using his business to cover the real purpose of his presence in Zamboanga.

Ussih, who was positively identified by one the Abu Sayyaf victims, is now under the custody of the CIDG in Zamboanga City.

Aquino did not heed the appeal of some senator-judges for him and Corona to stop their word war and let the Senate, which is sitting as an impeachment court, handle the trial.

“I think I am within my right to express my opinion…I speak for a sizeable number of our people, ‘di ba, that’s the essence of a democracy eh…A democracy is the majority deciding for everybody and you cannot decide properly if there is no discourse within the contending sides in any issue,” Aquino said in an interview in Baler, Quezon province.

“So to keep quiet about the whole thing is I think wrong. Time to time, I reserve my right to be able to say what I believe should be said to the people,” he said.

He said he would respond to Corona’s tirades, “If there is a need.”

Aquino also said his pronouncements “are not directed at Corona personally, but at the system of which he is the personification.”

“Siya ‘yung mukha ng pinaglalaban natin dito na dapat iayos ang sistema ng hudikatura sa bansa,” he added.

Responding to Corona’s call to open his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALN) and psychological records, Aquino said he has nothing to hide.

He said his SALN has been made public since he was elected as a congressman in 1998. He said he never placed it under lock and key.

“So ano ang bubuksan ko? Kung hindi siya nagbabasa dyaryo, nanonood ng TV, nakikinig ng radyo hindi ko na po siguro kasalanan ‘yon. Mayroon naman siyang sapat na kakayahan para bumili ng dyaryo o manood ng TV, ‘di ho ba?” he asked.

Aquino said the issue on his psychological records was raised during the 2010 presidential campaign. He said the first person who spoke about his so-called psychological profile then was a priest, who denied making a psychological evaluation on him.

He said the second so-called authority, an old Ateneo professor, also denied making a psychological report. He said the third person who was identified as allegedly questioning his psychological fitness was a doctor who knew his family when they were living in Boston.

“By the time nilabas ho ‘yung istorya, patay na po ‘yung doktor. Para siguradong hindi na sila kontrahin, naghanap sila ng patay na tao. Ganyan po ang klase ng mga kalaban natin,” he added.

Coming out of the 25^th Formal Exploratory Talks in Kuala Lumpur, Leonon Wednesday (February 15) said, “the peace process with the MILF has moved forward.”

“Now, we have moved at least a few feet,“ Leonen said. “The day will come, I hope very, very soon that we will be able to sign a peace agreement.”

Both parties reported that the 25th Formal Exploratory Talks have been “difficult.” MILF peace panel chair Mohager Iqbal said that the talks “have been very emotional because it affects the collective future of our people.”

But Leonen emphasized that the challenges are not equal to impossibility. “We always believe that it is always possible to find solutions to a problem, review it, adjust, and later on achieve the kind of peace that is permanent, that is founded on justice for all that are concerned on the ground.”

In a joint statement released after the talks, both parties expressed “satisfaction on the progress of their discussions, and recognizing the many challenges that have yet to be resolved in order to find a political solution to the Bangsamoro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao.”

“The Parties acknowledge the need to explore creative approaches that will address the political, legal and other dimensions of the problems,” it said.

The next round of formal talks is scheduled in March 2012.

Both parties have renewed for another year the mandate of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), a mechanism of both the government and the MILF that seeks to interdict and isolate lawless elements that take refuge in or near MILF communities.

Likewise, both sides carefully considered reports on the ground of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), which monitors the implementation of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the two parties. The IMT is composed of delegations from Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, Libya, European Union, and Norway.

The 25th round of exploratory talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ended today with both sides expressing satisfaction on the progress of their discussions, and recognizing the many challenges that have yet to be resolved in order to find a political solution to the Bangsamoro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao.

The Asset Protection Lecture Series that will be held on 18-20 April 2012 at The Bayleaf Intramuros guarantees the participants’ exposure to formal education on several body of knowledge of the protection profession. The various subjects will prepare the participants for higher-level responsibilities and enhance their confidence. For other practitioners, this serves as a refresher course.

The APLS is also designed as a review course for those aspiring to become Certified Protection Professional (CPP) of ASIS International. (www.asisonline.org). The CPP designation is recognized as the highest global distinction for the security professionals today. To become a CPP, one must demonstrate in-depth knowledge and management skills in providing advanced security solutions. To check if one is qualified to take the CPP exams, check out http://www.asisonline.org/certification/cpp/steps/eligibility.xml.

Those who are not yet qualified for CPP will benefit from the lectures from the country’s CPPs who can give insights based on best business practices of multinational companies, government, and other private and public institutions using the materials prepared by Ace And Associates Risk Management, Inc. and ASIS International – Philippine Chapter.

There are other review courses offered by ASIS International in Singapore, US (Colorado, Texas, Philadelphia), and Vancouver. To know more of these courses, visit http://www.asis-singapore.org.sg/Media/CPP/CPP_Review_2012.pdf or https://www.asisonline.org/store/calendar.xml#02

Who Should Attend:

The Asset Protection Lecture Series is primarily designed for CPP candidates. Others who may find the program useful include security practitioners who want to review fundamental concepts of security, managers who have recently assumed security responsibilities, and individuals seeking more information about the security industry.

How You Will Benefit:

1. Strengthen your understanding in the key concepts and practices of security management. Gain valuable insights on how to apply your knowledge to the exam.
2. Evaluate your level of knowledge and assess your skills. Identify areas of strength and those areas that may require additional preparation.
3. Take practice tests and get feedback on your answers. The questions are similar to those you may expect to encounter on the actual exam.
4. Build relationships and share study tips with others who are also preparing for the exam.
5. Learn proven test-taking strategies to help improve your performance on the exam. Leave with handouts useful in developing your own study plan.

Lecture Modules:

Security Principles and Practices
Business Principles and Practices
Personal Security
Physical Security
Information Security
Emergency Practices
Investigations

To download the registration forms, please click here APLS Registration form