FREE MY DAD

Senator Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada walks past a poster of demanding freedom for his father, former president Joseph Estrada, after a press conference assailing full page newspaper ads that the opposition said aim to condition people’s minds to a guilty verdict on the plunder case against the deposed leader. INQUIRER/REM ZAMORA

Arroyo OKs dismissal of 54 Oakwood mutineers

Court-martial verdict upheld

By Christine Avendaño
Inquirer
Last updated 04:22am (Mla time) 07/05/2007

MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved the dismissal of 54 junior military officers implicated in the failed July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the military said Wednesday.

 

“(The President’s approval) manifests that justice had been served and that the military justice system is fair and reasonable as it is harsh,” military spokesperson Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.

 

“Military adventurism has no place in a democratic society, it will not be tolerated and that disciplinary action will in all cases be clear, swift and decisive,” he said.

 

The 54 officers will be dishonorably discharged from the military, with no benefits, when they complete their imprisonment in January, Bacarro said.

 

A military court-martial had earlier recommended the dishonorable discharge from the military service of the 54 renegade officers.

 

Bacarro said President Arroyo approved last June 12 the verdict handed down by the general court-martial presided by Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Legaspi.

 

The 54 officers made a plea bargain agreement with a court-martial last April, resulting in a reduction of their jail term from seven to four years. They have been in custody since the mutiny and the detention will count as time served.

 

The junior officers are scheduled to be released at noon of Jan. 27, 2008.

 

“We can see that there is an admission of guilt on the part of the non-core group,” Bacarro said, in explaining the implication of the move taken by the 54 junior officers to enter into a plea bargain agreement.

 

“They pleaded guilty that they are part of the Magdalo group and this will have big implications to the core group,” he said.

 

The 54 junior officers were among 300 Magdalo soldiers who took over the posh Oakwood Premier serviced apartments and a nearby shopping center in Makati’s financial district in July 2003, rigging the area with bombs and demanding Ms Arroyo’s resignation.

 

They denounced government and military corruption, but were accused of staging a failed coup. They surrendered after the daylong uprising.

 

During plea bargaining in the Oakwood case, the 54 officers agreed to withdraw their previous pleas of not guilty to several charges, including mutiny and sedition. They also pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of military misconduct.

 

The deal was approved by the court-martial, which handed them the reduced jail term of four years and dishonorable discharge without benefits.

 

Among the leaders of the failed mutiny were former Navy lieutenant and now Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Capt. Gerardo Gambala and Capt. Milo Maestrocampo. But these leaders were not among the 54 junior military officers who were ordered dishonorably discharged from the service.

 

Trillanes, who has since left the military service to run for a Senate seat in May, did not join the plea bargaining and remains in a military jail, fighting coup charges in civilian and military courts. He has asked for permission to attend Senate sessions, but there has been no court ruling yet.

 

Trillanes and 28 other junior military officers who are said to be the core group of the Magdalo were tried separately from the 61 junior military officers, which included the 54.

 

Bacarro said the general court-martial will continue hearing the case of the seven who did not join their 54 colleagues in reversing their original plea of not guilty.

 

He said the seven would still face the original charges of the five Articles of War. These include violation of Articles of War 63 (disrespect toward the President, Vice President, Congress or the Secretary of National Defense), 64 (disrespect toward a superior officer), 67 (mutiny or sedition), 96 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman) and 97 (conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline).

 

Another co-accused in the 2003 mutiny, former Army colonel Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, also won a Senate seat. The Department of Justice dropped a coup charge against him after he recently made peace overtures to Arroyo.

SC upholds 20% discount for elderly

By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 01:56am (Mla time) 07/05/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Saying public good can prevail over the right to property, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition questioning the constitutionality of a provision in the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003 giving persons aged 60 and older a 20-percent discount in purchasing medicines and paying for certain services.

 

In turning down the petition of a number of drugstore owners to nullify the provision on grounds of financial losses, the high court said there was no proof that the provision had been arbitrarily issued and would oppress their business operations.

 

“Moreover, the right to property has a social dimension. While Article XIII of the Constitution provides the precept for the protection of property, various laws and jurisprudence, particularly on agrarian reform and the regulation of contracts and public utilities, continuously serve as a reminder that the right to property can be relinquished upon the command of the State for the promotion of public good,” the high court said in a June 29 en banc decision.

 

The petition was filed by Carlos Superdrug Corp., Elsie Cano of Advance Drug, Dr. Simplicio Yap of City Pharmacy, Melvin dela Serna of Botica dela Serna and Leyte Serv-Well Corp., who said, among others, that the tax deductions they could claim for giving discounts to senior citizens did not fully reimburse them.

 

‘Confiscatory’

 

The drugstore owners said the provision in the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (or Republic Act No. 9257) was confiscatory in light of the constitutional provision stating that private property could not be taken for public use without just compensation.

 

They also said the provision deprived them of property without due process and violated the constitutional guarantee making essential goods and health services available to all people.

 

The drugstore owners said they were losing profit and capital because they imposed a markup of only 5 to 10 percent on branded medicines, and because the law did not provide a scheme where they could be justly compensated for the discounts.

 

The tax-deduction scheme, based on an opinion of the Department of Finance, does not afford drugstores full reimbursement because the discount is treated as a tax-deductible expense subtracted from the gross income.

 

Noted the high court: “Being a tax deduction, the discount does not reduce taxes owed on a peso for peso basis but merely offers a fractional reduction in taxes owed.”

 

Theoretically, it said, this reduced the net income of the drugstore owners.

 

But it pointed out that the law was intended to grant senior citizens benefits and privileges to improve their well-being and maximize their contribution to improving society.

 

Police power

 

The tribunal said it recognized that the pharmaceutical industry was a business. But it added that in exercising its police power, the State could step in and ask business operators to partly subsidize a government program to promote the welfare of senior citizens.

 

The Constitution itself also states that the government should improve the welfare of senior citizens, it said.

 

“While the Constitution protects property rights, petitioners must accept the realities of business, and the State, in the exercise of police power, can intervene in the operations of a business which may result in an impairment of property rights in the process,” it said, adding:

 

“The law is a legitimate exercise of police power which, similar to the power of eminent domain, has general welfare for its object.

 

“For this reason, when the conditions so demand as determined by the legislature, property rights must bow to the primacy of police power because property rights, though sheltered by due process, must yield to general welfare.”

 

Invalidating the law on the 20-percent discount just because drugstores lose earnings will also “dilute” the use of police power to promote the common good, the tribunal further said.

 

Computation

 

According to the high court, the drugstore owners also failed to come up with a financial report to show that the tax-deduction scheme had put them at a disadvantage.

 

It said that while the computation presented by the drugstore owners tried to show losses based on a per-transaction basis, this would not hold because it was an income statement that would accurately reflect the discount’s effect on their income.

 

“In addition, the computation was erroneously based on the assumption that their customers consisted wholly of senior citizens,” it added.

 

The tribunal also said the drugstore owners could not use as an argument against the law their inability to raise the prices of their medicines because of the tight competition in the industry.

 

“It is a business decision on the part of petitioners to peg the markup at 5 percent. Selling the medicines below acquisition cost, as alleged by petitioners, is merely a result of this decision,” it said.

Ex-Inquirer reporter did not post bail, court records show

By Jeannette Andrade
Inquirer
Last updated 05:32am (Mla time) 06/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine Daily Inquirer provincial correspondent Jofelle Tesorio did not post bail, contrary to earlier reports, and that was why she was detained for 10 hours last week, court records showed.

 

Tesorio, facing libel charges filed by a Palawan congressman four years ago, could have avoided detention to the Quezon City Female Dormitory had she posted bail immediately after receiving an order early this year revoking her bail bond, said court staffers who showed the Philippine Daily Inquirer the records.

 

The records of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 under Judge Maria Teresa Yadao showed that on Dec. 13, the judge issued an arrest warrant for Tesorio, who had failed to appear at the hearing scheduled that day, and revoked her P10,000 bond. The bond was doubled.

 

Tesorio, who now works for Asia News Network in Thailand, filed a motion for reconsideration of the order, explaining that she was unable to attend the hearing because she was in Hong Kong for a series of lectures. She attached her plane tickets, which indicated the date of her departure from the country on Dec. 9 and her return on Dec. 18.

 

She told the court, through her lawyer, that she attempted to catch a plane back to the country in time for the hearing but all flights were fully booked.

 

The judge denied the motion for lack of merit on Jan. 29 because the plane ticket itself indicated that the accused had no intention of returning to the country for the Dec. 13 hearing.

 

During the June 21 hearing, it was learned that Tesorio did not post the P20,000 bail.

 

“She could have posted bail at any time between January 29 and June 21 but she did not. It is part of court procedure to order the commitment of a person who had not yet posted bail,” a staff member of Branch 81, who requested anonymity, explained.

 

Technically, Tesorio’s bail had not yet been posted when the judge issued the commitment order, she added.

Abducted militant faces rebellion raps

By Jeoffrey Maitem
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 09:25pm (Mla time) 06/30/2007

KORONADAL CITY — A militant leader, who was abducted but later freed by people he identified as government agents, faces rebellion charges, an official of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Saturday.

 

Supt. Henry Dazo, CIDG chief in South Cotabato, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, that provincial prosecutor Alfredo Odi has acted on the rebellion charges they filed against Gilbert Rey Cardiño, chairman of the Bayan Muna in the province.

 

Dazo said that the charges against Cardiño were filed as early as last year, long before the militant leader was abducted and eventually released.

 

Cardiño, 27, was on his way to the Bayan Muna office here when abducted by van-riding gunmen around 11 in the morning of June 6 in Barangay Sto. Niño.

 

He was released by his captors after more than 24 hours in captivity “somewhere in Davao.”

 

Cardiño later said his captors tortured him into confessing he is a member of the communist movement.

 

He said they later told him he should spy on other militants.

 

Cardiño said he was forced to sign a document indicating that he accepted the job.

 

Cardiño also claimed that his captors, “who were from the region (regional police office)” threatened to harm him and his family if he refused.

 

Dazo said the rebellion charges had nothing to do with Cardiño’s claim.

 

“The case was filed in November last year prior to his alleged abduction,” he said.

 

Dazo said the charges were the result of “an inter-agency probe” of Cardiño’s activities.

 

“He [Cardiño] surrendered as member of New People’s Army before,” Dazo said.

 

Dazo said Cardiño was only being made to explain about the charges now because of the delay in the action of the fiscal’s office.

 

“Because of so many cases they are attending to, there was delay in the legal action against him. In fact, the fiscal holding the case last year, has already retired from the government service,” he said.

 

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said she had no idea that Cardiño faced rebellion charges.

 

“That’s what others are saying. But we have not been able to verify it because we are busy in the preparation for mass oath-taking of elected officials. Hopefully, next week, we can extract information,” she said.

 

When the Inquirer told her the CIDG has already confirmed the filing of the charges, she said: “Unlike the police, the CIDG is directly reporting to Manila.”

 

Lito Campo, media relations officer of Bayan Muna Southern Mindanao, said Dazo’s claim about Cardiño’s supposed link with the underground movement was trumped up.

 

“It’s a big lie. I personally know Cardiño. He is not an NPA,” Campo said.

 

But Dazo said all Cardiño has to do is to submit evidence he is not a rebel.

 

“Once Cardiño submits his counter-affidavit, the fiscal will examine if there is probable cause in issuing an arrest warrant against him,” he said.

Maid charged with slaying of German, wife

By Kit Bagaipo
Inquirer
Last updated 06:20am (Mla time) 06/30/2007

TAGBILARAN CITY—The Bohol provincial prosecutor found “sufficient evidence” against a housemaid charged with the murder of a German national and his wife in April.

 

Provincial Prosecutor Macario Delusa, in his resolution promulgated Thursday, found that housemaid Virginia Saluta “participated principally” in the killing of couple Helmut and Eutiquia Malinka.

 

However, Delusa noted that the crime was allegedly committed by Saluta with “still unidentified conspirators.”

 

The provincial prosecutor’s resolution was based on the complaint for double homicide and robbery filed by the Bohol provincial police against Saluta, the house help of the slain Malinka couple.

 

The Malinka couple was found murdered in their residence in Barangay Laya, Baclayon town, early morning on April 13.

Immoral’ ex-clerk of court fined, barred from gov’t

By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 02:21am (Mla time) 06/30/2007

MANILA, Philippines—A former Court of Appeals clerk of court found to have been carrying on a “scandalous” affair with a married co-worker for five years has been barred from serving in all government branches and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to one year of his salary.

 

The Supreme Court, which found former Division Clerk of Court Antolin Dabon Jr. guilty of gross immoral conduct and of violating an administrative rule, said the accused also used his position to “harass” his former paramour when she tried to break off the relationship.

 

Dabon should also have been dismissed from service had he not resigned before the case against him was decided, according to the high tribunal. It upheld the findings of the investigating justice but increased the penalty that was originally recommended.

 

The complaint against Dabon was filed by Nelson Valdez, whose wife Sonia, a court stenographer, had an affair with the clerk of court from November 2000 to March 2006.
Scandalous circumstances

 

“There is no dispute that respondent engaged in an unlawful, dishonest and immoral conduct. The illicit relationship which spanned a period of five years was committed under scandalous circumstances as to shock the common sense of decency,” the high court said in a June 22 decision.

 

It added that being a division clerk of court, Dabon’s position entailed great responsibility and he was supposed to act with dignity and propriety at all times. “Unfortunately, respondent miserably failed to comply with the demands of his office,” it said.

 

The tribunal said Dabon also violated the administrative rule requiring court employees to secure a travel authority before going abroad. He also evaded the court processes with regard to his investigation, thereby aggravating his offense, it added.

 

According to the high court, Dabon harassed Sonia after she decided to end their relationship. It said he boarded her car to insist that the two of them talk. Because he refused to leave the vehicle, Sonia made a scene and drew the attention of people in the area.

 

He also tried to bring Sonia to a motel even if she no longer wanted to be with him, the high court added.

 

Lustful quest

 

“Despite being rejected in view of Sonia’s apparent intention to end the affair, respondent persisted in his lustful quest by bringing Sonia to a motel against her will. Not only did he transgress the norms of decency expected of every person but he failed to live up to the high moral standard expected of a court employee,” it said.

 

Dabon also used his position and asked court employees to relay messages to Sonia and to intervene in their “purely personal affair,” thus aggravating his offense, according to the high court. It also said Dabon could not claim that he did not know about the administrative case filed against him.

 

The court noted that Dabon left the Philippines a day after the case was filed and spoke about the possibility of a fellow lawyer being used to testify against him.

 

When the high court tried to serve court documents to him, people at his house refused to receive the papers. Mail left at his last two known addresses in the country were sent back although these had been opened.

‘Seek gov’t post after retirement to invoke EO 464’

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:19pm (Mla time) 06/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV has advised Armed Forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. to seek a government position after he retires on February 28 if he wants evade summonses to legislative hearings on his involvement in alleged cheating operations in 2004.

 

“He can invoke [Executive Order 464] until he retires. He better line up and apply for a new position if he wants to invoke that,” Trillanes told reporters after he took his oath of office in Caloocan City.

 

EO 464, issued last year, bars government and security officials from testifying in legislative hearings without clearance from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Supreme Court struck down several of the order’s provisions as unconstitutional last year.

 

Despite this, Esperon has said he would invoke EO 464 to evade congressional hearings that Trillanes plans to call to look into extrajudicial killings and the alleged cheating in the 2004 elections.

 

Nevertheless, Trillanes, who is being tried in both civil and military courts for being an alleged mutiny leader, maintained: “It’s nothing personal. We are after the truth.”

 

Trillanes said he would also summon other officers who allegedly figured in the supposed cheating operations.

Esperon was linked to the election fraud controversy after he and three other senior officers, who are have all retired, were mentioned in purported wiretapped telephone conversations of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her alleged accomplice in vote-rigging operations, ex-elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

 

“Garci [Garcillano] mentioned his [Esperon’s] name clearly. Garci will not fool the President by dropping his name if he had not talked to him,” Trillanes said.

 

In the tapes, it was implied that Esperon had a hand in the relief of Marine Brigadier General Francisco Gudani, who was perceived to be sympathetic to the opposition, as 1st Marine Brigade commander.

 

A military fact-finding board cleared the four so-called “Hello Garci” generals but its report was not fully disclosed to the public.

 

EO 464, on the other hand, was issued just as Gudani and another Marine officer was to testify before the Senate into the alleged electoral fraud.

10 QC cops charged for failing to take witness stand

By Margaux Ortiz
Inquirer
Last updated 08:31am (Mla time) 06/27/2007

TEN MORE policemen were charged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for repeatedly ignoring their court duties, leading to the dismissal of drug cases and the release of suspected illegal drugs peddlers.

 

Of the 10, PO2 Victor Aquino, PO3 Zaldy Asama, PO3 Rene Saul, PO2 Reynaldo Labon, and PO1 Estelito Mortega had been charged earlier this month by the PDEA for violations of Sections 91 and 92 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

 

The PDEA also filed the same charges against SPO2 Belto Coritara, PO2 Orlando Dionisio, PO1 Arnold Penalosa, PO1 Frederick Saet, and PO3 Cleto Montegrejo.

 

All of the accused are assigned at the Quezon City Police District in Camp Karingal.

 

In his complaint filed in the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday afternoon, lawyer Joey Quiriones, chief of the PDEA prosecution and case monitoring division, said the agency established a National Drug Case Monitoring System that supervises the status of drug cases and the participation of government personnel involved.

 

“Since the establishment of the system, we have been receiving copies of decisions from various courts and prosecution offices,” Quiriones said.

 

“Upon studying the documents, the PDEA found out that most of the cases were dismissed due to the nonappearances of police witnesses,” he added.

 

Quiriones said the accused police officers were involved in the arrest of drug suspects in Quezon City. The suspects were subsequently charged in the city’s regional trial courts. The PDEA lawyer explained that being poseur buyers and apprehending officers during the buy-bust operations, the presence and testimonies of the policemen were material and essential for the successful prosecution of the accused.

 

The police officers, however, failed to appear during the scheduled hearings of their respective cases, prompting the judge to ask them to explain why they should not be cited for contempt.

 

The judges assigned eventually issued orders dismissing the cases against the drug suspects “by reason of the repeated absence of the prosecution’s witnesses therein.”

 

“The dismissal caused by the police witnesses’ nonappearance was fatal to the prosecution’s cause and a serious blow to the government’s drive to eradicate and punish to the fullest extent violators of the dangerous drugs law,” Quiriones said.

Wife sues Iggy Arroyo over depletion of P127M in assets

By Margaux Ortiz, Kristine L. Alave
Inquirer
Last updated 05:17am (Mla time) 06/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The estranged wife of Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo has filed a petition for support and the dissolution of their conjugal property, accusing him of depleting their assets of close to P127 million “in a span of only one year” as shown in his latest statement of assets and liabilities (SAL).

 

Alicia “Aleli” Arroyo, accompanied by her lawyer Lorna Kapunan, filed the petition in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Tuesday afternoon. The case will be raffled off to the court that would hear it Thursday, according to the court staff.

 

Iggy Arroyo is the younger brother of Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband.

 

In her petition, Aleli Arroyo requested the immediate dissolution, liquidation and distribution of their property.

 

She said that during their marriage, she and Iggy Arroyo acquired real and personal property, the majority of which were supposedly managed and controlled by the latter.

 

She listed the assets they owned as of 2005: Three houses in Las Vegas, Nevada; two properties in La Vista subdivision, Quezon City (she said that the second property — an 8,000-square-meter lot — was supposedly being encroached on by the houses of the First Couple’s two sons, Mikey and Dato Arroyo); two condominium units; lots in Muntinlupa, Tagaytay and Subic, and two haciendas in Negros Occidental province.

 

Asked to comment by Inquirer Visayas, Congressman Arroyo said it was Aleli, not he, who had “raided” their conjugal assets.

 

“She is the one who depleted our resources,” he said, adding that Aleli had sold their shares of stock and “raided” their joint accounts in the Philippines and the United States.

 

The congressman said he welcomed the complaint. He said he was planning to file one himself but that she had beaten him to it.

 

“I am glad she filed it,” he said, adding that he would also seek the inclusion of a petition for annulment of their marriage.

 

4 farms, etc.

 

Aleli Arroyo said that while it was not indicated in the lawmaker’s SAL, she had been informed that he had “acquired four farms for American-bred fighting cocks in Antipolo and Iloilo.”

 

She said she had also been informed that the lawmaker recently acquired other assets, including a house in San Juan City, a flat in London, two condominium units in Metro Manila, a property in Arizona and another condominium unit in Boston, Massachusetts.
“However, these properties were not declared by the respondent in his SAL filed in 2007,” she said in her petition.

 

She added that Congressman Arroyo had been buying and selling real property abroad without declaring that he was married, “clearly to keep [these] transactions hidden” from her.

 

Aleli also said she and her husband had acquired shares of stock in seven companies. She enumerated the motor vehicles, jewelry, paintings and antiques they supposedly owned, including several bank accounts of which she said she was a signatory to only two.

 

In one year

 

In his 2006 SAL, Congressman Arroyo declared under oath that the absolute community of property had a total net worth of P287,092,973.53, Aleli said. However, the following year, his SAL showed that he had only P160,226,763.18 worth of property.

 

“This means that in a span of only one year, respondent managed to remove from his SAL such assets belonging to the absolute community of property amounting to P126,866,209.35,” she said.

 

Quoting Article 135 of the Family Code, which considers as sufficient causes for judicial separation of property the abandonment of the petitioner by his or her spouse and the separation of the spouses for at least one year, Aleli asked the court to dissolve the properties.

 

“Necessarily, such assets of the absolute community of property that were surreptitiously disposed of by respondent without the consent of petitioner should be charged to respondent’s share upon the dissolution,” she said.

 

Aleli likewise asked for an accounting and inventory of the total property before its dissolution.

 

She said the accounting was “crucial” because she had been informed that the lawmaker “purchased various houses, vehicles and jewelry for his mistresses.”

 

The accounting to be rendered by the lawmaker would “hopefully” help the court “determine the exact value of the absolute community of property, the respective shares of the petitioner and respondent in the same, and the amount to be charged to the share of respondent,” she said.

 

Lastly, Aleli asked the court to require Congressman Arroyo to provide support in the amount of P400,000 monthly while the suit was in progress.

 

“Petitioner, who was constrained by respondent to become a full-time housewife, was suddenly left to shoulder at least P400,000 in monthly expenses to cover household bills, utilities, food, salaries of household staff, their daughter’s expenses, school fees and credit card charges,” she said.

 

Aleli also asked the court to appoint a receiver during the course of the litigation, or appoint her as the sole administrator of the absolute community of property while it had not yet been dissolved.

 

She said the move would prevent the further dissipation of the property.

 

To Aleli’s claim that he was acquiring property for his “mistresses,” Congressman Arroyo said she should show proof.

 

Bittersweet

 

In a press conference at her lawyer’s office in Pasig City, Aleli Arroyo said the past three days had been bittersweet — on Sunday, she marked the first anniversary of their separation; on Monday, she celebrated her 45th birthday while preparing the complaint; and Tuesday, she filed it in court.

 

The former broker and chair of the Philippine Stock Exchange related the details of their estrangement, which is now the subject of a case in a family court.

 

She said she had “never consented to any disposition of assets.”

 

“Therefore,” she said, “any dispositions made by Congressman Iggy involving the assets of absolute community property were in clear violation of the law.”

 

Aleli said she was shocked at how quickly the money had gone: “It was actually a surprise. It was shocking.”

 

She said she and her husband had not spoken since their separation last year.

 

“I suppose he’s got people to support, like his mistresses,” she said.

 

Aleli also said the complaint was the first step in the separation process. With reports from Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas; Alcuin Papa in Manila