A very corrupt judiciary

Vote-buying marred the election of officers of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) which held its convention at the Century Hotel in Manila, according to my sources.

Many judges-members were billeted at the five-star hotel allegedly for free, courtesy of a lobbyist who has reportedly a  great influence on many magistrates and Court of Appeals justices.

If you think  the judiciary is free of corruption, you must have been born yesterday or in another planet.

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The judiciary is as corrupt as, if not more corrupt than, the legislative branch, prompting Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno to call on trial lawyers to tell on judges who demand bribes.

I volunteer this space for lawyers and litigants who want to expose corrupt judges, as well as prosecutors.

Informants’ identities will be held in strict confidence.

Judges or justices and prosecutors who demand bribes from litigants or prosecutors will be exposed in this space after I have gathered strong evidence.

If you are a litigant who is being hustled by a judge or prosecutor to come up with a bribe, come to me and I will help you set a trap for the corrupt judge or prosecutor.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police are ready to entrap judges or prosecutors who decide cases based on bribe money and not on  merit.

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In Thursday’s column, the first paragraph of the last item read: “Is it true that lawyer Hermie Aban, who was appointed by Puerto Princesa City Mayor Cecilio Bayron to head the city’s antidrug task force, is defending persons accused in drug-related cases?”

Yesterday, I received this text message from a source at the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) based in Camp Crame, in reaction to Thursday’s column:

“atty hermie aban is the lawyer of albert chin whom aidsotf arrested last aug 11, 2013, with 433 kgs of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride—RT) in subic, zambales…the cases against albert chin and 5 others have been filed with the doj last Monday in zambales and pampanga..albert chin is a bigtime drug trafficker, sir.”

Needless to say, my AIDSOTF source is very reliable.

In Puerto Princesa, Mayor Bayron appointed Aban chief of the city’s antidrug task force, probably not knowing that he has been accused of defending persons charged with drug-related cases.

This does not bode well for the city which was practically free of drug pushers during the time of Edward Hagedorn.

I should know because I am a part-time resident of the “city within a forest.”

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From the grapevine at the Bureau of Customs: Newly-appointed Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa, who holds two hats—deputy for intelligence and deputy for enforcement—will retain his position as intelligence chief.

The position of enforcement chief will be given to a newcomer, my sources say.

But Dellosa, former Armed Forces chief, never had a background in intelligence work  when he was in the military.

A square peg in a round hole at the customs bureau?