[Rappler’s Best] The Davao Boys and the Ilocano cronies

‘If Duterte has his Davao Boys with blood on their arms, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. additionally has his personal Ilocano cronies who have been showered with fats authorities contracts’

Did you discover yourselves caught within the Valentine rush over the weekend? In this story, we deliver you to Dangwa, the flower market that has outlasted the ravages of climate and time.

For a lot of Filipinos, nonetheless, Saturday, February 14, was a present that they didn’t see coming: the discharge of the names of the eight alleged oblique co-perpetrators of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte within the crimes towards humanity expenses that he’s dealing with on the Worldwide Felony Courtroom (ICC) in The Hague. 

The pre-trial of Duterte, or affirmation of expenses listening to, begins subsequent Monday, February 23, and it’ll final your entire week. Jodesz Gavilan walks us by means of what is predicted to occur in these 5 days right here.

Six of Duterte’s eight alleged co-perpetrators are the so-called “Davao Boys,” who’re both from Davao or had spent crucial instances of their profession there. 

• Senators Bong Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa each hail from the Davao area, their careers rising exponentially after Duterte grew to become president and culminating of their spectacular Prime 5 displaying within the 2022 senatorial elections. Once they ran for reelection in 2025, Go landed No 1 and Dela Rosa at No 3. 
• Within the ICC prosecutor’s doc containing expenses, or DCC, Go and former Philippine Nationwide Police (PNP) chief Dela Rosa have been accused of utilizing the Davao police to kill suspected criminals. 
• One other former PNP chief, Vicente Danao, whose stars as a cop rose in Davao, can also be on the record. Right here’s a profile. 
• Yet one more former PNP chief, the late Camilo “Pikoy” Cascolan who was not from Davao however held crucial posts within the area, can also be on the record. He was Dela Rosa’s reported sidekick in crafting Oplan Double Barrel, the blueprint that turned their Davao kill template right into a nationwide venture. He died in 2023; right here’s a profile.
• Two others on the record have been additionally legislation enforcers in Davao: former Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief Dante Gierran, who was NBI agent within the metropolis for 9 years, and former drug enforcement company head Isidro Lapeña, who had served each as metropolis and regional police chief in Davao. Learn extra about them right here.

If Duterte has his Davao Boys with blood on their arms, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. additionally has his personal Ilocano cronies who have been showered with fats authorities contracts.

What rankles us is that Malacañang appears to be turning a blind eye to what, on the very least, are conflict-of-interest conditions involving these Ilocanos.

• On this unique report, Lian Buan zeroes in on one property in Las Vegas price $1.2 million that Marcos ally Lucille Angelus Guillen-Yapo, mayor of a Cagayan city, transferred to a US-based firm which she additionally owns — a month after the flood management scandal broke. 
• The Guillens, a political dynasty in Piddig, Ilocos Norte, province of the Marcoses, are staunch allies of the First Household, specifically Ilocos Norte Congressman Sandro Marcos, the President’s eldest. 
• Eddie Guillen is presently the chief of the Nationwide Irrigation Administration. With him main the company, NIA awarded a minimum of six contracts to an organization owned by his kinfolk, a Rappler investigation came upon. His spouse Gina is mayor of Piddig. Within the final decade, three corporations that belong to their clan have been the highest contractors of the general public works division. 
• One other Ilocano and longtime aide of Marcos, Jose Cadiz Jr., is linked to a development firm that has cornered DPWH contracts in Ilocos Norte and is owned by his 21-year-old son. Cadiz resigned in December as justice undersecretary after Lian Buan’s exposé on him. However a month later, the President determined to retain him within the justice division.
• And let’s not neglect Manuel Bonoan, one other Ilocano who was Marcos’ first decide as secretary of the Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The President dragged his ft earlier than letting go of Bonoan. A physique shaped by Marcos to analyze the scandal has advisable the submitting of graft and different administrative complaints towards him. When he was DPWH head, the division awarded a multi-billion contract to a firm owned by the enterprise companion of his daughter.

As cynics of this benighted land would say, weather-weather lang ‘yan. Until the President can show them improper, after all.

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– Rappler.com

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