PEOPLE talk about...
* DOH CHIEF'S BROTHER APPOINTED AS PCA CHIEF. Gonzalo Duque, brother of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, is the new administrator of Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA). The DOH head is suspected of conflict of interest for contracts awarded to his family's company by the Department of Health. No, the new PCA boss didn't say, "I am not my brother's keeper."
* BARANGAY CAPTAIN INVESTIGATED FOR LITTERING. A top barangay official being cited for violating the anti-littering ordinance of Cebu City is bad enough. On top of that, he is threatened with a "full-blown investigation" by the City Council. Images of the "instant dumpsite" have appeared on social media.
Bail as a 'matter of right'
A radio commentator raised in his radio program Monday (July 29) two questions: (a) whether lawyer-broadcaster Juril B. Patiño, arrested last July 22 for rape, was out on bail and (b) was he charged with statutory rape?
Bail is a matter of right before conviction for offenses not punishable by reclusion perpetua or "life imprisonment." The charge against Patiño carries the penalty of prision mayor (six years and one day to 12 years). So he could get bail if he asked for it.
What must have set off speculation that Atty. Juril's case is non-bailable is the talk that the victim is a minor and the offense is statutory rape. Age of consent is 12 years old; the victim of statutory rape must be less than 12. The girl who complained against Patiño is already 13, according to news reports the day after the alleged rape on July 13, 2017.
Lawyer's defenses
From Patiño's statements to media and his wife's post on Facebook, which news outlets picked up, one gets a peek into his defenses: (a) denial that the girl went inside his car and allegation of fabrication of the evidence against him and (b) assertion that he is a good person and couldn't have committed the crime.
On the girl's side are pieces of evidence collected by the NBI, which filed the complaint before the prosecutors, including CCTV footage that recorded the street side in Barangay Parian, where the car was parked and scene of the alleged rape.
(A possible crack in the theory was that he did it inside the car with people passing by. Or was the girl taken elsewhere?)
The so-called "Maria Clara doctrine" says that Filipino women by their nature and culture generally do not claim to be a victim of rape unless it is true. Benefit of the doubt is given to the victim, unless her testimony is shown to be patently false and contradictory.
Killings not 'alarming'
The killing of the former mayor of Ayungon and his cousin and a councilor and barangay captain of Canlaon City brought to at least 21 the number of deaths in what is billed as "a wave of violence" since the other week in Negros Oriental.
But police say it's not "alarming" because the incidents occurred in different places of the province. Under that standard, all the violence has to erupt in the same place for the people to be disturbed and become restive.
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