PNP comptroller De la Paz – marichulambino.com



(All maps downloaded from Google Maps under the terms of service of said site, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes)

(Re. the map, have fun by clicking on the arrows at the left-hand corner to pan up or pan down or pan left to right; or clicking on the plus or minus signs to zoom in or zoom out. )
As a form of public service and because i’m curious, and because i like to research when i’m curious,  here’s a map of the aborted itinerary of retired police comptroller De la Paz when he was carrying a stash of 103,000 euros plus 45,000 euros or 9.9 million pesos except that his side trip was aborted by the Moscow police when they did their job of manually inspecting hand-carried luggage. From Moscow, he was going to Warsaw, then to Prague to Budapest to Vienna. The above map is the road trip direct from Warsaw to Vienna, nine hours, follow the blue crooked line on the map. And the following maps are those of what he said: Warsaw to Prague to Budapest to Vienna because that was what he said their itinerary was. I don't know where he was headed after Vienna after supposedly buying the watch. Did he book a flight straight to Manila (i doubt it), i added another satellite map in the last part, from Google Maps again, it's just a train ride, Vienna to Geneva, Switzerland, follow the blue crooked line.  A cross-examiner might pull out a map and ask him to point, like a TV weathergirl/ weatherboy: where and in what direction he had supposedly planned to go, carrying our money. That didn't happen at today's Senate hearing though.   

  Here are maps of those other aborted trips, compare it to the map above and tell me which is the more reasonable route. Here's Warsaw to Czech Republic:


				
			


And from Czech Republic to Budapest, here's the route:

				
			


And Budapest to Vienna as follows:

He was caught in Moscow as he was about to board a plane to Warsaw, Poland. Based on his admissions, he was also on his way to Vienna supposedly to buy a watch supposedly for 45,000 euros supposedly for a friend, a certain Mr. Arejola, who also happened to be a contractor for the Philippine National Police having won the bid to supply civil disturbance management equipment in 2006. What a long story. But none of the senators at today’s Senate investigation of the so-called “euro generals” (i’ll just call them the Mamang Pulis fat cats), followed through the aborted itinerary: when de la Paz invoked his right against self-incrimination when asked why he did not declare the stash, the senators re-traced his steps backwards, in order to further emphasize the evidence against him and establish his culpability. But i’m curious about his aborted steps forward. The pieces ofevidence about his culpability from the moment he was caught by Russian police, and backwards before that, or from the moment he took out the intelligence funds, are all already well established. Aren’t you curious where the money was headed? And from Vienna, where was he going? Did he book a flight straight to Manila? Here are your questions: Are you telling me you crossed three continents to buy a watch? For a friend? Carrying with you 9.9 million pesos? Then you booked a flight straight to Manila? after buying the watch across the continents? De la Paz is not expected to admit to any bank accounts and a retirement fund and will invoke his right against self-incrimination but it is enough to ask a series of questions to establish the ridiculousness of his excuse. Here’s the railway from Vienna to Geneva, a scenic railway trip, first class, by Rail Europe (you think he booked a flight straight to Manila?). I’m guessing if you’re the Senate you can subpoena his travel agency records and tickets and ask those series of questions.

Why did i post a satellite map from Vienna to Geneva? Why Geneva? Where else will you go from Vienna? Well, there’s Slovenia. And Genova. And Liechtenstein. You think. I can write an entire Jon Stewart episode from his excuses. (except that i’m having a sneezing fit again, i’m not feeling well as you know)

Photo by the PNP website used here for educational non- commercial purposes.

“Clint Eastwood in the movie Gauntlet” was how this blog called Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia about a year ago when he had to arrest certain PCGG officials and he had only a handful of staff members with him.

He also had to fetch Jun Lozada at the airport against members of the police who whisked Jun Lozada away, and “Clint Eastwood” had to look for them and there was a bit of a chase.

“Gauntlet” is the old classic movie shown on tv several years ago where Clint Eastwood played the role of a sheriff of a small town and had to bring a witness to court by virtue of a subpoena. Along the way, he and the witness were gunned down, chased down, bombed, set on fire. When he was near town, all the villains lined up the street with high-powered guns, and the sheriff by authority of law commandeered a bus, he then reinforced the bus with steel. The villains peppered the bus to smithereens and tires blew up and the bus crawled like a heap of steel all the way to the stairs of city hall, and when he reached city hall with the witness, after defying a hail of bullets and bombs, his line was, “i am hereby…. (breathless) returning the service… of the writ… as served on the witness,” or something like that.

The Gauntlet role or similar to it was reprised by Bruce Willis in a movie about two years ago.

Thirty minutes ago, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, on the spot, was ordered by the Senate committee on finance to arrest retired Philippine National Police comptroller Eliseo de la Paz and wife, for failure to appear at this morning’s Senate investigation on the “euro generals”; that’s the investigation of the retired PNP comptroller (then, not retired) being caught red-handed by Moscow police with euros the equivalent of 9 million pesos which he did not declare.

Here was the line of Senator Miriam: “Mr. Balajadia, on behalf of the Senate Committee on Finance… I COMMAND YOU (in an emphatic manner), ARREST HIM! NOW!….”

A judge can issue what is normally called a bench warrant (an on-the-spot open-court arrest order) against the following: 1)any person present in court, during open court, for any reason as long as he/ she is in court (i think this can extend to any person within the court house, during open court, for any reason); 2) any accused on bail who jumped bail; 3) any person subpoenaed who failed to appear for no cause.

The Senate has inherent power to cite for contempt any witness who refuses or fails to comply with a subpoena for a Senate investigation; so, yes, a person who fails to appear without cause when subpoenaed by the Senate, may be ordered arrested except that I just don’t have a copy of the Senate rules on procedure so i cannot state here what the Senate had approved as the procedure for the issuance of such a warrant.

The person to follow now is “Clint Eastwood”, or Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia, that’s where the story is now, will he arrest or not? Will he wait for the arrest order to be put to writing or not? Will he find the retired police officer? Will hundreds of men line up the street with their high-powered firearms to…..welcome him, of course.