DID YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEARD?

LESS THAN NEWS, MORE THAN RUMOR

TWO VIP SONS IN CUSTOMS MESS

First, it was President Duterte’s son: Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte. Then, yesterday, it was Sen. Ping Lacson’s son, Panfilo “Pampi” Lacson Jr. Both are dragged to the customs bribery scandal. Evicted customs chief Nicanor Faeldon accused Pampi of being a smuggler himself, citing “anomalies” in his cement import business.

2 SHOTS IN THE HEAD

Forensic findings of the police in the shooting of suspected drug courier Kian de los Santos differed from those of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO):

-- Police; two gunshots in the head; PAO: two gunshots in the head; one in the trunk of the body.

-- Police: not fired from a weapon at close range; PAO: fired at close range.

Both findings though confirm the two gunshots in the head. They wanted him dead.

KYC, PEP

The Luzon Development Bank may have not been as diligent as a bank should be in dealing with public officials who a have a lot of money to deposit.

Apparently, one bank, the Luzon Development Bank, may have flunked on two banking principles aimed to prevent or reduce money-laundering: “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and “Politically Exposed People” (PEP). The bank didn’t know its customer who was one of the politically exposed people. (The bank said it submitted reports but didn’t disclose them to the Senate committee inquiry.)

PEP are those in government who by their position or title are vulnerable to corruption. Not only must a bank recognize a customer, it must flag him or her deposits are abnormally large and frequent.

2 GWEN EVENTS

The filing of the endorsements of three legislators, two congressman and one congresswoman, was the second major news event in which Deputy Speaker Gwen took part: the House committee hearing of dumping of garbage in Cebu (Aug. 21) and the Bautista impeachment endorsement (Aug. 23). Gwen was one of three House members who endorsed the complaint against the Comelec chief.