Singsong govenor how come?
Lito
known. How come that he became a governor? Do my fellow filipino
people vote with their feet? Guess we deserve the government that we
get.
Assuming of course that the latest debacle could be termed government.
Has Singsong, the gambling overlord been removed from his official
duties and salary?
Lito
Fred Amores
He is a Robin Hood in Ilocos Sur province. He started his career as an
embalmer. Later appointed as Vigan Police chief and elected municipal
councilor. He rise to power after his uncle Rep. Floro Crisologo was
assassinated. Many believe that he killed some men in a gun battle
with Saka-saka goons. That not makes him a ruthless gangster. It was
self-defense. Please read the PDI news article below for more details.
In article <76s31tcka8pnh8lc6...@4ax.com>,
Philippine Daily Inquirer
'Last of the warlords'
rules gambling empire
By Frank Cimatu
PDI Northern Luzon Bureau
BAGUIO CITY--After he allegedly inherited regional ''jueteng''
operations from an older late brother with a golden shotgun, Ilocos Sur
Gov. Luis ''Chavit'' Singson--branded in political circles as ''the
last of the warlords''--reputedly built a gambling empire that at one
time covered almost all of Luzon.
And now, President Estrada's erstwhile buddy has become an overnight
darling of opposition congressman in his unlikely role as a whistle-
blower, while the President has taken to calling him a smuggling and
gambling lord.
Jueteng, tobacco, guns, family feuds and patronage politics have made
the governor one of the most colorful and controversial of his kind,
even as he has endeared himself to his constituents by promising peace
and stability in the region.
Ensconced in power for nearly three decades, alternating between
serving as congressman and governor of Ilocos Sur, Singson inherited
jueteng operations in the region from his late brother Evaristo, a
former Vigan mayor who used to patrol his town in a calesa (horse-drawn
carriage), brandishing a golden shotgun.
Evaristo ''Titong'' Singson allegedly used to operate jueteng not only
in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte but also in the Cagayan Valley, La Union
and Abra, according to accounts gathered by the INQUIRER.
Salvagings--summary executions by the military or police--were frequent
during Titong's reign in Vigan, old-timers said. His daughter, Eva
Grace Medina, is now Vigan mayor.
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, Chavit Singson fell from power
and Titong became the governor.
In 1989, Titong died of a heart attack and his alleged jueteng network
lost its financier.
Chavit was at first reluctant to take over his brother's jueteng
operation because he was unfamiliar with the mechanics of the illegal
numbers game, according to INQUIRER sources who are longtime residents
of the province.
Falling out
But he was eventually persuaded by the cabos (managers of jueteng bet
collectors), rebisadors (bet reviewers) and cobradors (bet collectors)
orphaned by Titong's death, to change his mind.
Chavit reportedly teamed up with a Tarlac politician.
Their combined jueteng operations are reputed to have covered almost
all of Luzon.
But Chavit, according to jueteng insiders, eventually had a falling out
with the Tarlac politician because of disagreements about how the
profits should be shared.
Chavit's operations shrank to cover the Ilocos region, with the
exception of Pangasinan, said to be handled by suspected jueteng
financier Rodolfo ''Bong'' Pineda, and the Cordilleras, allegedly
handled by Pineda and other financiers.
A former mayor, sources said, handled jueteng operations in the Cagayan
Valley.
Snakes and guns
And then there are the guns.
''Baluarte,'' Singson's multimillion-peso home in Vigan, features a
small reptilian zoo and a world-class shooting range that caters to the
governor's well-known passion for guns.
Last summer, the Asian shootfest was held in Baluarte. One of the
Brunei princes regularly competes in that tournament.
One of the offshoots of Chavit's fascination with firearms is that
Ilocos Sur has become one of the region's main producers of the illegal
hand-made guns known as paltik.
The paltik industry is one of the biggest illegal cash cows in the
province, sources said.
Credibility
Although his own credibility is under question, Singson has endeared
himself to certain opposition leaders with his explosive allegations
that the President and members of his family pocketed multimillion-peso
bribes from jueteng lords.
Negros Occ. Rep. Apolinario Lozada of Lakas said that ''although the
people find Singson's credibility also questionable, they tend to
believe him more than Estrada given his strong ties with the Chief
Executive, which made him privy to the latter's activities, legal or
otherwise.''
He noted that Singson's friendship with the President went back to Mr.
Estrada's days as mayor of San Juan. The governor is a self-admitted
member of the President's ''midnight Cabinet.''
Assistant Minority Leader Michael Defensor said the government should
provide security escorts for Singson since ''if he is killed, the whole
nation will point an accusing finger at the government, either for
killing him or letting him be killed.''
''The Philippine National Police should at least order the return to
Singson of his police security detail which was withdrawn on Camp
Crame's orders a day after Singson tagged Estrada as being on the
take,'' said the Liberal Party congressman from Quezon City.
Chavit is a survivor of at least two ambush attacks in the late 1960s.
Family ties
A one-time Liberal Party ally of Sen. Benigno Aquino who later became a
solid supporter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Singson began
his political career as a councilor of Vigan in 1961.
In 1967, he ran for governor and lost against his aunt, Carmeling
Crisologo, widow of the late congressman Floro Crisologo.
In 1969, Chavit fought against and lost to Floro for a seat in Congress
as the representative of Ilocos Sur.
Floro was felled by an assassin's bullet while attending Mass at the
St. Paul's Cathedral in Vigan in 1970.
Two years later, Chavit was elected governor, beating his aunt
Carmeling.
Chavit was governor from the year martial law was declared until 1986,
when the Marcoses were thrown out and the governor, too, fell from
power.
He returned to the House of Representatives in 1987 and stayed until
1992.
His own law
While he was congressman in the early 1990s, Chavit authored Republic
Act 7171, seeking to bring back money to Virginia tobacco-producing
provinces in the form of 10 percent of the excise taxes.
Since then, RA 7171 has been known as the ''Chavit Singson Law.''
Ilocos Sur, as the country's biggest producer of Virginia tobacco,
receives as much as 60 percent of the estimated P1 billion a year that
is returned to these Virginia tobacco-producing areas.
The breakdown of the money that goes to the province: 30 percent to the
provincial government, 40 percent to the towns, and 30 percent to the
congressional district.
But early this year, President Estrada approved a new sharing scheme in
which all the funds would be transferred to the provincial governments,
to be administered by the governors.
To governors
In a congressional session in April, Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol said
that if this plan were to push through, a total of P2.5 billion in
unreleased RA 7171 funds would be given to the governors.
Ilocos Sur Rep. Grace Singson said the money should be released to the
tobacco farmers who were intended to be the beneficiaries of the law.
According to reports, the P2.5 billion remains unreleased but an
INQUIRER source, one of Chavit's political rivals, claims at least P100
million was released to the governor.
Earlier, Mr. Estrada also said in his television program that he would
have one governor investigated by the Commission on Audit. Many
believed that Chavit was the governor being alluded to.
P360-M contract
A regional COA report for 1999 on RA 7171 operations questioned the
awarding of a P360-million contract for the construction of 34 flue-
curing barns in the region.
The COA recommended that another contract more advantageous to the
government be drawn up. It said the contract was awarded and the
construction started despite the absence of construction sites and
lease contracts.
Roughly P170 million, intended for the purchase of equipment for the
flue-curing barns, was advanced in violation of COA rules.
The COA also said an agreement to construct a tomato paste plant in
Ilocos Sur, supposedly using RA 7171 funds, was improperly implemented.
The COA said this resulted in a loss of P20.6 million in government
funds.
October 9, 2000
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Fred Amores
amo...@usa.net
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
paul
wrote:
>I disagree that Gov. Chavit Crisologo Singson is a ruthless gangster.
>Jueteng, tobacco, guns, family feuds and patronage politics have made
>the governor one of the most colorful and controversial of his kind,
>even as he has endeared himself to his constituents by promising peace
>and stability in the region.
Thanks Fred, I have seen most of your posting and more over the years.
However it is really a matter of semantics. Being involved in large
scale illegal activities with the personel required to have it
function could be termed a gang, surely a self confessed upper
eschelon member of a gang could be termed a gangster!
Whether one considers him to be ruthless or otherwise depends on
whether the beholder is on the receiving end of the gambling and other
proceeds or the threats of violence should they for some perceived
reason run foul of his enterprise.
>He is a Robin Hood in Ilocos Sur province.
Unfortunately if you are suggesting that "Singsong" Singson and his
henchmen, like Robin Hood only took money from the rich and gave to
the poor then sadly you are grossly misinformed. People from all walks
of life, rich or poor should they get involved all have to pay the
bagman. Checked out the assets of this modern day "Robin Hood" lately?
Lito.
Pusong Pinoye2
>From: paul paulo...@yahoo.com
>Date: 11/15/00 4:39 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: <m4b61t0vnkk2hht58...@4ax.com>
Chavit Singson (no last letter *g*) is correctly identified as of the same
family tree as the Crisologo's, not too long ago, a political dynasty in the
Solid North.
Bingbong Crisologo (now born again or some religious lay apostolate) was
notorious for his pillaging and burning of two whole villages - i.e., Oro East
and Oro West. He is a first cousin of Chavit. Bingbong served his jail
sentence and is now out doing religious work of some kind.
At one time Floro Crisologo, Congressman and his wife, Ameling, Governor both
of Ilocos Sur (parents of Bingbong),ruled the entire Solid North.
The Singsons were the staunch political rivals of the Crisologos. During the
reign of the Crisologos, the Singsons were the clear underdogs in politics in
the North.
Behind the scenes, however, the thickness of blood prevailed.
Yet, farther, behind the backstage, the actual assasination of Floro Crisologo,
mid-day, inside the Church on a Sunday, which todate remains unsolved, had been
linked (unsuccessfully, though) to elements connected with the Singsons...with
dotted line traces all the way back to Marcos, of course. For who, then would
dare even dream of "wishing" harm on the political dynasties of the Crisologos,
back then? Only two equally, if not more so powerful tandem of Singson-Marcos,
with the latters back up and blessing.
None of these were ever proven, nor further exposed, however. Again, todate,
the assasination of Floro Crisologo, remains a mystery. And while Bingbong
seems to have faded into virtual oblivion, his first cousin, now zooms into
prominence, after years of notoriety.
But if any of this background tale is even half true, about Chavit and his
family and personal life, how could the people elect him?
My "oversimplified" explanation is: he was elected by his own kind. (Read: by
his own townfolks and kinships.) This seems par for the course in Philippine
politics, which is essentially, *regionalistic* (*cliquish*-is this a word?).
The test of this theory is Imelda Marcos (who ran for President) and Bongbong
Marcos (who ran for the Senate), two *national* public official's
position...and both lost.
But, when Imee Romualdez and her cousin Alfred Romualdez and her uncle Bejo
Romualdez ran for their respective districts in Leyte, they all won!
So, again, how come Chavit, the self-admitted crook, gambler, bad-guy, no-saint
was elected governor of Ilocos Sur? Same "how". They are still a political
dynasty in their own hometown, where morally or even legally questionable
backgrounds and reputations are considered *non-issues*.
As for the rest of the country, how come they have readily accepted the
testimonies of Chavit Singson? Same reason why the country also accepted the
"switchblade" performances of Johnny Ponce Enrile and Fidel V. Ramos during the
fight against the conjugal dictatorships of Imelda and Ferdie.
We are back to the issue of "does the end justify the means?" And I say again,
of course, it does. All the time, as a matter of fact...or at the very least,
more often than not.
PusongPinoye2
Fred Amores
Floring's sister. It was Chavit who personally asked then Apo Ferdie to
pardon Bingbong double life sentence in the connection of Ora East,
Bantay, I. Sur village burning. Beside Bingbong's religious activities
I think he is now an elected Quezon City councilor (I am not sure about
it). He tried to ran and lost to then incumbent Vigan mayor Jose
Singson(Chavit's father) in the 70's.
The Crisologo political clout then does not extend beyond Iloccos Sur
territorial bounderies. Ilocos Sur is just part of the so-called Solid
North- Ilocos Norte, Abra, La Union, Pangasinan and Cagayan Valley
provinces. Floro Crisologo was one of Apo Ferdie's top henchman during
his presidential bids.
The Singson political dynasty started after the assassination of his
uncle Floring.
He defeated then Gov. Carmeling Pichay Crisolgo for governorship. His
older brother Titong Singson took the helm the mayorship and later the
governor post. Chavit represented the 1st congressional district of
Ilocos Sur for several years. Currently, Chavit's son Randy is now a
municipal councilor, his younger brother ex- vice mayor Jerry is a
provincial board member and the daughter of ex-governor Titong, Eva
Marie Singson Medina is the municipal mayor. The second district of
Ilocos Sur is controlled by his cousin ex-Rep. Eric Singson. Eric's
wife Grace is now a congresswoman. Lastly, Eric and Chavit fought it
out the governor post in the last local election. Singson dynasty
forever??
In article <20001130155902...@ng-fa1.aol.com>,
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