House OKs con-ass resolution

Violation of the Constitution that is still in use is a crime. Railroading the ChaCha without abiding by the provisions of the Constitution still supposed to be in use despite its being trashed by EDSA 2 is a crime. This should be put in the head of Filipinos, many of whom have not mattered I guess to read, even just scan, their Constitution. Too bad!

A challenge by the Supreme Court with a political appointee heading it is useless. My condolence to the people of the Republic of the Philippines! May it rest in peace!

Off topic but good information:

Post Office Thievery

By Antonio C. Abaya

Written Dec. 07, 2006

For the Standard Today,

December 09 issue

Today I am turning over this space to a Fil-Am reader of this column, Alberto Peronilla, who describes himself as “a nobody who wants to help the Philippines.” He has some legitimate complaints against the Philippine postal system, as well as against the Deutsche Bank. Hear him out.:

Why the Philippine Government Should Allow Thefts in the Postal System to Continue

I recently (November, 2006) sent a $100.00 check to an individual in the Philippines for the benefit of the children at Gawad Kalinga Paradise Heights. It should have been delivered by the Las Piñas Post Office, but somewhere along the way in the postal system in the Philippines, the check was stolen and cashed at Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas for the Bank of the Philippine Islands. a/c no. 04-002-070 CARMEN ROSALES branch. Ref. No. 063-X06-0365.

The one who cashed the check either had a dollar account with the bank and in this case the bank knows who the individual is, or the bank simply cashed the dollar check for anyone who walks into the bank. (I wonder what the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which supervises all banks in the Philippines, has to say about that.)

The crime happened in at least two places, the postal system and the bank. By tracing who cashed the check, an investigation may lead to which point in the postal system the theft occurred.

So I faxed/emailed my complaint with photocopy of the evidence to the Branch Manager of Deutsche Bank in Manila, to the Main Office of the bank in Germany and, on the government side, to GMA’s office, to senators, to the office of the Ombudsman, and to the Office of the Chairman of Governors of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Since he is my favorite political pundit, also to Tony C. Abaya. The fax machines of the Postmaster General and the Regional Director in Manila were off the hook but I will mail them a copy of this.

I have not heard back from anyone, which I expected, and the Ombudsman will only entertain a complaint if I give the name of at least one respondent, his location and his salary grade. This is just the filing. If they decide to entertain my complaint, I have to appear in the Ombudsman’s office with my evidence.

In the meantime, President Arroyo approves the proposal of a PHP 5.7 billion modernization project for the postal system which states that the new system will be operated by the same postal managers and employees, thereby guaranteeing no dislocation of any employees (including the thieves.)

Then the government issues a report consistent with the conclusion of private and international bodies that the Philippines has enjoyed quarter-by-quarter economic growth during the term of GMA.

Based on the above, I have changed my mind and now support and understand the decision of everyone who I corresponded with on why the thefts in the Postal System in the Philippines should continue; and to make sure that they not waste any more time to entertain my complaint, I am sending all of them a copy of this document. I wonder if some media will be interested in this document, but I will try.

By the way, if your bank is inconveniencing you by requiring positive identification when cashing a check, try Deutsche Bank.

Why this decision? First, by allowing some thieves in the postal system to steal, they are making sure that they do not fall below the poverty line, thus affecting the report of economic growth in the Philippines.

Second, since they are most probably stealing from people who are better of than they are economically, this is one way to promote the equalization of wealth.

And third, the honest postal employees should be thankful to the thieves among them that they too benefit from their being rewarded for their thievery to continue to operate the modern system. With the new system operated by the same thieves, thefts will now occur more efficiently and FASTER!

By: Alberto Peronilla – a nobody who wants to help the Philippines

*****

I understand your sense of frustration. The moral climate in this country is abyssmally bleak. Everyone who can seems to be trying to steal from everyone else. Your experience with the Post Office and Deutsche Bank is not unique.

Two relatives of mine who had accounts with a major American bank inexplicably stopped receiving their monthly bank statements. Only by chance did they discover, months later, that their bank statements were being mailed by the US bank to another address in Metro Manila, without their knowledge and authorization.

And after they had sorted that out, they discovered that their bank balances were short by several thousand dollars each.

Their cases indicate that crooks in the American bank’s Manila and/or San Francisco office were in cahoots with crooks in the postal system in Manila and/or San Francisco. There are many Filipino employees in both the banks and the post offices in San Francisco. With computers and instant communication, it is now so easy for crooks on both sides of the Pacific Ocean to coordinate and synchronize their moves. This is the globalization of thievery.

In your case, crooks in the postal system – in the Pasay City airmail distribution center, or in the receiving post office in Las Pinas – were clearly in connivance with crooks in the banking system, who facilitated the encashment of the check in Carmen, Rosales (Pangasinan?) It is even possible that the initial tip-off about your check came from a mole in the issuing bank in the US.

I had a similar, though more modest, brush with thievery in the postal system last October. And I was not even trying to help the Philippines, only a young boy – the son of my driver – who is enrolled in a small Protestant school in Bacolod. I airmailed a check, payable to the school, for his October tuition.

How naïve of me, however, to enclose with the check an ATM card for the use of his mother so that they can access the weekly stipend that the father – my driver – sends to them, without having to pay the P100 that banks charge for transferring money, any amount, from Metro Manila to Bacolod. With an ATM card to a Metro Manila account, I thought, they can access the weekly ‘padala’ without having to pay the onerous fee.

Alas, I did not reckon on postal thieves in either the sending post office in Paranaque or the receiving post office in Bacolod, who apparently “feel” the contents of each letter that passes their way and judge if there is anything worth stealing in it, such as an ATM card. Needless to say, that letter never reached the addressee.

Fortunately, the check can be cashed only by the school, and I specifically refrained from enclosing the PIN with the ATM card. So, nothing was lost except time and some anger and despair that this country has come to such a pass.

Despite occasional good news about an honest taxi driver, or airport security guard, or even an exceptionally incorruptible policemen, the prevailing portrait of the Filipino as social animal is one who has lost his moral moorings and is drifting towards the cataracts of moral decay.

It is easy to blame the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy for this failure, since they are the supposed moral and spiritual guardians of most Filipinos. But organized religions have long been marginalized by secularism, at least in the Christian world. While they still retain some influence in matters affecting rituals and dogma, they have lost gravitas in the matter of ethical behavior.

This is more the failure of the political leadership and the media, who, unwittingly acting together, have created a society devoid of moral values, or whose moral values have been corrupted by unfettered self-gratification and insatiable materialism. Only a moral revolution under a morally upright leader, it seems, is capable of righting this monumental wrong. *****

Reactions to tony_abaya@yahoo.com. Other articles since 2001 in http://www.tapatt.org

Anna:

I’m attending some rallies in SFO when I’m there. I plan to contact the group there spearheading the US chapter of the PPT. God willing, we will prevail.

I’m fasting against this Sunday for our advocacy and my safe trip. Prayers said from the heart will be heard I know.

Tira lang ng tira, dear friends. Huwag makinig sa mga nanginginig na ang mga tumbong na Internet Brigade ni Bansot. Kaya nga nang-iinis ang mga ungas. Sila ang inisin natin!!!

SOBRA NA, TAMA NA! PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA! HUWAG MATAKOT SA MGA KURAKOT!!! SIPAIN DIN SI JOE DEVILMAYAMNESIA! Sorry for saying bad words but to this Pangalatok, I say “Ukininam!”

Sinabi mo pa, Emilio, Anna. This postponement is just to prevent the foreign ministers to witness the growing sentiments against the Great Switik. And then these protests being augmented with the presence of foreign protesters, a lot many of whom have already flown to the Philippines kaya nga puno ang mga flights to the Philippines this December. Ill prepared pa kaya nag-check ang mga kano, et al. Nakita ang palpak, thus, the travel advisories.

Pero ang tindi ng kapal ng mukha ng isang ito talaga!
PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!