Boracay needs further government intervention

(Conclusion)

Here’s to conclude our short story on Boracay–insights we gathered during a three-day workshop held there recently by "a family of journalists" involved in motoring, business and lifestyle concerns, which was arranged by the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) under the able stewardship of its energetic general manager, Mr. Nixon T. Kua with the full cooperation of the airline that most conveniently services the island’s visitors, Asian Spirit, through its dynamic vice president, Mr. Jack Po and the airline’s charming and very efficient sales and marketing head Ms. Ling Ling Rodriguez.

Filipino hospitality oozed as the journalists were warmly accommodated at the top hotels and resorts of the island namely; Sea Wind Resort, Waling-Waling Beach Hotel, Jony’s Beach Resort and Gold Crowne Club while food and drinks flowed at Casa Pilar Beach Resort, The Sun Village Boracay Resorts and at Willy’s Beach Resort. There was even time for some journalists to experience a holistic approach to well-being by way of spirit-cleansing massage and other exotic services at the now very famous Mandala Spa.

Clockwork efficiency all throughout the workshop was impeccably arranged by Ms. Jane Jarabe (I still have to see the picture she took of me at the Mandala Spa while being fantastically worked on–face down thank heavens!) who was ably assisted by Ms. Aileen Macadangdang and other efficient local staff of the PTA.

One of the main objectives of the workshop was to find out how Manila-based media could help further promote what many now consider as an island paradise–Boracay.

During one of the highlights of the workshop, we were apprised by two of the pillars of the Boracay Foundation, the umbrella organization of the different associations of businessmen and residents of this world-renowned tourist destination on its needs and directions. The tandem included the foundation’s present president, Mr. Jony Salme, owner of Jony’s Beach resort and Mr. J. Carlos Remedios, president of Boracay’s major ice plant, Sand & Ice, Inc.

After everything has been said, the main focus of Boracay’s need, as boldly underscored by the foundation’s representatives to the workshop, was to have an exclusive "management authority" similar to the Subic Bay Management Authority, appointed by the government to orchestrate the entire operations of Boracay.

It is the belief of the Boracay Foundation members that a Management Authority could prevent the "kanya-kanya" and "bara-bara" way of running things in the island. It could set the right directions for the island’s conduct of business, formulate policies to meet the set directions and ensure their implementation.

Considering the natural scheme of things, business would always try to cash in on the island’s popularity and resources. The presence of a Management Authority could always make sure that the island keeps its business viability by preserving its resources and managing them for the long haul.

This is why those in the thick of the tourism business in Boracay are clamoring for further government intervention. According to most businessmen who we had the chance to talked to during our three-day sojourn, in what many travelers consider as one of the top five tourist destinations in the world, the Boracay Environmental Infrastructure Project initiated by the government through the Philippine Tourism Authority has done wonders to solve some of the present major problems of water supply and sewage disposal of the island, but in the long run, the presence of a Management Authority would ensure its continued success.

Boracay Management Authority–the way to go?

Update on the BPI ATM scam

It is our concern to keep our readers updated on a scam involving the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) ATM system, which may very well also involve other ATM systems of other banks. The heist, which some BPI insiders confided as being named the "Lebanese Scam" seems to have been in existence for quite sometime now, to the full knowledge of many in the banking system.

To refresh your memories, I have written some weeks back of an actual incident where a BPI depositor lost more than P80,000 over a single weekend through the BPI ATM system. The victim attempted to withdraw cash on a Sunday, from one of the BPI ATM machines located in Sucat, Parañaque but was advised by the machine that it was not dispensing cash at that time. The advice came after the victim had inserted the ATM card and had keyed in all the required information for the cash withdrawal. Well, to cut a long story short, the details of which I had already written in this column some weeks past, the victim failed to retrieve the card from the machine. When the incident was reported the following day, a Monday, the victim was informed that the ATM card that was "swallowed" by the BPI ATM machine was nowhere to be found and a substantial amount of cash have already been withdrawn from the account from different ATM machines. It was further confided to the victim by one of the clerks in that particular branch that the victim’s case was already the fourth reported.

Now, for a while it looked like BPI would not just leave one of its depositors by the wayside, victimized by a scam that seems to have been known to the bank, when the victim was called upon on the phone by a BPI executive to get more details about the incident.

But to the disappointment and consternation of all those who have been intensely following up on the incident, most especially the victim, days after the phone call, the victim was sent a letter by the BPI, which tended to firmly say that it was impossible for anyone to withdraw cash from their system without knowing the PIN of the depositor. This letter immediately brought to mind several questions as to what’s really between its lines.

How, BPI thinks, did all that cash vanish from the account?

Was the BPI casting doubts on the integrity of the victim, hinting that what was reported was not at all true?

Is the BPI now making the victim a goat for the security systems failure in their ATM operations by way of this "Lebanese Scam", which has been admitted by some BPI insiders to be known to them for sometime?

Is the BPI skirting the responsibility of answering for the losses of this victimized depositor in order to avoid answering to similar victims who may have also fallen prey to the security lapse in their ATM system?

In case some people are getting the wrong ideas about this depiction, I would like to make it clear that my prime purpose is to inform our readers about this peril in the ATM system for their own protection and alarm. I have no intention to malign the integrity of BPI, being myself a long-time trusting depositor of this prestigious bank.

However I find it my prime duty as a journalist to make known the realities of BPI’s banking system or possibly the entire country’s, for the protection of the populace, especially during these hard times. Hard-earned savings are entrusted to banks and making them face the possibility of vanishing due to systems lapses or inadequacies or the lack of warning or caution as to their presence is not in the best interest of the general banking public.

Next week, we shall give way to some of our readers’ own sad banking experiences (if you have any of your own, pls. feel free to write) and a reader’s rebuttal (and possibly also that of an ATM operations expert) to BPI’s claim regarding the integrity of their PIN.

Mabuhay! Be proud to be a Filipino!!!

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