Be a ‘RED’ for half a million

What government agency allegedly harasses many of its regional executive directors (REDs) to vacate their positions so as to eventually "sell" their posts? This government agency’s secretary and undersecretaries, our ear-spy overheard, have been allegedly selling plantilla positions, especially the highly-coveted Regional Executive Director’s post, for half a million pesos each. The strategy is to badger the regional executive directors to vacate their positions even if they are not yet up for retirement. According to our ear-spies, this includes closed-door meetings with the secretary and undersecretaries. If that doesn’t work, the legal department steps in with a filed case against the victims of harassment. On the other hand, those in the department who are aspiring for the regional executive director’s post but are not listed in the "Half-A-Million Club" will be given the position but with a "floating" status, and with a signed agreement that the person will vacate the position in a few weeks. Worse, if you are one of those who are being forced to resign, members of your family who are also working in this government agency will be forced to resign too. What goes around, comes around, and this department secretary, if found guilty, should be jailed.

A Victor‘S Downfall

Formerly a very successful businessman in the sealines and forwarding industry, this well-known industrialist is now being left out in the cold even by his most avid followers and loyal colleagues. Our ear-spies overheard that this person’s forwarding business will shut down soon as it continues to lose money. He is allegedly paying a huge amount of accumulated debt since the days when he was a key partner of the Gothong and Aboitiz families. What is worse, those being retrenched in the forwarding company’s supposed "downsizing" efforts will only get 50-percent of retrenchment benefits. Word inside the industry is that this is karma. He allegedly used the money of the sealines for his own business ventures without his partners knowing it. In the end, a huge amount of debt fell on his lap, for him to shoulder alone. It’s a sad development indeed for this one time Cebu great. But then again, what can you expect when you try to make a quick buck behind your partners‚ back?

Three Musketeers And A Widow

How can this 93-year-old widow defend herself against the Three Musketeers – a bank president, a well-connected real estate magnate, and a high-powered investment banker who are badgering her for her property? According to our ear-spies, the three musketeers were able to successfully get a Break Open order for the property of the old widow, and thereafter, insisted to demolish her museum containing priceless Philippine historical artifacts, and to throw a victory party at that! Our banking industry ear-spy said the banker never notified the owner of the property that the bank would foreclose. What supposedly happened was that the banker and the real estate magnate, were the latter won by P100K over the bank’s bid, auctioned the property in great haste. Right now, light posts have been nailed to the ground and the wires illegally tapped into the widow’s next-door neighbor, who turns out to be one of the Three Musketeers!

Hide And Seek

Rumor has it in the sea lanes that the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), particularly its Transport Committee, is selling the country short, especially local shipping lines that ply the domestic sea routes. According to our industry spyring, the study that PCCI presented two years ago which claims that shipping goods from Manila-Singapore is cheaper than shipping goods from Manila-Davao is basically selective data and does not give a full picture of the situation. The Philippine Interisland Shipping Association reacted to the claims of PCCI by unbundling the costs, and saying it is not advisable to let foreign shipping lines to come and barge in Philippine freight routes as a solution. It is said that the figures presented were not comparable since the Manila-Davao freight rate included terminal handling and documentation costs while Manila-Singapore rate was purely ocean freight handling. We can only take a wild guess why certain figures like terminal handling charges, documentation fees, and bunker adjustment factor as charged by foreign shipping lines were supposedly left hidden from the public.

Serious Business For FPJ

According to our ear-spies, the public wouldn’t believe how many businessmen are now supporting the candidacy of Fernando Poe Jr. It is almost certain that he will not only get the support of the lower class, but also that of the the upper crust of society who are now lining up to place their bets on him. Businessmen are looking at FPJ as a short-term, interim president before government spins to a parliamentary form. In fact, even former political rivals are coming together to support Fernando Poe’s campaign. This is definitely the start of some serious business for FPJ.

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