Cook these troublemakers

National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) chairman Benedicto Ernesto Bitonio Jr. and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Rosalinda Baldoz should take note of the names Federico Moreno Jr., Bernard Natin and Felicito Hokon because these three are said to be giving a bad name to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The trio signed up for a job with the Rarotongan Beach Resort and Spa located in the Cook Islands with clear terms of agreement and compensations stated in their signed contracts. Within days of arriving, however, the three started causing trouble, allegedly demanding more money which the management naturally refused. Moreno then disappeared and went AWOL while Nantin and Hokon resigned but had the temerity to stay holed up in the hotel. Despite the aggravation, the management even reportedly made sure Hokon and Nantin were decently treated and fed. According to sources, local authorities eventually intervened and after police hunted down Moreno, the three were sent back home with the Rarotongan Beach Resort paying for their airfares and money for travel expenses, and sufficiently compensated for the short stint they had with the company. We heard the trio had filed a case of unfair labor dismissal against the resort — and how this plays out will be closely watched by other resort operators in the South Pacific region. Baldoz and OWWA head Marianito Roque should look closely into the case, because these three might just jeopardize the chances of hundreds of other OFWs getting hired in other Cook Islands resorts.

Trail of corruption leads to Hong Kong?

Our Hong Kong Spy-ring picked up news reports from The Standard and the South China Morning Post that the Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles (RMBSA) law firm in the Crown Colony is working doubly hard to quash the search warrant that allowed the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong to raid its RMBSA Corporate Services office in April. Judge Michael Hartmann has given the law firm temporary reprieve by allowing the documents seized during the ICAC raid to remain sealed in the meantime. RMBSA said the seized confidential documents are protected by legal professional privilege. The raid came on the heels of a request for assistance by the Department of Justice (DOJ), making many suspect that the RMBSA was raided because it was holding Piatco documents. It can be recalled that GMA once called RMBSA senior partner Dick Romulo "the Piatco lawyer." It can also be recalled that last year, two Philippine firms in Hong Kong said to be set up by the RMBSA for Alfredo Liongson and whose office addresses is the same as the law firm’s were dissolved in 2004 by an RMBSA lawyer. Liongson was said to be the public relations consultant of Piatco, who showed tax receipts for the $2 million he reportedly earned from the consortium but was actually a part of the $425 million advanced to Piatco by Fraport — which wants to recover the money from the government. Could it be that the trail of one of the biggest internationally known corruption scandals — the NAIA Terminal 3 — could end up in Hong Kong? Let’s see what happens next.

Illegals clogging plush subdivisions

A lot of Koreans who reportedly don’t have long-term visas are clogging high-end subdivisions in Ortigas and Makati. The alleged illegals are said to be paying exorbitant rents because they reportedly sublease the rooms to other Koreans who are mostly students. By the time they are finished with the lease, they then leave the house in total disarray, to the dismay of the owners who thought they were getting the better end. Informants also reported that these Koreans are reportedly buying raw materials like abaca fibers directly from sources in the provinces and shipping these in bulk to Korea. Perhaps the Bureau of Immigration might want to go around these subdivisions and check out if these foreigners have valid papers or not.

A little help for fishermen

Some businessmen are reportedly getting frustrated at the refusal of some banks to extend microfinancing assistance to fishermen. A businessman who is a direct factory importer of marine electronics, Global Positioning Systems, fishfinders and the like — whose prices are in the same as cellphones but still represent a sizeable investments to fishermen — tried to arrange for microfinancing assistance for his buyers, explaining his objective. To his surprise, several banks he reportedly approached like the Rang-ai bank and the Land Bank of the Philippines both in La Union, as well as the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines all gave him the same answer — they don’t give micro-financing to fishermen. Perhaps these banks might want to reconsider and listen to the proposal of concerned entrepreneurs to give our fisherfolk, not just farmers, a chance to make their lives better with a little help.

* * *

Join our ring of Eye-spies by sending your intelligence information, complaints, pictures, and comments to [email protected].

All information will be strictly confidential.