DOJ resolve

The large-scale estafa charges filed by the consumer group Nasecore against the board members of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) should not be taken lightly.

The prognosis in legal and business circles is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) appears to have a firm resolve to make sure that the Nasecore case would prosper.

The first indication was the waiver of the filing fee given to Nasecore by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez himself.

The second was the decision of the DOJ secretary to have the preliminary investigation of the charges done in Cagayan de Oro City, far from Meralco’s Metro Manila service area.

It will be recalled that the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had earlier warned Meralco that they are set to file the large-scale estafa case. The view is that the move of the GSIS proved auspicious. It allowed for a waiver of some P8.9 million in filing fees, plus the bonus of having a consumer group collide with a business giant.

The designated lead in the preliminary investigation is Regional State Prosecutor Jaime Umpa. Umpa used to be an assistant prosecutor of Iloilo where he made a name by ensuring that graft charges were filed against Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas, a political nemesis of the Justice Secretary. He was also formerly assistant provincial prosecutor of Pampanga where he is best remembered as having filed the charges against Dating Daan leader Eliseo Soriano, the prime nemesis of the Iglesia ni Cristo.

Among those charged by Nasecore, together with Meralco chair Manolo Lopez, former Comelec chair Christian Monsod, Meralco president Jess Francisco, banker OV Espiritu, business leader Washington Sycip and former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, is a young lawyer named Arthur Defensor Jr., reportedly a highly-popular Iloilo provincial board member. Defensor is touted as a shoo-in in the next elections for whatever elective post he might run for. Unfortunately for the young Defensor, a former Meralco independent director, he is reportedly the godson of Tupas.

Defensor is also the fraternity brod in the UP Sigma Rho of Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico, and another Ilonggo political leader, former Senate President Franklin Drilon who is very close to the young Defensor’s father, Arthur Defensor Sr., the House Majority Floor leader.

These political circumstances dictate that Meralco take the Nasecore case very, very seriously.

Shell-shocked consumer

Here’s the deal: I used to be a typical consumer. The ATM-to-the-counter girl, especially when it’s payday and my body’s screaming for a brand new something to ease my tensions through the weekend.

But things may soon change. No, it’s not maturity that thundered through my senses one weekend. It was more like a ship that docked into the very heart of my wallet, a sort of wave that rocked my financial core.

I was strolling over to the food court at the Edsa Shangri-La Mall, looking to ease my hunger when a model in Lara Croft clothes handed me a brochure. She walked out of a ship-booth with the sunny logo of an insurance company printed on the side. I was going to feign interest but the model invited me to board the ship for a chance to instantly win an iPod.

That ship-booth must be the most technologically advanced one I ever boarded in a mall. There were portable Eee PCs around and I overheard a guy asking if the popular and nifty gadgets were on sale. I was calculating the number of paychecks I needed to get my hands on one of those when I was invited to take some sort of online challenge. I get to try out the laptop with a chance to win a trip to the Bahamas. Sweet deal!

Turned out I got more than I bargained for, in a good way. The online challenge kicked off with a male version of Dora the Explorer — the guy called himself Miguel and he said today’s economy was full of opportunities. 

But what really got my attention was the financial quiz that projected how much money I needed to fund my retirement– close to P20 million if I wanted to maintain my current lifestyle and assuming inflation rates remained the same. The numbers ate away my hunger and left me asking how I could muster such an amount.

People at the booth offered me some pretty good alternatives and I might just put part of my paycheck there.

As a young and single worker, I was advised to consider investing in a mutual fund in order to maximize my money’s potential to grow. One of their funds earned 136 percent in just five years!

I was not lucky enough to pick the iPod for an instant prize (although I brought home a vest and I still have my fingers crossed for the Bahamas trip). But, I feel lucky enough to have visited the ship-in-a-mall as it forced the issue of my future on me. At least now, I have my priorities straight. Now that’s what I can consider a good marketing strategy at work. Congratulations to the brains behind the project!   

Not so Hidden Agenda

This insurance company affiliated with a leading bank known for assuring customers of being in good hands is proving it is dead serious in the conduct of its corporate social responsibility. Just recently, the company’s senior management team spent the whole morning in its own Gawad Kalinga Village in Novaliches, this time, to turn over its newly-constructed three-story Learning and Development Centre, which will benefit both kids and adults alike in the area. The Learning & Development Centre aims to serve as an educational facility for pre-school classes, as well as an integrated venue for adult livelihood training, values formation, and learning the basics of financial planning. The school building project was a follow on project to the company’s home building campaign, which produced 40 GK houses. To complement the building of the educational facility, the company also conducted a school supplies drive among its employees, who all gamely participated in the drive. Here’s another marketing campaign that does people a lot of good.

For comments, e-mail at [email protected]