Counting on P-Noy's promise

The people who voted for Noynoy Aquino as president of the Republic expect so much from him, especially in terms of ridding the government of graft and corruption.

So when somebody who was already found no less by than the Supreme Court as having committed a violation of the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act is reappointed to government by President Noynoy, then the people have the right to complain.

What makes matters worse, observers note, is that this person was named to the customs bureau, the most corrupt agency undisputably.

P-Noy has appointed as deputy commissioner on intelligence service of the Bureau of Customs former Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) administrator Prudencio Reyes.

For illegally reassigning and ‘making life difficult’ for four subordinates who accused him of graft, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Court of Appeals and, ultimately, the Supreme Court found Reyes guilty of grave abuse of discretion and graft since said reassignments “were not in order, were tainted with bad faith, and constituted constructive dismissal tantamount to bad faith [and] diminution of ranks.”

For his infraction, the Tribunal imposed a penalty of one year suspension, or, alternatively, a fine equivalent to one-year salary ‘if said official has [already] been separated from the service.

Having been appointed to the powerful position of deputy commissioner for intelligence and enforcement, customs personnel are concerned over how the high-handed official will carry out his functions which include, among others, “gathering intelligence information related to customs and other economic activities; internal inquiries and investigations, and exercise of police authority.”

The SC ruled that considering that the oppression committed by Reyes was not a simple one, but was in response to the respondents filing of an anti-graft complaint against the petitioner, the penalty should reflect the graft-related origin of the case and should be in the maximum degree.

For someone who has placed the fight against graft and corruption at the center of his platform of government, it is disappointing that President Aquino wittingly or unwittingly appointed someone who has had a history of graft.

Another rotten egg?

Speaking of another egg that threatens to spoil the entire basket.

Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres, also assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) does not look like she is well-loved by her subordinates.

They “demoralized officers of LTO” as they would call their group and composed of directors, assistant directors, and division chiefs of the agency, recently wrote a letter addressed to CSC chairman Francisco Duque III wherein they pointed out that an assistant secretary position calls for career service executive officer (CESO) eligibility.

They said that to be headed by an outsider who is not even a division chief (Torres was a senior transportation and regulatory officer (STRO) with salary grade 18 and was appointed to a position with Salary Grade 29) and who has cases in the Ombudsman and an unresolved case with the NBI is demoralizing.

The group added that Torres is not intellectually prepared to meet the challenges of an agency closely watched by the public.

Torres was put in the limelight recently after allegedly taking sides in an intra-corporate dispute involving Stradcom, LTO’s information technology provider.

Last Dec. 9, scores of security guards raided the IT firm’s office inside the LTO compound in Quezon City, and were accompanied by Torres and her head executive assistant, Menelia Mortel, as shown by CCTV footage. 

When the Department of Justice began its investigation this week, Torres was a no-show.

A report by the LTO’s security agency, Urduja Security Services, showed that Torres and Mortel had prior knowledge of the planned take-over of the Stradcom office.

The same report revealed that Torres and Mortel called Urduja’s officials to a meeting the day before to tell them to desist from helping Stradcom’s own security guards should another group come in to take control of the building.

Since she took over the LTO, she has been involved in controversy after controversy. First was her decision to shift to a paper-based driver’s license which allegedly clearly favored a particular bidder, then she got involved in the illegal takeover of Stradcom.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has promised to get to the bottom of the Stradcom controversy. The concerned LTO officials are hoping that the investigation should not be limited to this particular controversy, but should also include others involving Torres.

Torres was reportedly personally chosen by the President for the top LTO post. Unfortunately, the President seems to have made another bad choice.

Unparalleled success

When I received last week an invitation to a book launch, I was less than thrilled. I get a lot of invites to launches – be it books or new real estate projects – and I seldom go. Once you go to one, you have to go to all, lest I be accused of playing favorites.

But this was no ordinary book launch. The author was a reluctant one. It was only after some convincing from her eldest son and Solid Group president David that businesswoman extraordinaire Elena Sen Lim agreed to compile her short stories into a book.

Apart from national artist and People Power Monument creator Eduardo Castrillo’s pen and ink illustration of Elena which he calls “A Circle of Light” and which appears on the cover, what is it about this book, entitled “I Am What I Am, Politically Incorrect,” that sets it apart form others.

Let me quote from retired Supreme Court Justice Isagani Cruz who in his foreword noted that the book “is simply a record of one woman’s efforts to rouse her race from the obsolete patterns of the past that have shackled it in unresisting complacency.”

For those who didn’t know, Elena launched a marketing crusade for a People’s Car against what she calls the powerful Japanese automotive cartel which failed to provide the middle and lower classes affordable mobility.

Solid Corp., which used to manufacture Sony television, was also responsible for making Sony TVs not only number one in the Philippines but also number one in exports without any investments from Sony Corp. of Japan. Unfortunately, Sony implemented a global disenfranchisement of its manufacturers and distributors and took over Solid’s operations.

Solid also established the pioneering Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP) in joint venture with Samsung Corp. It was also one of the biggest exporters of black tiger prawns to Japan. In her book, Elena said the Japanese did not like black tiger prawns for their color and she had to personally go to Japan to demonstrate how they would turn to red when cooked. Today, because of Filipino ingenuity, black tiger prawns have become accepted worldwide.

Elena herself pointed out that she has been much publicized as a business maverick who made things happen in a man’s world and who was neither intimidated by entrenched vested interests nor government institutions and national leadership. This perception, she said, is pretty accurate because she did try to live as she talked, and then trusted God to pick up the pieces. And most of the time, God did.

The book, she says, is really all about what it took for an honest-to-goodness entrepreneur to start from scratch.

The book launch and the concert (featuring Sarah Geronimo, Piolo Pascual, and Christian Bautista) that followed it had an overflowing attendance. More than 600 people trooped to Makati Shangrila’s grand ballroom to witness the event. I saw Vice President Jojo Binay, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, former President Fidel Ramos and wife Ming, Senators Ed Angara and Serge Osmena, Manila Mayor Fred Lim, Winnie and Christian Monsod, former Central Bank Gov. Gabby Singson, former Finance Secretary Gary Teves, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Art Panganiban, Bayani Fernando, Senator Dick Gordon, Automatic Centre owner Benito Lim, former PCCI president Samie Lim, BIR commissioner Kim Henares, ABS-CBN chairman Gabby Lopez, GMA Network chairman Atty. Felipe Gozon, and TV5 president Ray Espinosa, Digitel president James Go, Digitel Mobile CEO Charles Lim, former PNP chief Gen. Edgardo Aglipay, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata and wife Joy, Gen. Salvador Mison, Rapa Lopa of the Aquino Foundation, ZTE whistleblower Jun Lozada, Shenzhen Tinno Mobile’s James Lin, Ambassador Albert del Rosario, PLDT senior vice president Eric Alberto, GMA’s Joel Jimenez, Samsung’s Peter Park, UE president Ester Albano-Garcia, UE’s marketing executive director Jess Tanchangco, Raffy Alunan, former Procter and Gamble president Johnip Cua, and of course, Solid Group patriarch Joseph Lim, David’s wife Julia, Elena’s son Jason Lim and wife Dimple, daughter Susan and her husband George, Elena’s youngest Vincent and wife Judy, and Elena’s grandchildren.

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