Philippine Chamber of Politics

Who is the head of one of the committees of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry who allegedly doesn’t know anything about the task of his committee other than to sit on his chair? To expand his horizons, according to our ear-spies, he got as his consultant a person, who, like himself, has a convoluted view of what his task is all about. Now that the elections for president of PCCI is just around the corner, Mr. Benchwarmer and his consultant are actively campaigning to get less than 650 votes in the coming PCCI presidential bid. Why run for president and choose to get less votes? So he could be assured of getting a status quo decision from PCCI officials. According to our ear-spies, that’s the only way he could stay in his post and "defeat" a very strong contender for the presidency. Our ear-spies overheard that this strong contender is out to introduce numerous structural and operational changes in the organization. Latest word is: The incumbents are all shaking in their boots because this lady contender is said to mean business.

Subdivision Mafia

One of our eye-spies was scheduled to go to the NAIA, and the easiest way to the airport is through the Multinational Village. However, as he was about to enter the main gate of the village, he was stopped by the security guard where he was "forced" to dish out a P20 entrance fee. At that point, he remembered an exposé done by ABS-CBN about the issue of extortion in some subdivision gates, particularly in Multinational Village, but it seems the money-making scheme is still on-going. With hundreds of cars going in and out of the gates, you can just imagine the thick clump of money that goes in the pockets of some unprincipled officials of the homeowners association. According to our ear-spies, the same money-making scheme used to be the "rule of thumb" in the main gates of BF Homes Parañaque City up until a new lawyer-president of UBFHAI stopped the exorbitant "tax collection" at the gates. Because of the new president’s good deed, he is now facing a nuisance lawsuit from some unscrupulous members of the UBFHAI board. The 20-peso question is: Why isn’t the HLURB doing something about this issue?

GMA’s Titanic

With strong indications that Fernando Poe Jr. will run for president in 2004, some key people in GMA’s presidential campaign ship are allegedly thinking of taking the life rafts to paddle their way quietly and slowly to the FPJ cruise ship. Our ear-spies overheard that some of GMA’s "trusted" advisers are thinking of taking a behind-the-scenes cruise with FPJ until they’re sure of the film actor’s intentions for 2004. Then, they will come out in the open and declare their loyalty to "The King," leaving their Queen to chill out in the cold. Until then, some of these advisers will try to get the best of both worlds – the supposed promised posts by both GMA and FPJ. According to our ear-spies, this is not only happening in the GMA camp, but also in the camp of Ping Lacson and Raul Roco. This is one exodus even Moses should be wary about.

Pay-Per-Inquiry

"For paid directory assistance, please call 187 for only P3 per inquiry." Dial 114 and this is what you will get – a pay-per-inquiry service from PLDT. According to our ear-spies, there are now a number of raised eyebrows questioning the paid directory assistance scheme of the telephone company. Is this one of PLDT’s scheme to raise more money to augment their annual financial target? According to one group, the P3 fee is not at all the issue because it is a very small amount. What was offensive, according to the group, is the subtle and allegedly underhanded way it was broached and introduced to the public. Since owners of telephones are virtual "stakeholders" in the company, shouldn’t it be standard operational procedure to, first and foremost, consult the public about the project? Just asking...

* * *

Join our ring of eye-spies by sending your comments and intelligence information at [email protected].

All info will be strictly confidential.