Visa denied, justice is served

Our insiders with the US Department of Justice reported that there is a law banning the entry of foreign government officials who are suspected of, or charged with, graft and corruption. US Presidential Proclamation 7750 was promulgated because the United States did not want to be regarded as a country giving asylum to foreign leaders who are facing charges of corruption, like what happened with Marcos and the Shah of Iran. PP 7750 is actually called the "No Safe Haven" program, which has been effective in making these government officials "cooperate," as in the case of a former Nicaraguan tax chief who went ballistic after discovering that his privilege to travel to the US had been cancelled. The cancellation resulted in the uncovering of a massive 2002 scandal that earned former Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Aleman a 20-year prison term. The US Consular Affairs Bureau estimates that more than 250 senior foreign officials have lost their visas through PP 7750, revised in January 2004 which expanded the powers of the State Department to deny or revoke visas under a "reason to believe" standard. Under the rule, those who have not yet been convicted or who have not done anything illegal in the United States but are nevertheless suspected of engaging in or benefiting from corruption may have their visas denied. Jocelyn "Joc Joc" Bolante’s visa has definitely been cancelled and he is expected to be deported or sent to a third country. If one can recall, Joseph Estrada requested for a visa to undergo medical treatment in the US a couple of years ago, but his request was denied ostensibly because the US government could not guarantee his security. In reality, it was strictly PP 7750 at work. Some snoops however have satirically remarked that Joc Joc may be in "good company" considering that a lot of VIPs, mostly Latin Americans, have had their visas denied as well.

Perilous project

Spybiz informants residing near a condominium project built within the L-Belt area in Quezon City reported that a 400-kg slab allegedly fell on the roof of one of the nearby houses several months ago, almost killing a sleeping resident. A cease-and-desist order was initially issued against the developer but it was recently lifted, yet the victims have not been compensated to date. What’s more, the developer allegedly has several violations, among them the lack of sufficient safety measures, using a crane of questionable safety and without proper documentation. This perilous flagship project with a queenly sounding name is being touted as a stylish yet affordable residence, but it looks like the still uncompensated victims are the ones who have lost a decent residence.

Dyslexic death doc

While the Philippines is saddled with embarrassing scandals in the nursing profession with news of leaks and substandard schools, the United States has a harrowing tale about a dyslexic doctor. Last month, a US district judge had ordered the suspension of executions after reports surfaced that the 62-year-old doctor handling the lethal injections for Missouri has a bevy of malpractice cases filed against him. A review of the execution logs revealed that the anesthesia prepared for a convict, whose sentence was stayed, contained only half the required dose, and when administered, would have caused excruciating pain. The doc then admitted he was dyslexic and at times transposed numbers, resulting in improperly prepared doses.

Spy tidbiz: Another spam scam

Spammers have found a new way to go around firewalls, blocks, black lists, white lists and other regulation meant to protect your inbox from unsolicited email. A latest annoyance is the proliferation of emails claiming hot new stocks and investments from obscure sounding companies. Recipients are urged to get into the action because the opportunity to make a neat profit is limited, something like strike-while-the-iron-is-hot kind of message. What’s especially disturbing is that domain names used by these hackers as the return address are real, and the trick seems to be easy to do because they just put someone else’s domain name on the email header. It’s virtually impossible to stop these spammers, so it’s simpler to just leave the mail unopened and delete it if you are not familiar with the sender.

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