From scams, piracy to ghost payrolls?

I should be jumping with joy with the latest news that once again the allies of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) and even the minority are pushing for a Charter Change (Cha-cha) this time via a Constitutional Convention (con-con). This is something that I have always batted for since I became a journalist 21 years ago. Unfortunately we have been burned too many times, which is why I view this latest attempt with guarded skepticism. Perhaps the whole trouble stems from the fact that all the attempts to do a Cha-cha are filled with ugly ulterior and selfish political motives.

If we need to do a con-con, it must be for the noblest of reasons. But then we succumb to that age old dictum, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions!” Let’s take this proposal step by step and find out if the people who want cha-cha do not have any hidden agenda. Let us start the discussion first on term limits. I propose going back to the tried and tested four years plus a single re-election for another four years for our elective officials. If we can agree on this, then let’s move on to the next order of business.

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When will Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza learn that we have laws and international protocols that we must obey? We live in an international community that creates laws for all to follow. The reason why I’m pointing this out is because of the article we wrote last week about the piracy that the City of Lapu-Lapu had committed when it bought those infamous 470 computers from Kein Enterprises, which apparently were run on unlicensed or “pirated” software from Microsoft.

It’s bad enough that those computers were bought at an extremely high price for a Celeron run computer which should have cost only P17,500 per unit as per the printed advertisement of Kein Enterprises in their store. But the City of Lapu-Lapu paid a king’s ransom for these computers, which now we are told apparently uses “pirated” software. Wow! From corruption to piracy?

In her letter to Mr. Efrain Pelaez, Ms. Rebecca Ho of Microsoft said, “Our records show that both these keys have been blocked pursuant to Microsoft’s anti-piracy policies. You should immediately remove the unlicensed programs from your system (s) and take immediate steps to legalize the use of these Microsoft products. We would be happy to assist the Chamber to investigate into the supplier of these unauthorized Microsoft programs if you provide us with further details, e.g. copy of paid invoices for the Microsoft products or the systems that came installed with these programs.”

This letter tells us that if the City of Lapu-Lapu insists on using those computers, then operatives of the International Proprietary Rights (IPR) led by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) can swoop down on the City of Lapu-Lapu and seize those computers using illegal or pirated software. Then everyone loses! So I suggest that City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez act quickly before the NBI wakes up and do a raid in Lapu-Lapu City. I gathered that the latest on the computer scam was that the Office of the Ombudsman has already upgraded this into a criminal and administrative case. If this is true, then when will the wheels of Justice move?

Meanwhile, the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (MICCI) wrote to inform me that they just filed another case at the Office of the Ombudsman last Dec.3, 2007 against the Lapu-Lapu City Hall employees assigned in barangays that were unjustly treated by not giving them their full salaries, yet these people still had to sign those payroll sheets. Are we looking at a ghost payroll here?

Attached was also Mr. Pelaez’s letter to Ombudsman Pelagio S. Apostol to investigate the alleged anomalous government payroll, including affidavits signed by a Carmencita G. Dungog from Eskina, Basak, Lapu-Lapu City who was hired from Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2004 and was made to sign a contract/agreement with a monthly salary of P3,000. Yet, she only receives P1,000 a month. So who is pocketing the P2,000? If you add 30 or so complainants, that’s a big amount of money that someone is profiting (tax free) from the poor. Shame on that person. I hope that Mayor Radaza had no hand in this recent revelation that someone from the City of Lapu-Lapu was skimming money off its employees.

But how can we tell if the mayor was involved in this or not? I can only reckon that we would know of this if the mayor himself would order an investigation on this alleged anomalous practice. But if he shrugs and turns a blind eye on this, just like the way he never answered the media about the complaints thrown to him on the computer scam, then one can wonder that the mayor may be involved in this latest shenanigan.