8 June 2009
Below are photos I took in the Senate of the victims of the pre-need industry fiasco in the Philippines and of Dubai bus drivers and their families.
The two Senate hearings were conducted by the committees of Senator Mar Roxas and Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
Pre-Need Industry Victims and SEC Officials
Attending the Senate Committee Hearing
Chaired by Senator Mar Roxas
May 28, 2009
Assisted by the Ople Policy Center,
Dubai Bus Drivers & Their Families
Victims of Recruitment and Lending Scams
Attending the Senate Hearing Chaired
By Senator Jinggoy Estrada
June 3, 2009
Our nation are hurting and our people need help. The SEC, for the first time, has shown encouraging signs of heeding my suggestion of holding a pre-need industry conference to find long-term solutions to the problems besetting the industry and short-term ones that may give some relief to distressed planholders and beneficiaries.
The collapse of big pre-need companies have left many parents who invested in the pension plans and educational plans empty-handed thus jeopardizing the chance to study of millions of Filipino children. The Legacy scandal has rocked the nation and deprived investors of hundreds of millions of pesos in investments.
There are, if not mistaken, 67 or 68 bus drivers still left stranded in Dubai. They can't pay the P3.6 million overstaying fees that's been slapped against them by the Dubai government and they don't have money to pay their plane fares back home. On top of that, the lending company from whom they were made to borrow money to pay placement fee to the recruiter is now running after them.
Let's do all that we can to help our OFWs and the victims of the pre-need industry fiasco in the Philippines.
More on this when I return. (Please drop back again; I'll try to tell more about the stories behind these pictures when I return.)
VIDEO UPDATE
9 June 2009
I've located the ABS-CBN video clip showing the wives of stranded drivers in Dubai seeking the help of our government for their quick return home. The bus drivers and their families here are being assisted by the Ople Policy Center.
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It’s 3:25pm, March 9, 2009. I just finished watching the I’d say that this is a pivotal moment in Philippine consumerism history.
Hooray to Mr. Philip Piccio and the entire PEP Coalition. Mabuhay kayo mga bro! In spite of your own problems, you still managed to help expose more of the underhanded tricks in this entire Legacy scam. Astig talaga mga Pinoy!
Hindi po ako personal na apektado ng CAP or Pacific or Legacy but I’m nevertheless very much concerned because the underlying reason for this entire mess is unmitigated negligence by people in government like those in the SEC who did not do their job failed to protect the interest of the people who invested in these pre-need plans — the very people who are paying them their salaries as government officials. Doubly ironic!
We all need to join hands to promote truth, justice, good governance and fair treatment of consumers and the hapless parents in this country. Right now, many schools are poised to raise their tuition fees even in the face of an open appeal for a tuition fee moratorium by DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus, a call backed up by no less than the Archbishop of Manila.
I have posted an article in my blog about this issue, The DepEd, the CHED and Tuition Fees, Part 1 - Hanggang Pakiusapan Na Lang Ba?”.
My personal belief is that if we PARENTS forge the same unity that we’ve just seen at work in the Senate a few moments ago and demonstrate it before Secretary Jesli Lapus of the DepEd and the CHED Commissioners, we will be able to stop these tuition fee increases dead on their tracks. The result will be even better if we PARENTS and the STUDENTS will act as one to reclaim our rights and defend the future of millions of young Filipinos. That PARENTS-STUDENTS synergy should happen. It’s about time!
The DepEd and the CHED have their own negligent practices which have not yet been exposed. For example, do you know that the DepEd-NCR receives the applications for tuition fee increases filed by private elementary and private schools? The office of the DepEd-NCR is located at Misamis St. near the SM City Carpark in Quezon City.
Do you also know that the education supervisors of the DepEd will tell you that “we do not approve or deny tuition fee applications; we just acknowledge them!” The result, pasok ang tuition fee increase (kahit na may mga kwestiyon sa requirements), taob ang bulsa ng mga magulang!
Ang style naman ng ibang private schools, hindi areglado ang consultation process. Walang announcement, walang financial statements na ibinibigay sa mga kausap nilang sektor, etc. Tambalan mo pa ng attitude ng maraming parents na — “wala tayong magagawa diyan, pabayaan na natin ‘yan!” — and the result is a total disaster for all of us parents and students. Kailangan na pong mabago ang mapaminsalang sistemang ganito.
The bottom line?
My point is that we PARENTS and STUDENTS, through our faith, unity and determination, can convince this government to adopt sweeping policy and procedural reforms that will better protect our rights and promote our interests. This is our moment. And I believe that it is divinely-appointed.
We should support Senator Enrile’s call for resignation of the entire SEC officialdom. This should happen so that people in government will know that, from now on, the Filipino people will hold them for their complicity or negligence. The commitment shown by Senators Roxas, Enrile and Biazon on this matter should be sustained by our continued interest and determined efforts.
I urge Mr. Philip Piccio and other leaders of the PEP Coalition to seize the moment and to take the lead in this call for unity and convene a wider meeting not only among affected pre-need groups but also among consumer advocates. It will be a privilege for me to attend such a meeting (my email address is rollyocampo@yahoo.com). I know other people are just waiting in the wings to join such a movement.
Tayong malilit, palagi na lang inilalampaso at pinaglalaruan nang mga malalaki, mayayaman at ng mga makapangyarihan even though the Constitution says that we the people are supposed to be sovereign. Ang sabi, “”sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” For once, and finally, let’s prove to everyone that we really are!
Mabuhay ang Pinoy! God bless sa inyong lahat!
Hmmm, let me backtrack a little on my previous comment. In my excitement, the keyboard typed out the opening line like this:
It’s 3:25pm, March 9, 2009. I just finished watching the I’d say that this is a pivotal moment in Philippine consumerism history.
It should have read:
It’s 3:25pm, March 9, 2009. I just finished watching the Senate inquiry on the Legacy fiasco over at ANC and I’d say that this is a pivotal moment in Philippine consumerism history.
Sori, tao lang …