CSC, real estate, DBM, PPE scams

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

The prevalence of scams in this Banana Republic has led our perennially drunk neighborhood philosopher to say  this country should be called Scams Capital of the World. 
    For one, the Civil Service Commission has cautioned the public against individuals pretending to be CSC employees or officials to extort money from government workers.
    The CSC issued the warning Tuesday after receiving reports about scammers calling government employees and informing them that administrative cases have been filed against them.
    The victims are then instructed to pay a large amount of money to clear themselves of the charges, according to the CSC.
    The commission said it is not a practice of the CSC to contact government employees regarding settlement of complaints.
Administrative complaints filed with the agency are decided through adjudication process under the Rules on Administrative     Cases in the Civil Service, CSC chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala said.
    Bala advised the public to report such unscrupulous activities to the CSC office for legal affairs at telephone numbers (02) 8931-8016 and (02) 8931-7935 local 401 to 411 or e-mail ola@csc.gov.ph.
    The CSC said scams may also be reported to its public service arm, Contact Center ng Bayan, by sending text message to 0908-8816565 or e-mail contactcenterngbayan.gov.ph.
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Here’s another scam. Housing czar Eduardo del Rosario on Wednesday vowed to intensify the campaign against real estate scammers.
    He said the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development was set to launch the campaign against illegal developers, fake brokers and salespeople.
    During a recent management committee meeting, he ordered all regional offices to craft their own campaigns to go after real estate scammers, particularly unscrupulous developers, real-estate brokers and agents engaged in the illegal selling of real-estate properties.
    He tasked the agency’s top officials in the Quezon City main office to strengthen their collaboration with other government agencies, such as the Justice and Interior departments and partner developers to boost their efforts.
    “We need to put a stop to these illegal activities through pro-active efforts in collaboration with our stakeholders, including legitimate developers who are also falling victims to these scammers and other government agencies,” Del Rosario said in a statement.
    “The DHSUD should take the lead in going after these unscrupulous groups or individuals.”
Del Rosario says the DHSUD has the regulatory power over real-estate developers, brokers and salespeople, and that they must register with the agency before engaging in property selling.
    He reacted to reports of illegal activities by unregistered developers and brokers in various parts of the country through various platforms, including social media, in illegally selling lots and housing units and preying on unsuspecting buyers.
    “We should protect our home buyers, especially overseas Filipinos workers, from these scammers,” Del Rosario said.
    He reminded real-property buyers to avoid falling prey to illegal developers.
    A buyer could demand a copy of the certificate of registration specifically issued for the property being eyed and the license to sell.
    Both documents are applied with the DHSUD before a project can be advertised or sold. Having such documents ensure that a project is compliant with government requirements and standards.
    When in doubt, Del Rosario urged home buyers to seek assistance from the DHSUD. 
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This, as a businesswoman has urged the Office of the President to look into the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), saying officers there have been accepting bribes in exchange for posting “defamatory” Notices to the Public on the department’s website.
    In a five-page letter addressed to the President, Virginia Rodriguez, also a former journalist, said one particular notice was hurtful to her reputation as a general manager of a construction firm.
    The notice posted on the department’s website warned the public that Rodriguez, along with Angelica Vega, Bernie Estillote, Pearlie Monsato and Zenan Malabanan, were misrepresenting themselves as DBM employees to facilitate the release of funds for local government units (LGUs).
    However, Rodriguez told the President the notice was posted “without complaints or legal documents from concerned agencies and has no basis, thus considered defamatory and slanderous.”
    “The Notice to the Public posted by the DBM on its website without evidence is a vivid image of corruption happening inside the department,” Rodriguez said in her complaint.
    She appealed to the President to hear her side to clear her name.
    The former sports writer also sought assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after allegedly receiving death threats from her former employees.
    Rodriguez claimed she received the death threat after she sacked four of her firm’s employees, adding that she has “complete evidence of a plan to ruin and kill her.”
    “Since last week, there have been cars circling my house and vehicles have also tailed me,” she added.
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Sen. Imee Marcos has raised fears about personal protective equipment (PPE), testing kits, disinfectants, respirators, surgical tools, and future vaccines becoming the newest instruments for money laundering.
    Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, explained that the urgent and high global demand for medical supplies and equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic has led to more relaxed procurement processes and regulatory requirements by governments and private hospitals, making them vulnerable to financial fraud.
    Marcos added that medical needs have presented new avenues for money laundering, with financial criminals evading detection in casino and real estate operations which have weakened due to pandemic restrictions on public gatherings and the lower demand for huge office spaces as work-from-home arrangements become the new norm.
    “Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act should not be outrun by these new developments,” Marcos said in a statement.
    Marcos added the measly P2.5 billion budget for acquiring a vaccine next year could abet money laundering, as public clamor grows and government and private institutions seek to remedy inadequate supply.
    The latest plenary report of the international money laundering watchdog, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), noted a growing incidence of financial fraud involving overpriced and counterfeit medical goods.
    The Council of Europe’s monitoring body Moneyval has also cited fraud with medical equipment among the three types of financial crime that have increased amid the pandemic, including fraud and embezzlement related to economic relief measures and public procurement contracts.
    Marcos filed Senate Bill 1545 to keep the Philippines out of the FATF’s dreaded Grey List of countries considered high risk for misuse of the international financial system.
    The Marcos bill seeks to give the Anti-Money Laundering Council more teeth by granting it additional powers to monitor, investigate, and subpoena suspected financial criminals, as well as freeze their assets and conduct forfeiture proceedings without judicial intervention except by the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.