Sen. Miguel Zubiri Archives - THEPHILBIZNEWS

FIRING LINE: CCTV says it all

Robert B. Roque, Jr. — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:38:31 +0000

By Robert B. Roque, Jr.

By now, I’d thought the pandemic and other signs of the times would have made good people out of the bad. I do not consider myself religious or preachy, but aren’t hard times supposed to move sinners like us to repentance and change our crooked ways?

What’s terribly disturbing is that while some of us pray more than others – and I don’t mean to judge – some of us are still capable of unapologetically inflicting harm upon others.

Take for example Philippine ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro, whose treatment of her housemaid has appalled the world. The closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at her official residence in Brasilia says it all.

Physical pain and verbal abuse are inflicted upon the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in her employ. Even a dumb person can see how the poor woman bows in pain and in total submission to the amount of cruelty no human being should ever endure.

Sen. Miguel Zubiri said the footage was so painful for him to watch it made his blood boil. The senator from Bukidnon is a fellow Mindanaoan as the 51-year-old Filipina maid, who is from Cotabato, and has been in touch with her family. He said the poor OFW might be forgiving, but the laws are clear that a simple sorry will not suffice for such abuse.

Published reports quoted the senator as saying that Amb. Mauro must have violated at least three laws – the Code of Conduct for Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (R.A. 6713), Article 266 of the Revised Penal Code on slight physical injuries, and maltreatment under the Kasambahay Act (R.A. 10361).

Violations of these laws carry both administrative and criminal penalties which I do not wish upon anyone. However, the ambassador has placed herself in that spot where even the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the mighty institution to which she belongs, cannot shield her.

And judging by the President’s order to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to investigate the matter, it is apparent that he wants to make an example of Amb. Mauro before other Philippine envoys entrusted with the care and welfare of every Filipino overseas – especially OFWs whom he has, time and again, hailed as “modern-day heroes”.

This corner believes our government should do just that. Had Mauro not been protected by her diplomatic rights and privileges, I seriously think she’d be in jail right now and on trial by Brazilian authorities – making good measure of how they protect a foreign worker’s human rights in their land.

Being an ambassador is a sacred oath to embody everything the government is to Filipinos in a foreign land. Amb. Mauro knew she was not just the Pinay maid’s boss, but the alter ego of the entire Philippine government: her DFA, her DOH, her DOLE, her PNP, her DSWD, her Comelec, and, among others, her President.

Is this the way our government treats our OFWs? I hope the world won’t have to think so. Or else, other governments would scoff at any complaint raised by our envoys for the benefit of our abused countrymen abroad.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://.thephilbiznews.com

FIRING LINE: PhilHealth: No end in sighs

Robert B. Roque, Jr. — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:25:55 +0000

By Robert B. Roque, Jr.

And just like that, the congressional investigation into anomalies at PhilHealth has ended.

Over three marathon hearings, testimonies by former PhilHealth insiders uncovered decades of fraudulent schemes engineered or tolerated by the state insurer’s top executives, administration after administration, that looted government coffers of billions.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III vowed to transmit the Senate’s investigation report to the Department of Justice. However, it also leaves a bitter taste on the palate that the National Bureau of Investigation and the Commission on Audit refused to supply senators the documents pertinent to its investigation, as pointed out by Sen. Miguel Zubiri.

Let’s hope Sen. Panfilo Lacson is right in saying that the committee report would contain prima facie evidence enough to pin down PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales, Senior Vice President Renato Limsiaco Jr., and other scheming officers for malversation of public funds and property.

Surprisingly, these main targets of the anti-corruption probe, along with SVP and Information Chief Jovita Aragon, got a free pass from Ombudsman Samuel Martires when he meted out suspensions against only 13 PhilHealth officers and executives.

Even more insulting is that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III still sings the tune that government “has zero-tolerance for corruption”, holding on to his claim that PhilHealth never lost P150 billion to fraud and scheming by its officials.

But as the current chairman of PhilHealth and having held various top posts in the government-controlled corporation since Gloria Arroyo’s time, Duque reeks of complicity with what’s been going on and going wrong at the firm. Does he get a free pass again? Sigh…

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For what it’s worth, the probe has impacted the House leadership to support a review of the provision in the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act that imposes higher PhilHealth premiums on overseas Filipino workers.

The Blas Ople Center said various OFW groups are hoping this would lead to scrapping the entire provision in the UHC Act that imposes higher premiums from migrant workers pegged at three percent of annual salary to be increased by .5 percent every year until it reaches 5 percent.

The provision is offensive to OFWs, especially amid the trappings of this pandemic, which places their future abroad in jeopardy. “Unlike domestic workers, our OFWs will be shouldering both the employers’ and workers’ share, and this will eat up a huge chunk of their monthly remittances to their families,” the Center’s head, Susan Ople, points out.

Another questionable provision is the use of the Overseas Employment Certificate issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as proof of collections of OFW premiums, thus ensuring that every OFW pays PhilHealth in advance even before his or her departure from the country.

This sheds light on another side of the dark workings of PhilHealth, which issued these implementing rules and regulations that are borderline illegal if not onerous and abusive to our citizens.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://thephilbiznews.com