Alternatiba ng Masa (ALTERNA TIBA)

Major banking scandal being kept under wraps?

The details are hard to get, but something terrible happened last week – possibly earlier -- to one of the country’s biggest banks, the Sy family owned Banco de Oro AKA BDO Unibank, Inc. Offi cially, BDO as it is commonly called is one of the Offline country’s Big Three banks, along with BPI and Metro- BETING DOLOR bank. BDO may now have the biggest network nationwide, having more branches than the other two universal banks. It is also tops in resources, deposits and assets.

As such, BDO is a target for any criminal group looking for weaknesses in its systems.

The old style crime of a gang entering a bank and declaring a hold up is pretty much passe these days. It still happens every so often, but the “better” way to take the depositors’ money is not by forcing open a vault and getting as much cash as possible. The more eff ective way is to do so while being invisible.

Today, criminals have gone high tech, and robbing banks is mostly done online via hacking. This is what appears to be the case with BDO.

Just how serious the problem is was made obvious when BDO issued an offi cial statement admitting that a “sophisticated fraud technique” had aff ected “some” of their clients.

Based on what little information has been released to the public, hackers were able to access BDO accounts, withdraw funds, and use the same to buy Bitcoin in another bank.

That other bank is medium-sized UnionBank, which was chosen by the hackers due to one seeming weakness. There is no limit in daily transactions with UnionBank, while for most others there is a daily limit of a P20,000 withdrawal from their ATM machines.

Depositors needing larger amounts can still do so, but they have to physically go to the branches where they maintain their accounts, or in other branches of the same bank, but proper identifi cation will be required for over-the-counter withdrawals.

UnionBank will almost certainly need to alter their nolimit policy.

The hackers did not target the big accounts of high value individuals or companies, but rather middle class depositors.

The amounts stolen ranged from P25,000 to P50,000, or about $500 to $1,000. In a few cases, the funds stolen reached P100,000 or $2,000.

This may not seem like much to the rich folk, but is painful to middle class Pinoys who save their money for such expenses as tuition for their kids, family vacations, or to amortize big ticket items like cars and real property.

Beyond the offi cial statement, BDP chairperson Teresita Sy also eased the concerns of the victims by guaranteeing that no one will lose their funds to the hackers.

This is practically a personal guarantee and the Sy family is more than able to reimburse the losses of their depositors.

But how much exactly has been lost?

This is where the data is diffi cult, if not impossible to determine. Neither BDO nor the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are willing to give any fi gures for fear of causing a panic and resulting bank run.

My sources gave a guestimate of tens of millions all the way to hundreds of millions, but the low end is more likely. I have to trust their instincts because a truly mega-scandal cannot be hidden for long.

Some decades ago, I was the banking and fi nance editor of the country’s largest business newspaper. I learned that all banks take extreme measures to enforce the Banking Secrecy Law. This necessarily includes keeping negative news from the public in order to avoid that dreaded bank run, when depositors decide to withdraw their funds en masse.

Under a worst case scenario, a bank can be forced to go on holiday, suspending operations until the market has calmed down.

I recall one instance when a medium-sized bank fell victim to a bank run. Its president was able to ease the fears of their depositors by physically going to their largest branch and addressing the depositors who had gone there to close their accounts. (Continue on page 27)

Presidential drug game

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.” – Cassius to Brutus in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Political carnival is fi nally in town, Political fever is rising to suicidal heights. The candidates are participants in the never ending circus in this country – and so are the people. Nobody is thinking except a few who might just make a diff erence. I hope and pray. Marcos bubble: Every intelligent person in this country is surprised at the popularity of BB Marcos in the polls. But knowing the surveys, I am not all surprised. BB M must have a good propaganda machine, both in mainstream and social media This BB M propaganda is challenged by the populist movement of VP Leni Robredo. There are motorcades everywhere – here and abroad. This is a clash between an immovable object and an irresistible force - if the elections will be clean and honest. But it will not be clean and honest. Both BB M and VP Leni, in the end, will struggle for nothing. Why? Bong Go: Senator Bong Go may be lagging in the polls but is far ahead in these factors – PR D, COMELEC, Smartmatic, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Dennis Uy’s F2 Logistics and the whole machinery of government. Against all these, no group of Marcos Loyalists or VP Leni’s populist armada can be a match. It would be a mismatch unless the two have covert components which are beyond the reach of PR D’s intelligence task force. If not, BB M and VP Leni will be on the way to oblivion on the fastest space vehicle. But PR D has been repeatedly saying the May 2022 elections will be clean and honest. Common kids, grow up. Do you believe PR D, perceived to be a 10 11 politico, will deliver on his commitment? If you do, it’s about time you consult a psychiatrist. Cocaine puzzle: The number one subject of conversation these days is the puzzle introduced by PR D – cocaine using presidential candidate, one of the leaders in the survey, son of a late powerful and popular father, spoiled child and weak leader. BB Marcos did not feel alluded to but was fast to undergo a laboratory test for cocaine and bingo - the test proved negative. His propaganda machine claims the negative test result puts the issue to rest – not really and not that fast. There are questions needing answers before the issue can be buried for good. Who did the cocaine test for BB M? Is it a reputable laboratory? If not a laboratory, is it a doctor or a chemist? Is he/she reliable and credible? To erase any doubts about the reliability and credibility of the test results, BB M must do to things – reveal the identity of the laboratory or chemist or doctor who did the testing and undergo another test with a reliable and credible government laboratory witnessed by mainstream media in full view of national and international television networks. Failing to do these, the negative test result is not worth the paper on which it is written. The BB M is test result is written on water. It is useless and nothing but waste paper. On the other hand, PR Duterte should reveal the identity of the cocaine user. Why? The man is running for President of the country. People have the right to know his identity so that they can make the correct choice in the May 2022 election. Moreover, under Section 5, Article IV of the Constitution which embodies his oath of offi ce as President, PR D is sworn to fulfi ll his duties as President - preserve and defend the Constitution, execute the laws and do justice to every man. If he has evidence, why did he not order the arrest and prosecution of this suspect? Using cocaine is illegal under our laws and bail is not allowed - why the failure of PR D to do his mandated duty? More questions for PR D: I still remember PR D threatening drug lords he will kill them because they are destroying his country. I do not know of any suspected or confi rmed drug lord PR D or his boys killed on his orders. Suspected drugs lords like his compadre Peter Lim, his once upon a time adviser Michael Young, (Continue on page 27)

HOMOBONO A. ADAZA

Diliman Way

Solving malnutrition! Banana bread for children

ith one of the country’s leading doctors who also advocates the reduction of malnutrition among poor Filipino children.

When I told Dr Rowena Burdem that every year Mindanao’s vast plantations and farms of the export-bound Cavendish Bananas throw away an estimated 1-million metric tons of rejects, her eyes literally twinkled.

We right away agreed to start a venture which would process the banana rejects into nutritious food for the country’s malnourished children.

A foundation she belongs to, SimplyShare Foundation, Inc. will partner with the Mindanao Development Authority for the establishment of a banana fl our processing facility.

Banana rejects are hands or fi ngers which are either too small or too big for the market standards.

Also included in the rejects are bananas which are blemished during harvest or handling from the farm to the packing houses.

The bananas which meet market standards are packed in 13-kilo cardboard boxes which are loaded into refrigerated containers and shipped abroad.

The rejects are either given out to workers’ groups who feed the bananas to their animals or process these into chips or fl ours.

Those which could not be absorbed by the backyard processors are just thrown in dumps to rot.

Many of the big banana farms are just too willing to share the banana rejects as part of their CSR projects.

The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) had explored partnerships with groups interested to turn the banana rejects into fl our to feed Mindanao’s hungry children.

The program aims to address malnutrition in many rural areas in the island.

With this program, we will be turning thousands of tons of banana rejects into food which would nurture healthy Filipino children. ***** I visited the Balintawak Market in Quezon City to check on the prices of products coming from the provinces to complete my study of the food marketing system of the country and how it could be improved.

In my conversations with the sub-dealers of vegetables and fi sh in the market which in turn are bought in volume by smaller vendors to be brought to community markets, I was able to confi rm that the commodities from the farm gate to the kitchen of Filipino families pass through at least fi ve hands.

Assuming that each middleman or trader makes a mark up of P10 per kilo, a kilo of Bangus which sells for P130 at source would be sold for P180 to P200 in the market.

The added P50, of course, would be shouldered by the consumers.

There are two things which could be done.

First, the marketing system in the country of over 7,000 islands, should be reformed with government providing the enabling facilities to bring the goods from the production areas to the big cities like Metro Manila, thus cutting the number of middlemen and traders.

The proposal to establish Food Consolidation Centers in the regional food production areas coupled with the Farmers’ and Fishermen’s Outlets in Metro Manila and other big cities to be operated by an expanded Food Terminal Inc. would be the answer.

Second, the processing of agricultural products at farm level into high value products would be another option as it would give farmers or fi shermen added value and bigger income.

One example would be the Kalabasa or Squash which now sells at P3 to P5 per kilo at farm gate.

The Dept. of Science and Technology had already established processing facilitiies in several parts of the country turning raw squash into healthy and delicious noodles.

They are now doing this in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte but the production volume is very low because the facility operates as a backyard livelihood project.

There should be government funding support for projects like this and I am looking at the establishment of a national fund to support industries like (Continue on page 27)

BRAVE HEART

MANNY PINOL