Biz Buzz: Polo Club ‘assault’
THE PLUSH Manila Polo Club is all agog over this ill-tempered equestrian and board member who slapped a 14-year-old boy who had dropped a rugby ball at the horse training area Monday last week.
The parents of the boy—who was at the club as a guest of two other boys who are both from prominent families—asked the club management to impose “serious disciplinary action” against the equestrian, said to be one of the country’s finest.
As narrated by the parents: “The boys were walking near the horse training area and our son accidentally dropped a rugby ball which rolled in front of a horse. The horse got scared and backed off.”
After apologizing to one of the staff, the boys walked away but were hailed by a security guard who said someone wanted to talk to them about the incident, the parents said. That guy “verbally assaulted the boys and purposely slapped our son hard on the left side of his head,” they claimed.
The parents lamented that the security guard who had called the boys back was “standing by watching what happened, but did not interfere or try to stop.”
Based on another version, the boy was really “pasaway” (difficult to control) and that the staff had called his attention a few times to be more careful with the loose ball—which of course does not mean he deserves being slapped.
Anyhow, the boy’s parents immediately came to Polo, confronting Mr. Equestrian face-to-face alongside the general manager and the head of security in the Polo Club. The guy continued the verbal assault and likewise threatened the boy’s father at the office, the parents said in a letter.
From Polo, the uber-infuriated parents headed straight to the Makati Police Station to file a criminal case. But the parents now want Polo to do more and apart from penalizing Mr. Equestrian, they have asked management to assess the readiness of security guards to better handle situations like this and react immediately.
As a result of this mess, Mr. Equestrian is no longer part of the Polo board. Some say he voluntarily vacated his post to avoid dragging Polo further into the mess, as the parents—with the support of some sympathetic members—have vowed not to let him go scot-free for assaulting a minor. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
Sugar rush
LOCAL farmers are worried that more sugar imports are likely to be dumped from Thailand to the Philippines through the alleged cohorts of former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virgie Torres—Blue Chelsea and Real Top.
A Buzzard from the farm sector said that several shipments of Thai sugar from Blue Chelsea and Real Top were likely to be in the pipeline considering that the two importers belonged to a Chinese group, which has controlled the supply of repacked sugar in major supermarkets and retail outlets.
Between May and August this year, the Bureau of Customs seized a total of P100 million worth of Thai sugar smuggled illegally by Blue Chelsea and Real Top.
These two firms evaded strict import quotas by misdeclaring their goods as plastic tumblers; shipping the sugar in 40-foot containers instead of 20-foot containers where this commodity is regularly brought in, and using Hong Kong as the port of origin.
Last September, Torres was caught red-handed trying to haggle for the release of these sugar and since then, the BOC had filed a couple of criminal cases against the two trading firms.
Our Buzzard noted that Real Top and Blue Chelsea were only fronts for the Chinese group, which has dominated the retail sugar business in the last decade as well as the cheap furniture import market. (The Chinese group sells its repacked sugar under the brands of leading supermarket chains while it sells its knocked-down furniture under its own brand primarily sold by its biggest supermarket sugar buyer.)
Our Buzzard told us that these illicit imports appeared to be part of a regular import of the Chinese group, which was likely to bring in more smuggled sugar in the coming months or else it would lose its dominance. The Buzzard added that the P100 million worth of sugar seized from Real Top and Blue Chelsea could just be the tip of the iceberg as the Chinese group was most likely using other trading fronts.
“It’s good that the BOC is clamping down on sugar imports. But it cannot do it alone. The BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) must conduct a similar clampdown on the retail end by making sure that the supermarkets properly report their sales and purchases of repacked sugar,” said the Buzzard.
Will BIR chief Kim Henares do a tag team with Customs Commissioner Bert Lina to body-slam this Chinese smuggler of sugar and furniture? Abangan. Gil Cabacungan
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