THE CASE of Japanese national Shinsuke Kawauchi—alias Tajima Syuichi—is getting stranger by the day. Last Feb. 8, we wrote that Kawauchi, despite being 67 years of age, seemed “slippery as an eel.” It’s either that or the more able-bodied agents of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) tasked to arrest him were sleeping on the job.
With Kawauchi’s presence in the Philippines deemed by government prosecutors as “a risk to public interest” (after the Japanese used his alias in signing public documents), Immigration Commissioner Ronaldo Geron promptly issued on Jan. 29 an order to arrest him for summary deportation proceedings.
The questions raised in the original piece were: How come the BI can’t seem to catch a senior citizen who, as a Japanese national, should stand out like a sore thumb among Filipinos? Were the BI agents even looking for Kawauchi?
But here comes the strange part. On Feb. 12, the “slippery eel” landed on the laps of the BI legal division after an alert airport immigration officer caught Kawauchi trying to fly to Taipei (Why Taipei? Was the choice of destination a diversionary tactic to mislead BI screeners? Or is Kawauchi a wanted man back in Japan?)
Whatever is the reason of the Japanese reason for booking a flight to Taipei, he was held at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and was turned over to BI’s legal department on the strength of the watchlist and deportation orders against him.
That should have been the end of story, except that a lady prosecutor requested a release order in favor of Kawauchi even before the incident report on the arrest was officially received by BI higher ups. The hastiness of the “request” made by the lady prosecutor was rather suspicious because it came just a few hours after the Japanese national’s arrest.
So is there a “big fish” behind the “slippery eel”? If yes, who could that big fish be and what’s the nature of his or her association with Kawauchi? Daxim L. Lucas
For doing one’s job
SOMETIMES we have to feel sorry for the government bureaucrats who are only doing their jobs, but get sucked into lawsuits because they stepped on some very powerful toes.
This seems to be the case with six officials of the National Printing Office, tasked with the unenviable job of printing the ballots for the May 6 polls. The six—director Emmanuel Andaya; chief administrative officer Sylvia Banda; supervising administrative officer Bernadette Lagumen; printing operations chief Josefina Samson; printing operations chief Antonio Sillona, and printing operations assistant chief Ma. Zita Gracia Enriquez—were ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman allegedly for grave misconduct.
Their supposed crime? They were all held responsible for the NPO’s honoring a contract with the National Bureau of Investigation to supply P1.9 million worth of Travel Clearance Certificates back in 2010.
The lawsuit that resulted in their dismissal was filed by a former supplier of the NPO whose company had been blacklisted for falsifying financial statements. That supplier must have been angered by the loss of hundreds of millions of pesos worth of printing contracts because he sued the NPO no less than 60 times, before one case finally made it to the Ombudsman.
Is this a case of try and try until you succeed? Maybe, maybe not.
It’s no secret that large-scale corruption occurs in government contracts worth millions, or billions. But P1.9 million?
The worst thing about the dismissal of the NPO Six is that they were not charged with fiscal skullduggery, but of the catch-all accusation of grave misconduct. In other words, they never committed any crime involving funds, only that they approved an emergency procurement contract from the NBI.
Incidentally, there’s a lot of disturbing chatter regarding the six-year-old case, not the least of which is the sudden attention being paid to it by one or two media organizations, none of which interviewed the officials.
As for the officials, the motion for reconsideration they filed with the Ombudsman was denied a few days ago. Hopefully, the real truth behind the strange case will come out. And soon. Daxim L. Lucas
Wunder arrives in Manila
THE LATEST ride-sharing app Wunder has hit Philippine shores this month, delivering what it calls a “real” carpooling tech solution aimed at making a difference to the lives of people living or working in traffic-strangled Metro Manila.
Wunder, backed by investors in Europe and Silicon Valley, is trying something different as it is positioning its app as a carpooling “social community” that books no fees—at least, not right away for launch markets like the Philippines.
It works much like other ride-hailing services like Uber or Grab, where you use your smartphone to find drivers who will take you from point A to B. The similarity ends there. This is a carpooling scheme, meaning the drivers are headed in that direction anyway and the cost of the whole trip is cheaper for both driver and passenger since they share the cost of fuel.
In fact, Wunder co-founder and COO Samuel Baker told Biz Buzz it’s not possible for the driver to make any profit. The carpooling app estimates that the cost of sharing for an average 15-kilometer trip is P60. There’s also a P200 cap on that sharing amount.
This sharing scheme is important as well since Wunder believes it doesn’t fall under ridesharing regulations that cover platforms like Uber and Grab. As far as we know, the company has yet to approach the government after launching early this month. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is nevertheless studying Wunder’s model as we speak, it’s chief Winston Ginez said.
Baker noted that a fee for both driver and passenger will eventually be introduced once a market matures. He estimates that will happen in about 12 to 18 months.
In any case, we think more players seeking to alleviate road congestion here is a good thing. It’s also worth noting that Metro Manila is Wunder’s first market in Asia after an initial launch in Europe.
Apparently, our traffic woes has reached such epic proportions that global transport tech players believe that if you can make it in Manila, you can make it anywhere. Miguel R. Camus
E-mail us at bizbuzz@inquirer.com.ph. Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ON INQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert).