My Last Corruption Fight

I hope this will be the last time I have to talk about corruption in the Philippines. The letter below was sent to the Ombudsman Office in Davao. The first attempt with that office went without a response therefore the following update was sent. The writing in Red is the edited version of the first letter to the Ombudsman.


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Mark and Merejen
To: ombudsman_mindanao@yahoo.com
Cc: Joe Joson ; Benjie Otagon ; Numeri Galgo Jr.
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2010 1:22:54 AM
Subject: Corruption
I would like to draw your attention to a letter to your president I posted in my blog at http://stchristine.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-letter-to-president.html

Ok, let me simplify this a little. I said in a letter that I posted on my blogsite, that a CENR had asked me for 50,000 pesos to get my wife's Wood Processing Permit approved within 2 weeks. We had worked on this permit for over 2 years. All along I have known that he, the CENR was causing much of the delay, I have all the proof of his delaying tactics as evidence I'm willing to present to anyone.

I have now been sent a subpoena, you can view here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=155931654449513&set=o.116324008426823&ref=nf

The picture you should see is a scan of the subpoena I received on Nov. 12, 2010. Now, for following the law, telling the truth, making an effort to improve the community, I must defend myself from this corrupt official, using money that is dearly needed to keep our businesses running, so thanks again to this corrupt official, we will now soon have to close permanently our mini-sawmill.

I will be making a full report of my difficulties with the "Doing Business" organization in the very near future. All of my dealings here are recorded permanently in hard copy, and on computer, backed up many times over, and stored in email messages, which now sit on servers around the world.
 I read with interest the article http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/sue-erring-employees-ombud and have to wonder if the article is factual, since I obviously will be required to defend myself soon.

I now wonder if a government office charged with the responsibility to protect its citizens (wonder if "citizen" includes 13A Permanent Residents) will carry out its responsibility. You should have received the first version of this letter on Monday Morning Nov. 15, 2010, as of Tuesday evening at 20:50 I have received no email acknowledging receipt of my message, or that the problem would be investigated.

The article listed just above says for us (citizens?) to sue these officials? It is not the responsibility for a private citizen to have to spend money to get proper treatment from a government office. A private citizen can only report the incident to the proper authorities, then it is up to the government to do their job to investigate.

So now, this Small American Investor has spent 12 million pesos for absolutely nothing. My letter to the President produced no results, my appeal to the public has gone unheard, my report to the DSWD went without resolution, and now a report to the Ombudsman has gone unnoticed. Would someone care to explain? Does God have any part of this country? Is this how you want to go down in history? Is this what you want the world to see?


Would welcome your comments.