TWO RIGHTS CAN’T MAKE ONE WRONG

I have often heard of Filipinos complaining about the unfairness of the world at large towards them. I have also heard of emotion filled testimonies of people ranging from convicted killers to seemingly devout Christians, giving explanations and reasons for their seemingly vile actions after such have come to light. What amazes me, and would never cease to have said effect on my mind, is the fact that, instead being resigned and admitting guilt to the acts they have committed, say their amends, and face the consequences of their deeds, they berate other people; push the blame of their continuing misdeeds as a reactionary effect to other people’s acts and deeds. As the saying goes, “you do the crime you do the time” is sorely unapplied here. What I see is the total disregard for fair and just cause and the apparent unrepentant nature of these people, the moment they try to justify their heinous, dastardly acts. What do they want to gain by their emotional outburst? Some form of camaraderie, solidarity, or people’s compassion by using their own emotions against them? Or is it just within our culture that as long as one’s actions are explainable to cause and effect, no matter how outlandish the explanation would seem or be, it will and should absolve the doer of the criminal nature of the crime thus making it a crime of human passion? Are not all crimes a crime of passion, borne out of one, or a combination, or of all of the seven deadly sins inherent in all human beings, that Dante so explicitly described so long ago in a classical way? It is said in the Bible, that a crime no matter how small, a theft no matter how miniscule the monetary consideration, a slight to a man’s dignity, family and humanity are all considered mortal sins. Sin is sin. And wages for sin is death. Then why do so many people get away with only proverbial slaps on their wrists, mostly with no verbal or physical rebuke from peers when they commit such crimes on a daily basis? Just because of their glib and sugary tongues? Or is it just because they can appeal to the collective Filipino humanity which spurts out of a dominantly docile natured people? A few people stole my friend’s computer servers and cleaned out in totality his Davao satellite office of all furniture and computer equipments. And to my amazement I saw a 100 seemingly educated, working class Filipino people believe in the righteousness of the thieving group, just on the flimsy explanation that the thieves are Filipino, and seemingly devout Christians, whereas the one that they stole from is a foreigner, who just happened to be their past employer, provider of their daily bread and for their families for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 8 years. They then slandered his reputation by alluding to the foreigners weaknesses of the flesh. If you are a devout Christian as you profess, then do like Jesus. Let he be the first to cast a stone that is without sin. Again in Romans, it is said “a man is born of sin”. Christianity teaches it’s devout that sin is our daily staple. We indulge in it as naturally as breathing. But by setting examples, Christians should show the world that it is possible to break out of the yoke of sin, which is man’s birth curse. And even if, for arguments sake, we were to say that the foreigner is wrong, does the crime of stealing from him make you a better person, or a better human being, leave alone a better Christian? You are supposed to be an exemplary example to your people and to the world as a self professed Christian. But all you turned out to be is a lowly thief!!! So stop masquerading as a Christian Mr. Gus Rodano, and stop blaspheming the Filipino people by using the Filipino name in your fight just so as to justify your sins and garner public support. Who do you think you are? Rizal? Lapu-lapu? You are no class hero. You are just a lowly criminal. You are so weak that you want to disillusion the masses into thinking you are fighting for them, when all that you have ever done is line your pockets and those of your close friends and cohorts with the ill gotten wealth, stolen from people who earned it by the hard work and skill. You live in an upscale sub division while the people who toil for you are not even paid their due wages. I don’t see your mortgages on your cars and houses being foreclosed, for I know you are getting paid in US dollars every 15 day billing cycles via your BDO Velez and Robinsons Bank Account. The reason you give your workers for partial payments is that you were not ready to take on 90 fully trained people working for your new corporation? But you are getting paid for the links and connects of said 90 people in full are you not? You are billing GearySEO, DiscoverySD and other clients of Mike for all the work delivered and you are getting paid on time. You tell your people that the money for your legal bills is coming from family funds and not from corporate funds? Bullshit!! All that you have been spending from August 2011, and will spend up to the better part of next year, will be coming from money gained from the work of these 90 plus foot soldiers you have. They say that the devil has a way of making people believe he doesn’t exist. He garbs himself in righteousness and pure ideals, which all turn out to be a façade and as fallacy in the end. A thousand lies can’t deny one truth. Truth takes time to reveal itself, but reveal itself it will. Lies can only serve as temporary smoke screens, for in the end it shall clear and be blown away to the four corners of the world by the truth. You have poisoned the 90 employees’ minds into believing that the other side can’t pay them any better. But the fact remains, the other side pays on time, and in full. No deductions for some fairy tale yarn of a co-operative, no training bond, no phantom SSS, Philhealth contributions. All the deductions are remitted by the other side immediately to said Government agencies. The other side is more transparent than you ever were or are capable to be. You have, for your personal convenience and gain, effectively destroyed the livelihood and seriously diminished the earning capacity of 90 families in this way. Pity the workers who believed in you. For they will lose their livelihood, face criminal and civil cases and to add insult to injury, never get fully paid by you and your partners in crime, for the work they have religiously done and will continue to do at your behest. Their only fault: They believed in a person who is a thief, a liar, and a con artist.

This is SMSI’s (StickyMedia Solutions, Inc.) reply to “A Public Statement on the Search Warrant and Allegations of Theft by MEARA INTERACTIVE.”

The article begins as, “In light of recent events where a search warrant was served last Friday, October 28, 2011 at around 9:30PM in the evening at the office premises of MEARA INTERACTIVE based on allegations made by MICHAEL ALAN TURNER, a foreign national, that his alleged stolen computer units are being used by the corporation., let it be known that:

 

To this we SMSI say:

It was not alleged, but it was proven that the 6 server units stolen from Davao, aircon units and laptops personally belonging to Michael Alan Turner, were found in possession of MEARA INTERACTIVE officers and employees at both offices, the one at Megapension building located at Macasandig and the second at Nazareth 30th street. And second is we object to Agustin Rodano and his cohorts always emphasizing that Michael Turner is an American, a foreigner, as bearing racists undertones, and it implies that Michael Turner is already guilty by the mere fact that he is a foreigner, and an American at that.

1.    Meara …… No contest to point number one, thus we won’t waste time on it.

2.  The computer units used by the corporation are all brand new and purchased at Columbia computer Center with O.R. #s 52270, 52611, 52612, 52613.

To this we SMSI say:
We would want Meara interactive to post scanned copies of said receipts. Knowing the MEARA Interactive gang and knowing their legendary ability to twist facts and manipulate numbers, nothing these people say without hard physical back up can be believed.


3.    No criminal case has been filed in court against any of MEARA’s employees, officers or stockholders; 

To this we SMSI say:
Duh!! There are a total of at least 8 criminal cases filed and pending at the Cdo Prosecutors office and Davao Prosecutors office combined, filed against MEARA Interactive employees, officers and stockholders. You have been receiving the subpoenas from time to time on these cases. We have received copies of said subpoenas. You, MEARA Interactive officers and your shareholders have been replying through affidavits for these. You have hired 5 lawyers in Cdo and 1 law firm and one lady attorney in Davao for said cases. And yet you have the audacity to say that you have no knowledge of any criminal cases filed against you, your cohorts, your employees and your stockholders? Your employees now have pending criminal cases on them. When will you make them aware of that fact? When their warrants come out?

4.    MEARA INTERACTIVE has objected to the validity of the issuance of the search warrant by MTCC Branch 2 because a similar application has already been dismissed at RTC Branch 22 and there is a pending civil case pertaining to OWNERSHIP of the alleged stolen properties filed at RTC Branch 18;

And

5.    In the civil case at RTC-18 (Civil Case No. 2011-287), the court has denied the motion for the issuance of a restraining order on the ground, among others, that Michael Alan Turner has failed to prove a clear legal right to stop the operations of the defendants in that case, including Meara Interactive.

To this we SMSI say:
To object is one’s democratic right. By all means MEARA Interactive should exhaust all legal avenues to save their thieving hides. Agustin Rodano, Elmer “Tabby” Taboada, Al-Jedidiah “Jeedo” Aquino, Melissa “Lia” Fernando, Rex “Batman” Cortez and Alex Tabuan were caught on CCTV stealing 4 server computers from SMSI office located at door 9, Marel 2 building, Tiano-Gomez Sts., on July 27, 2011. Sadly the stealing of personal laptops and the projector were not caught on CCTV as these were taken from the 2nd floor office in the same building. Said footage was posted on Michael Turners’ blog, but it seems the MEARA INTERACTIVE Board members are blind to visual evidence that puts them in bad light. They just refuse to acknowledge its existence. The civil case in RTC Branch 18 refers to Civil Case 2011-287, filed by MICHAEL ALAN TURNER vs. MEARA interactive Inc. and not the other way around mind you! 6 pleadings were prayed for in said Civil suit, and the granting of a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) was just one of 6 pleadings or reliefs sought from the court being presided by Judge Alcantar. Said judge’s refusal of the TRO is not tantamount to the whole case being dismissed. A Motion for Reconsideration over the Denial of TRO has been file by complainant MICHAEL ALAN TURNER’s counsel, Atty. Alejandro Jose “Joe” Pallugna; but if said motion were eventually to be denied, said civil case will still continue on the remainder of 5 pleadings or reliefs prayed for in the civil suit case no. 2011-287, filed against defendant MEARA INTERACTIVE. It is by no means the end for said civil case, and it is by no means a decisive win for the Rodano’s and their cohorts. All it means is that one pleading of 6 was denied for the judge was not convinced beyond reasonable doubt by the evidence presented and for him it came short of showing undeniably that Michael Alan Turner would lose income or would suffer irreparable and irreversible losses if Meara interactive and it’s bandit officers’ operations were not shut down.

6.    Meara interactive has questioned the fundamental defects of the Search Warrant permitting the entire 2nd floor office to be searched and for items loosely described in the warrant as: Computers, servers, software and accessories” that enabled the police to seize all the legally purchased computers and other related equipment of the corporation found therein because in this day and age it is common for any office in the country to contain “Computers, servers, software, and accessories” within their premises.

To this we SMSI say:
Again, to question is one’s democratic right, as well as every human being’s right to satisfy its inquisitive nature. In spite of how Meara interactive’s officers behaved in the final days while still connected to SMSI, we would like to think of them as human beings. Albeit low humans, but human beings all the same. The search warrant has annexes that are not meant for public view and details of such are known only to the judge who issued the search warrant and Col. Montalba, the policeman who applied for said Search Warrant based on intensive reconnaissance (weeks of it) on the 2 Meara offices, and the police submitted photographic and video evidences acquired during said undertaking. The judge took painstaking time, (7 days to our knowledge, the 7th day included an 8 hour intensive one on one Q&A between the policemen who did said surveillance and parties in the know on one side and the judge on the other), and only when the judge was totally satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt with the documentary evidence, such coupled with photographic and video evidence, that the judge signed the Search Warrant on the eve of October 28, 2011. Everything was done with great care to detail and legality for any warrant issuing judge knows that the aftermath of serving any warrant is a legal uproar from the defending party, where defense counsels will stoop to any means just to declare the warrant void on any tiny technicality conjured or available, so as to free their criminal clients. Don’t you MEARAi guys watch “Law and Order”? Hasn’t T.V. taught you anything?

7.    Meara interactive has protested the inclusion and seizure of the personal laptops, as well as the attempted seizure of personal cellphones owned by its employees during the execution of aforementioned search warrant. These aforementioned items were not listed in the items to be searched;

To this we SMSI say:
Again, to protest is every citizen’s democratic right. Personal laptops were part of the list of items to be seized. Tabby and Lia have laptops that are the personal property of Michael Alan Turner. Shame on you two. Meara interactive officers and employees have at least 4 units of personal laptops that were personally bought by Michael Alan Turner. But as thievery runs in their blood, none of these equipments are ever going to be voluntarily returned to its rightful owner. The policemen temporarily confiscated cellphones of all people at Meara interactive Megapension office in Macasandig, for the second raiding team had not yet reached and entered the Nazareth office of Meara interactive, and the policemen didn’t want anyone alerting them for this would sabotage and negate the surprise element of the raid, and Meara interactive employees could abscond with evidence in their hands. Once it was known that the second team was already at their target and the search warrant was being executed, the employees were allowed to take their cellphones back. One should also understand the technical aspects of a search warrant. The computer servers from Davao were identified. Secondly, all the screens were showing work being done for GearySEO, DiscoverySD, Referral Solution Group LLC just to name a few. All are clients of Harvest SEO; all have exclusive contracts with HarvestSEO or Michael Alan Turner, and not with Meara interactive, and certainly not with Agustin Rodano. Programs and data which were an integral part of HarvestSEO and SMSI, and tools used in conducting its SEO business, all of which were acquired by Michael Alan Turner over the years, were seen running on all servers located at both offices. Thus the search warrant became a tool to arrest the conspirators under the rule of “In Flagrante” meaning a continuing criminal enterprise. Thus everyone present had to be detained under the law. It’s a good thing Atty. Limbaco was not subjected to the shameful experience of an arrest as one of the Meara interactive conspirators (she has shares in Meara interactive Inc. as she is one of its incorporators), for Atty. Pallugna would not allow it, she being a student in one of his classes where he was a teacher, when she was still a student at law in Xavier University, Cdo, asides from the fact that it was also a common professional courtesy.

8.    Meara has filed a motion to quash the search warrant and to have the seized items returned. We have raised as one of the grounds that the police and the court has violated our Constitutional rights, including the following:

Article III Bill of Rights

SECTION 2: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witness he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

The 1987 Constituition of the Republic of the Philippines

To this we SMSI say:
Please read our answer to point number 7. Meara interactive board members and officers have an obsession with being repetitive and loud. It is as if they believe that by being loud and by being consistently repetitive they would be more believable, have a better chance at being well heard and gain more sympathy through it. It’s a well used media tool of the communist parties in countries they hold or have held power, and of despots lording it over their subjects. Repeat and repeat. Bombard the masses with the same bullshit over and over, day in and day out, and soon enough it will be considered as something inevitable for these ideas are already deeply imbedded in peoples psyche.

9.    Lastly, Meara interactive strongly condemns the illegal arrest of a number of its employees and detention of some of its top management personnel as there was NO ARREST WARRANT ISSUED and there was no illegal contraband found in the premises.
It is meara interactive’s position that the issuance of the search warrant and its execution and the subsequent arrest of some of meara’s officers are anomalous, malicious, unfair, and oppressive. The public is informed that meara interactive business operations will continue to operate in accordance with law.
The public is further informed to check the records of the cases before the Courts and Prosecutor’s office to confirm the position of the corporation which will vindicate meara interactive from the unfounded allegations of Michael Alan turner.

To this we SMSI say:
Redundant points galore again!!!! Well…. When the president of the Philippines Mr. Aquino, tried to influence the Supreme Courts lately, in his personal vendetta against the past president Arroyo and her family, the Justices were furious. They reminded the president that while his job specifications lay in the “Administrative” and “Executory” aspect of the law, that being his role as per peoples mandate, in the governance of the Philippines, the Justices said they were duty and honor bound to serve the “Judicial” side of governance, and that the president should not and could not dictate how the Justices should rule on certain cases, nor should he put words in their mouths. For the person executing and administering the law should not meddle in the deciding of cases and in the wordings of the judgments passed by judges, for it would show and cultivate bias. So who is meara interactive to assess the law and decide what is legal or illegal, when even the president, who holds the highest post of this country was chastised for trying just that? Meara interactive officers seemingly have hot air in their head. Riding high on some inert gas one could say. They want to dictate even the courts how to rule and what to say in their decisions. Anything less is a farce, an oppression of humankind on the whole. Get off your high horses. You are nothing but common thieves posing as class freedom fighters. The criminal cases pending at the Prosecutor’s Office in Cdo would be a heavy read for any ordinary human. The stapled affidavits supporting the cases against meara inc., its officers, its employees and its incorporators, would fill a small room. All in all there are more than 50 of you on one side and the numbers of defendants are rising. You have more than 90 employees plus 12 officers or managers. Add to that the incorporators of your corporation and that is the final number of defendants. All of you are going to face criminal and civil suits in the near future. All of you have only yourselves; you with your wrong, racist, biased thinking, your warped and lopsided view of right or wrong, fueled by your collective greed to blame.

THE STORY OF THE MONKEY WHO WOULD NOT LET GO OF THE BANANA

This is an Asian fable, a Bodhisattva (Buddha reincarnation) tale actually, based on an existing negative trait in monkeys. It goes like this…. Once upon a time there was an overly greedy monkey. He just couldn’t get enough of anything. The more he had the more he wanted. One day on his food prowl he had a chance sighting of a big heavy glass jar (the kind used for making pickles in Asia Major or Asia Minor). It was full of oversized bananas. The jar had a thin neck, the opening just small enough for a banana to slide through. Greed overcame the monkey. He wanted the bananas in spite of the apparent peril. He slid his hand through the neck of the glass jar and grabbed a hold of one oversized banana. But, once he closed his palm into a fist around the banana it was impossible to pull his hand out. He tried to run away with the jar but could not reach far due to the jar being extremely heavy. Buddha, as a reincarnate monkey, advised the erring monkey and ends up giving a long discourse about the trappings in life to the banana enamored monkey, and tells him to let go of his greed, which was being symbolized by the oversized banana, and thus save his own life. The greedy monkey does not heed Buddha’s words. Dejected, the Buddha reincarnate monkey leaves. The monkey with his hand stuck in the jar just couldn’t overcome his greed. So he tried and tried to get the banana out of the glass jar, never realizing the futility of his deed. Thus he was eventually caught by the owners of the jar, who kept on beating the monkey with sticks to no avail, for the monkey would just not relinquish the banana. The monkey died from a severe beating, but even in death, would still not let go of the object of his greed, the banana. Thus the saying in Asia major and minor, a monkey (a greedy human being) won’t let go of the banana. It has no racist slur or pun intended, for these fables originated from the primary races or creeds that suffered from British and European racism and bias, and bore more than 200 years of colonial rule under them. Please read story at message.snopes.com regarding the greedy monkey or just type in on the GOOGLE bar “How to catch a monkey” or “monkey trap hand stuck” to read the real life applications of said fable in catching monkeys.

The paid one full page advertisement that appeared in Gold star daily November 16

The paid one full page advertisement that appeared in Gold star daily November 16, 2011 edition, page 7 is misleading in more ways than one. Sticky media solutions, Inc. has a new board of directors. Thus this publication paid for by individual private personalities is a falsity, meant to gain public confidence through deceit, false claims to knowledge and legal proceedings, and through false propaganda spread via various forms of mass communications, just like said paid advertisement in said issue of said paper. We are here to contest said ad point by deceptive point.

1.The heading itself is a falsity as it was not approved by the new and elected board of directors of Sticky media Solutions, Inc. or SMSI for short. The people masquerading as SMSI and who have paid for said ad in said paper on said issue should look forward to the filing of several criminal and civil suits against them and their instigators in the near future, in the lines of impersonating, misleading and for copyright infringements.


2.“This is to inform the general public that StickyMedia Solutions, Inc., a SEC-registered, fully Filipino-owned company has suspended its operations due to legal matters pending resolution in court.”

SMSI’s answer is this:
StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. was proverbially left for dead on the afternoon of July 27, 2011, after Agustin Rodano, Melissa “Lia” Murillo Fernando, Elmer B. Taboada, Al-Jedidiah A. Aquino and Riza Rodano in tandem tried and succeeded in stealing an “Integrity” server computer from SMSI’s operating offices located at 3/F Marel 2 Bldg., Tiano-Gomez Sts., and six server computers from SMSI’s Davao City offices on the eve of July 27, 2011. (Please insert Davao case number and Cagayan de oro pending cases here) These masquerading devout Christians and do-gooders thought that by stealing the proverbial brains of SMSI’s internet based business, they had won the war by a decisive, albeit illegal and morally devoid strike, on SMSI’s operations and thus its ability to survive economically. They then proceeded to transfer said equipments in their newly completed and renovated office rented at 2/F Megapension Bldg., behind Corpus Christi High School, Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City. (Enclosed records will show renovations of said office started a month before this brazen thievery). They also enticed/cajoled/manipulated by lying about the actual situation, around 90 fully trained SMSI employees from CdO and Davao, and were successful in transferring them to work, using the stolen servers and the client data and files stored within it, at their new office.

3.“StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. has already terminated its lease of contract from its previous office located at Marel 2 Building, Tiano-Gomez Streets, Cagayan de Oro City. Furthermore, the corporation is no longer employing any individual as part of its workforce.
StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. does not recognize Michael Alan Turner or his spouse Marissa V. Turner or persons connected to them as stockholders, officers or representatives of the corporation and will not honor any transactions made by them. The authority of Mr. Turner has been questioned by the corporation in the pending civil case.
The public is informed that any entity or persons claiming to recruit or hire for employment any person on behalf of the aforementioned corporation or using identification cards and representing themselves as employees of StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. will not be considered legally recognized representatives of the corporation”

SMSI’s answer is this:
Al-Jedidiah A. Aquino tried very hard, but was unsuccessful in cancelling said contract. SMSI is still located in the same address, is still hiring and paying salaries of employees continuing to work there, has a business and mayor’s permit, still pays taxes, albeit under a new board of directors and management, since its old board resorted to criminal means to enforce its will. Al-Jedidiah A. Aquino then went to CEPALCO and COWD and there he was able to convince said utility companies to disconnect their services. Bayantel internet connection too was cut, as were the landlines. Marissa V. Turner had to personally go to abovementioned companies, bringing all pertinent documents to prove the falsity of the discontinuance application from the previous board of directors and officers. In such underhanded fashion these so called internet savvy Filipino entrepreneurs and alleged pillars of their Christian churches and civic organizations went about destroying the foreigner who had the misfortune to trust the wrong Filipinos for over 6 years. Agustin Rodano, the mastermind behind MEARA Inc. was best man in said foreigners wedding to Filipina Marissa Valles on September 1, 2006. He is also Godfather or Ninong to Horace, the only child of Michael and Marissa Valles Turner who was baptized on May, 2008. Agustin Rodano is now resorting to slander in trying to deport Michael Turner, as he has filed complaint with the Bureau of Immigration through Melissa “Lia” Fernando. Agustin Rodano is also using local politicians (a top city councilor and an ex-mayor included) to influence and expedite the voiding of the legality of SMSI permits and thus questioning the legality of Michael Turner, whose only flaw it seems is to be a foreigner, as a business entity operating out of CdO. Agustin Rodano has an uncle in the media, who has been a staunch and vicious critic of the current city mayor for time immemorial. He is always ranting and complaining about the RTA, traffic woes in Cdo, all infrastructure projects undertaken by the current city mayor as being unjustified and unnecessary, and also went as low as complaining about city fiesta solicitations coming from local utility companies in his articles printed 3 days every week. Said uncle has harassed Michael Turner in person, threatening dire consequences amidst heavy usage of racial slur and verbal abuse in vernacular, and his children and vehicles registered under their names have been sighted in the vicinity of vandalism done on Turner’s Toyota Hilux and his attorney’s house. Such are the acts of the so called poor, defenseless, economically oppressed and scared incorporators of MEARA Inc. StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. has a business permit denoted 2011-18677, with Marissa Valles Turner as its legal representative. Agustin Rodano has been visiting the mayor and the city administrator in vain trying to cancel said business permit. He has been aided in this by a top lawyer who has the mayor’s ear and a top city councilor who is deeply trusted by the same. The top city police official is also on Agustin Rodano’s side when it comes to influencing police blotters, moon lighting policemen as private security and doing surveillance of Michael Turner and his friends and associates. Such is the web of deceit these unscrupulous people who unfortunately are Filipinos, have spun. An unsuspecting naïve foreigner, who has no political clout, has no chance in this lop-sided battle. A foreigner in need can’t even enter the mayor’s office leave alone exert any influence on local government units to save himself from the economical and socially damaging onslaught brought about by such devious locals who hide under a mask and guise of good Christian values and civic righteousness.

4.“Any information related to the corporation or activity made on behalf of StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. should first be verified through the Court records before RTC-18, Cagayan de Oro City under Civil Case No. 2011-287 or its status confirmed from the company’s legal counsels, Attorney Francis Ku and Atty. Raquel Limbaco.”

SMSI’s answer is this:
Civil case No. 2011-287 has been filed as a civil case action by Michael Allan Turner, Michael Turner Harvest SEO.Com, Inc. and StickyMedia Solutions, Inc. (One private individual and two corporations) against Melissa “Lia” Angela C. Fernando, Elmer B. Taboada, Antonio Agustin T. Rodano, Rex D. Cortez, Al-Jedidiah A. Aquino, Alex A. Tabuan, Jr. and MEARA Inc. (6 private individuals who once were part of the SMSI Board of Directors and Officers, and their newly created corporation). Said case is filed for 6 legal actions, pleadings or outcomes, and of which one of them is for a TRO or a Temporary Restraining Order, which was denied on October 21, 2011 but is now under appeal by Michael Turner via a motion for reconsideration. Even if said motion were to be denied, said case will still continue, for there are 5 more pleadings to be settled or argued in court. But as of today MEARA Inc., its incorporators and all of its employees have collectedly more than 10 criminal cases pending in CdO and at least 3 pending criminal cases in Davao, of which though the old SMSI board of directors and current incorporators of MEARA Inc. is well aware as they have received summons for such, have made no mention at all in said newspaper article. No mention is either made of the Search Warrant issued on October 28, 2011 by branch 2, MTCC CdO, during which while being served, recovered many of the stolen articles from SMSI’s Cdo and Davao offices, and thus lead to the arrest of a total 52 MEARA Inc. officers and employees who were found using and in possession of said stolen articles, and due to said arrest, all 52 people detained or arrested on October 28, 2011, plus the incorporators of Meara inc. have 3 criminal suits pending against them at the city prosecutors office. Please go and verify the existence of said pending criminal cases filed for Qualified Theft, 2nd for Cracking or Hacking and the third case for Anti Fencing.

How to steal from a foreigner in the Philippines and get away with it

Let us begin with a story. A foreigner (American in this case) by the name of Mike, starts an online negotiation with a Filipino (a Filipino-chinese in this case) named Gus, sometime around the year 2003. The Filipino-chinese (tsinoy) named Gus, with 3 other Filipinos, start working on a contractual/per diem basis for the foreigner Mike over the internet, and in a few weeks their business is flourishing. The foreigner comes down to the Philippines around 2004 and personally meets the tsinoy. They negotiate how to increase their output and how to enter into a symbiotic business relationship. The foreigner is deeply impressed by the tsinoys humbleness and straight-forwardness. He also meets a few women he met “on line” and decides on one named “marisyl” as being the best choice and enters into a personal relationship with her. A few months pass and there is bliss in their lives. Marisyl then becomes head of the foreigner’s business office in 2005, and the Filipinos have a clash of personalities, for a middle class Filipino, especially a tsinoy, would easily take orders from a foreigner but from a Filipina….. Well, they won’t. Thus a fight ensues between the foreigner and Marisyl, unbeknownst to both that it is this tsinoy Gus who is fanning flames on both sides. The foreigner sides with his tsinoy worker over his girl friend, and a new business office is born. The tsinoy has gained the foreigners total trust by this time. He is given free hand to hire and fire people in the new business office, and to run the day to day affairs of the business in a way that has the least resistance from the foreigner. The tsinoy can make decisions without conferring with the foreigner first. The foreigner trusts this tsinoy so much that eventually when he gets married to a local girl in 2006, named Marissa, his best man is said tsinoy. He even makes this tsinoy Godfather to his only child, a son named Horace, at his Roman Catholic baptismal in 2009. The foreigner gives lavish salaries and bonuses to this tsinoy and his group of chosen people from 2005 to 2011. The tsinoy runs the foreigners business as if it were his own. He and his wife Riza sometimes publicly call said business their own, and because the foreigner never reacts due to his total faith in said tsinoy, people believe their claim. In 2009, the foreigner expands by opening another office in a city 7hrs away by land from the first in a city called Davao. Mike spends money on furnishing and computer equipments and sets up office and a staffhouse in Davao. He puts Gus and his cohorts in full control there too. Soon business is booming. The tsinoy, seeing the viability of both offices, suddenly gets an ambitious idea to start a company to compete with the foreigners company. Thus for more than a year, he, his wife, and his chosen people, in tandem, embezzle as much as they can from the company accounts and finances, billing even personal accounts such as credit cards, personal cellular phone bills, internet bills, restaurant bills and such to the foreigners company expense and bank accounts, all in the guise of corporate expenses. They also start opening bank accounts in the foreigner’s company name, but in which they are the signatories and not the foreigner. To accommodate this they make themselves Board of Directors of the business corporation and convince the foreigner that his name will not be included in the board to save him from any legal duress arising from legal claims and employee suits. All along the foreigner tags along like an unsuspecting child in a Grimm brothers horror fairy tale. The bubble bursts when in 2011 the tsinoy asks the foreigner to pay millions to their uncle who poses as a businessman who allegedly owns all the computers in the foreigner’s offices. The foreigner asks for accounting for he knows all the equipment should already be paid for. The tsinoy pressures Mike to no avail. Mike wants accounting for the last 6 years and is adamant on it. The tsinoy Gus knows the game is up. Thus he rallies his tsinoy family, conspires with his underlings, and raids the foreigner’s offices at an opportune time, trying to get all the main servers and data of the foreigners clients, without which the foreigner can’t operate nor can he collect past due accounts. The foreigner tries to defend himself, but as his lawyer has just left for a month long vacation to Europe, there is not much that he can do. And the tsinoy knew that. For he and his cohorts have planned everything well, from execution of the raid to tactical support in the aftermath. He has already prepared a new office and he transfers all the stolen equipment there. He then sends his underlings, who have been poisoning the minds of the workers working for the foreigner for the past year and a half, and thus have maintained people totally brainwashed to their cause. He uses the age old “oppressed pinoy by an exploiting green-eyed devil foreigner” formula to a great extent, and as all his workers being pinoys, have long fallen for his wily tricks. The tsinoy has also used the same trick on members of the Rotary civic club of which he and the foreigner Mike were members and on local politicians too. He is successful in painting an extremely bad picture of the foreigner. As Mike is not well versed in local customs and ways, he is no match to the wily ways of Gus and his 11 cohorts. The tsinoy has thus taken the foreigners business, by taking his equipment, his accumulated data, his time tested processes, his well trained employees, and all his international clients. He then starts serving said clients as if nothing happened, and sure enough, the clients start paying the tsinoy for past due and due work done, for the tsinoy is the only one now who can deliver work direly needed by the clients due to close business deadlines. All the while the foreigner is trying his best to get his business and his clients back. He reaches a low point for his clients won’t pay him his past due billings of 3 months and in one instance 4 months, for which he had already made payroll. The foreigner now realizes that he has to start afresh and that he has lost his clients and 8 years of painstaking labor to the tsinoy. All the foreigner can do now is file multiple criminal and civil cases and wait for the justice system to grind its wheels slowly towards an end in which the foreigner might not be the victor. All this while the tsinoy Gus will be making money from Mikes clients, procuring Mikes business processes and tools, all this for no investment, be it in capital or in time resources, at all. He can easily pay a battery of lawyers (8 lawyers in this case), and can delay the justice system, for he is making good money from the business that he stole. The ironic thing is that pinoys, educated ones at that, still fall for the brown man vs. white man routine or propaganda, they still think in colonial ways in this modern time and age, and thus swayed, support the wrong elements within the Filipino people, just for the mere fact that the offended party is a white man. What happened to right and wrong? Where is fair play? Are these forgotten terms of the old? Do we start ganging up on all foreigners who try to invest in the Philippines now, even though they try to elevate us from our economic dire straits? Then how can we blame these well wishing foreigners, who go back to their respective countries after getting royally screwed here in the Philippines, from ganging up on pinoys there? Or is this another routine of “I can do to you but you can’t do the same back to me or mine?” We then start labeling these foreigners as tyrants and racist but we don’t seem to realize that we started the buck moving and these foreigners are just passing it forward. Either we start realizing that condoning such thievery has a long lasting effect; where innocent, hard working migrant Filipino workers will suffer for our misdeeds here while they work and toil in foreign lands, or we should all join the club of Gus and his cohorts and steal all the foreign investor’s blind. This way we could alienate our whole race from the outside world and no one would ever invest in or hire pinoys. The choice is ours. So is the shameful outcome of our bad choices.