OFFBEAT MAIL

Congressman Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is doing all he could to recover at least 60% of his late father's shares in groups of businesses run by tycoon Lucion Tan, believed to be a protege' of the late dictator when he was still an ordinary tobacco salesman in Ilocos province. That's when the two met and got acquainted to each other. Now Lucio Tan owns many big businesses that include the Philippine Airlines, Fortune Tobacco Corporation, Allied Bank, Philippine National Bank, among others. And many wouldn't agree that these businesses are his alone. While others believed, most of them are owned by the Marcoses with Tan as dummy. From a mere tobacco salesman, Tan rose to become one of the hotshot government revenue examiners, a feat that some people said could be the handiwork of the late dictator. Probably, it's a long range plan that only a select few knew exactly the truth behind it. A dead man tells no tales. But there must be something that the you...

Good public relations strategies don't work well at the Bureau of Customs in Manila. After being criticized for its failure to stop graft and corruption, the customs bureau has continued to tarnish its image by doing things that are lousy and impractical. Nobody knows for what reason? But it's common knowledge that like the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the customs bureau is believed to be remiss in its task to collect the right taxes and duties levied on imported items that enter the Philippine ports. Seriously, the BOC can be an effective revenue collector of the government. But there are instances when higher government officials dip their hands to influence the decision of the good customs commissioner and his examiners. The case of Manny Pacquiao's recent publicity stunt was an exception. After his Porsche Cayenne landed at the South Harbor in Manila, the customs bureau immediately assessed its value and required the international boxer to pay what was due the government...

What a great news for many overseas Filipino workers to work in Australia. This came after an employer's group there opened the idea of subsidizing the deployment of professionals and skilled workers to Down Under. The move would surely create a great relief for many Filipinos who have been hankering to leave the Philippines to look for greener pastures elsewhere. And this is an opportunity for them to prove their mettle in Australia, in partnership with MAB International Services, a manpower agency duly registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Adminstration (POEA). With this, professionals and skilled workers, who don't have the opportunity to advance or improve their lives in the country may now the choice to bank their luck on seeking jobs that fit their qualifications and experiences. For sure, the exodus of medical professionals will be hard to prevent. At least, the immigration intricacies and the licensing requirements to practice in that country are not so te...

The People's Republic of China should be thanked for releasing at least six North Korean refugees to South Korea. Of course, the action did not come easy for the international community to prod China to do its share for international humanitarian reason. The six refugees are now doing well in South Korea, and it won't be long when all of them would be resettled in the United States, where they have expressed interest to go. However, more are languising in Chinese detention cells at this hour. And the United Nations doesn't seem to work seriously so that their immediate release could be expedited soonest. Most of these refugees are North Koreans, who had crossed into China because life under Kim Jong Il's government is lousy and unbearable. Perhaps, the United Nations, along with the U.S government should do something about the dilemma of many North Korean refugees now being held in China so that they could immigrate somewhere else, rather than returning them to North K...