Pimentel, more SSS benefits and Stradcom

Former Sen. Nene Pimentel spoke his mind on a number of subjects at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday, foremost of which was the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Then the Senate president, Pimentel was one of the two presiding officers (the other was Chief Justice Hilario Davide) during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada.

The two other guests were Emilio de Quiros, chief of the Social Security System (SSS), and Margaux Salcedo, spokesperson of Stradcom, the IT provider of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) whose contract will expire in one year.

Pimentel said it was easier for him during the Estrada impeachment trial than it is at present for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile because Davide was right there beside him making all the major decisions and rulings. But now it is the Chief Justice himself on trial, so obviously there can be no Chief Justice beside Enrile now.

How has the trial gone, how much evidence has been presented, and, based on that evidence, what are the chances of Corona of getting acquitted? he was asked.

Very slim, Pimentel replied. He premised his answer with the statement that what he was going to say was his opinion and his alone and did not reflect the thinking of his son and namesake, now a senator-judge at the ongoing impeachment trial. Then he said that the trial was going too slowly because of the dilatory tactics of the defense lawyers.

“But you can’t blame them for that,” Pimentel said. “They have to defend their client the best way they can.”

He said these tactics were taught in law school, and added: “That’s why we should close all the law schools. They teach law students how to delay cases instead of speeding them up.”

A lawyer himself, Pimentel said “we have too many lawyers already.”

“That is probably why our wheels of justice are the slowest in the world. That is probably the reason the first thing the communists did was to kill all the lawyers,” he joked.

As an example, he cited the case of the “ghost employees” in the Quezon City Council. It has been almost a year since whistle-blower Jimmy Lee Davis, a former council employee, filed the case against Councilors Roderick Paulate, Francisco Calalay and Marvin Rallos, but the Ombudsman is still in the preliminary investigation stage.

On the murder of Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño (where he is the lawyer of the Pestaño family), the former senator said the accused should be tried by civilian courts, not by military tribunals. “These are not times of war and our civilian courts are functioning. Its utter nonsense for the accused to claim that ‘national security’ may be compromised by trying them before civilian courts,” he said.

“What will be unearthed in an honest-to-goodness trial by a proper civilian court are the evil motives behind the killing of Philip Pestaño and the shameless cover-up of the evil deed by officers of the Navy,” he added. “Neither is even remotely connected with national security.”

On the grenade bombing of sorority and fraternity members who were cheering their barrister colleagues on Taft Avenue after the bar exams in September 2010, Pimentel sought the help of the public in locating the principal accused, Anthony Nepomuceno y Leal.

The Manila RTC has issued a warrant for his arrest but he has gone into hiding. Law student Raisa Dawn Laurel lost both her legs in that bombing, and scores of students and onlookers were seriously injured.

The criminal case for multiple frustrated murder was filed against Nepomuceno after more than a year and a half of preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice.

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After many years of paying premiums to the Social Security System, a member gets a pittance in benefits that cannot keep him alive for a week. Can’t you raise the benefits to make SSS membership useful, SSS chief De Quiros was asked.

“Yes we can, and we want to do that, but only if the premiums are raised. Right now, members pay a pittance in premiums, so they get a pittance in benefits,” he replied.

Why doesn’t he increase the premiums then? Right now the benefits are next to useless. The real beneficiaries are the SSS officials who receive hundreds of thousands of pesos in salaries, bonuses and allowances.

“Because,” De Quiros replied, “we are sure members will howl in protest. That is why we are talking with various sectors to explain to them the problem. You want more benefits, pay more premiums. It’s as simple as that.”

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You remember Stradcom, the IT provider of LTO, which gained notoriety in 2010 because of a takeover attempt of the company by a rival group. LTO Chief Virginia Torres was caught on camera with the usurpers. She was asked by Malacañang to go on leave while the controversy was being investigated, but returned when the issue had died down in the media.

Torres has since then unilaterally withheld payments from Stradcom. LTO now owes Stradcom P2.5 billion for services that have already been rendered. Stradcom’s contract expires in February 2013. It wants to renew the contract, offering many additional services, or at least be given a three-year transitory period so that LTO services will not stop, but the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said it would not renew the contract.

Stradcom spokesperson Salcedo said the corporation had asked the DOTC to reconsider. “Review our proposal first,” she said, “because what was presented was really generous and deliberately constructed to make it more advantageous to the government and the transacting public.”