Those get-rich-quick schemes

They say there is one born every minute. That is a very old saying, maybe truism, but it looks as if it is as relevant as it had ever been in ages past. We are referring to the scandalous duping of thousands of people in Mindanao who entrusted their hard-earned money or life savings to a fast worker who convinced them that he could double and treble their funds within just days. Yesterday, the media was full of reports about the way about 15,000 people were divested of their money in a financial sleight-of-hand that one would think unbelievable in this day and age.

***

I say unbelievable because wasn’t it less than ten years ago when several syndicates had also gypped people of their money with similar offers of get-rich-quick schemes? Many of those operators had been identified and charged, although we don’t know yet of any who had been convicted, or made to return the money they had swindled from trusting investors. If I remember right, one of the biggest ones, has its president still awaiting sentence, but is said to be detained in a hospital while cancer is eating his life away, making his remaining days on earth hell already.

***

The Mindanao case is really abominable because the operators showed no conscience at all in getting the money, not only of professionals and well-to-do people, but even those of soldiers, clerks, policemen, even janitors whom they were able to convince that they could make their money earn much more than any bank, and faster, too. Just imagine, these innocent souls, after being worked on, invested their money, and, true enough, after a few weeks, it came back in twice the amount. So this excited them and made them believe that the more money they put in, the more they would get.

***

Well, the “investors” did get the initial treatment, of having their funds earn a lot for a few weeks, before their company officials suddenly disappeared from the scene, and they realized that, as a whole, they had given away no less than P12 Billion! Maybe the police and the National Bureau of Investigation will be able to catch the culprits later, but will their money still be there, and is there a chance that they will get even a part of it back? No wonder an “investor” reportedly committed suicide upon realizing that he had thrown everything that he had worked for all his life. By the way, the saying about one being born every minute refers to “suckers”, people who are easily fooled because they are too gullible.

***

It was amusing to hear about a party list representative who was so angry at Comelec Chairman Sixto Brilliantes for purging their group out of those qualified to field candidates in the 2013 elections, that he wants to have Brilliantes undergo a psychological test to determine his mental state. Seeing him on TV, however, only made one think he is the one who needs to undergo such testing, instead. Brilliantes was quick on the uptake, however. He quickly agreed to a test, so long as the one suggesting it goes through it, too.

***

But I am sure more Filipinos are supportive of Brilliantes in what he is doing. Many of those party-list groups even have names that seem to mock the election process. And the fact that most of them are actually being represented by people who cannot in any way be classified as “marginalized” just proves that a good number of them really deserve to be disqualified. Some have already ran to the Supreme Court, but how do they know they will not get the flip-flopping response, too?

***

In the meantime, it was good to hear that the United States has developed and advanced their oil producing technology so that it is now expected that it will produce more oil than Saudi Arabia in the year 2015. The report also said that it may altogether stop buying oil from other countries come 2020. Now, why does our government not ask them to also perform oil explorations in our country? Several years ago, we were titillated by reports that oil had been found in some parts of our country, but nothing had happened. What if there is enough financing for such explorations here? Maybe time will come when we, too, will be sufficient in black gold.

***

Meanwhile, have you noticed how the installation of closed circuit television in various shops and buildings have helped in solving crimes lately? One of the most dramatic was the speedy identification and arrest of the group that had abducted and killed a poor young TV model because the boyfriend of her co-worker wanted to “teach her a lesson”. That, and so many other cases that have been solved recently through the CCTV, should convince local businesses to also install them. I understand a unit does not cost too much, but the advantages of having it will far outweigh the price, in case something untoward takes place.*

back to top