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Fixers
of veterans' claims uncovered
By: KIT BAGAIPO
Investigators
from the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) uncover
the presence of "fixers" victimizing pensioners
here.
This
was bared Tuesday by Vicente Gavantes and Eduardo Leyson,
special investigators of the PVAO legal and pensions division
who were sent here by Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina
amid complaints that a syndicate of fixers allegedly facilitate
the release of pension claims.
Gavantes
confirmed there are fixers who monitor pension releases of
veterans and their beneficiaries.
He
said that based on initial interviews with pensioners and
a cashier at one of PVAOs remittance bank here, the suspected
fixers accompany pensioners or their claimants at the bank.
This
information is being verified by the investigators through
their interviews with veterans and beneficiaries here in the
province.
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Gavantes
and Leyson met last Monday with first district Rep.
Edgar Chatto and City Kag. Leonides Borja, who also
reported to PVAO the existence of fixers.
According
to Gavantes, the fixers are monitoring pensioners and
offering them to facilitate the release of claims.
The
fixers could not facilitate releases, Gavantes explained,
as PVAO has stringent rules before processing claims.
"The
only thing fixers do is identify who the pensioners
are," Gavantes said.
The
investigator warned pensioners not to transact business
with non PVAO employees. He said inquiries of pension
and other claims can be addressed directly at any PVAO
office.
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Last
November 14, 2007, survivorship pensioner Paula Peligro, 77,
a resident of barangay Cansiwang, Guindulman town reported
to police a certain Danilo Surigao, 52, who asked for P92,500
as fee for facilitating the release of the back-pay for the
her deceased husband.
Surigao
was later apprehended in an entrapment operation of the City
PNP when the suspected fixer was handed marked money amounting
P30,000 as partial payment to the fee he demanded from Peligro.
The
investigators likewise warned pensioners against fixers who
introduce themselves as PVAO employees and later offer assistance
in processing claims.
Pensioners
are being victimized by fixers due to the promise of immediate
release of claims.
Surigao
was caught red-handed by police after he received the marked
money from Peligro at the Development Bank of the Philippines
(DBP) Tagbilaran Branch where the latter withdrew the back-pay
claims of her late husband.
Relatives
of other pensioners also called dyRD's "Inyong Alagad"
program to narrate how Surigao swindled them with the same
modus operandi of assuring the early release of their pensions
in exchange of getting half of the amount.
Surigao
is currently facing charges of estafa.
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