Grease Money

Also on our beloved Facebook people offer services like getting SRRV, renewal of ID cards and charge outrageous fees plus the government fees for doing so.

The Philippines is a very desirable place but the government has locked down the country limiting the number of people that can enter.   This is a breading ground for such scams considering everyone knows how corrupt government officials are.  My girlfriend left a government position because it didn't pay well and she refused to take bribe money.

tryingnottolaugh.gif

I am sure that we all have stories but even if I did, I'd never post them online!

Enzyte Bob wrote:

...  an immigration officer who can facilitate smooth entry in exchange for grease money. BI said there is no such service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Really?

Hahaha Bob.. the 1000p Express Fee maybe?

Sure! Lol. The "pastillas" received by the BI in connection with Chinese Travelers totaled approximately 603 million USD between 2017 and 2020. Did the Senate hearings regarding all this accomplish anything? You've still got the same BI commissioner in office. OOPS.

Peter Crawford wrote:

Sure! Lol. The "pastillas" received by the BI in connection with Chinese Travelers totaled approximately 603 million USD between 2017 and 2020. Did the Senate hearings regarding all this accomplish anything? You've still got the same BI commissioner in office. OOPS.

The highest in Custom and LTO got fired early by Duterte.  Any improvementss noticed since then?
(Although the new LTO boss had some bad luck because I believe the licence plates problem need money to solve and covid reduce access to money.)

I heared of some outrageous handlings by the custom BEFORE the change, but I havent heared of any since then.  A foreigner THOUGHT he had a new such, but it was the fault of the TRANSPORTER the foreigner used, because it was a chainsaw in that shipment, which isnt allowed in Phiös without special permit, which made the problem.

coach53 wrote:

Peter Crawford wrote:

Sure! Lol. The "pastillas" received by the BI in connection with Chinese Travelers totaled approximately 603 million USD between 2017 and 2020. Did the Senate hearings regarding all this accomplish anything? You've still got the same BI commissioner in office. OOPS.

The highest in Custom and LTO got fired early by Duterte.  Any improvementss noticed since then?
(Although the new LTO boss had some bad luck because I believe the licence plates problem need money to solve and covid reduce access to money.)

I heared of some outrageous handlings by the custom BEFORE the change, but I havent heared of any since then.  A foreigner THOUGHT he had a new such, but it was the fault of the TRANSPORTER the foreigner used, because it was a chainsaw in that shipment, which isnt allowed in Phiös without special permit, which made the problem.

Good memory coach, I remember the chain saw saga, that was pre DU30 from memory. It was a scam to milk grease money. Perhaps he should have called it a handsaw, 2 if memory serves, We sent a container here over 2 years ago (under DU30) and there were things in the manifests descriptions that were accurate but not necessarily on the customs radar as advised by our forwarder. (terminology)
The BS about chainsaws and DENR permits? Perhaps yes? Perhaps no. There are many articles here and other sites about chainsaws. How can we simply walk into a shop here and buy a chainsaw like we did and not need a permit? No permit required sir, our local Capitan states the same but the law states you need to register your chainsaw with the DENR, go figure.

The better half 8 or 9 years ago greased a palm to get his car licence (convert motorbike licence) for 500 pesos. Apparently perfectly acceptable back then, doubt if it would work now but I'm sure it still goes on.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl Good memory coach, I remember the chain saw saga, that was pre DU30 from memory. It was a scam to milk grease money. Perhaps he should have called it a handsaw, 2 if memory serves, We sent a container here over 2 years ago (under DU30) and there were things in the manifests descriptions that were accurate but not necessarily on the customs radar as advised by our forwarder. (terminology)
The BS about chainsaws and DENR permits? Perhaps yes? Perhaps no. There are many articles here and other sites about chainsaws. How can we simply walk into a shop here and buy a chainsaw like we did and not need a permit? [b wrote:

No permit required sir, our local Capitan states the same but the law states you need to register your chainsaw with the DENR, go figure.
[/b]
The better half 8 or 9 years ago greased a palm to get his car licence (convert motorbike licence) for 500 pesos. Apparently perfectly acceptable back then, doubt if it would work now but I'm sure it still goes on..

I dont remember THAT chainaw I remember a recent which I dont know if solved yet.

But pre Duterte I remember  a business EXPORT container they hold for CHANGING BS for each step the owner solved, to gain hih storae fees, anmd perhaps to get the content. I heared it direct from te business owner through a law forum (closed now) but not any close known and we lost contact so I dont know how it ended.

. .
Concerning chainsaws.   Perhaps its as you say in bold  = Need to register a bought chainsaw. 
(Nephew of my business partner has such chainaw allowed to use.)

I remember the chainsaw saga. That was long before duterte I think. I was even asked if I wanted to invest. Then I realized the chainsaws will be used in illegal logging.
Not for me.

All I know is....Why complicate your life by importing a chainsaw? When the local big boys like shopee/lazada have you covered with free home delivery.
Infact it also come included with a free tube of grease.

https://shopee.ph/product/36365964/1186 … 30703077.9

Yes grease money rears its ugly head in other departments too :

https://ph.yahoo.com/news/rich-asians-j … 10302.html

manwonder wrote:

Yes grease money rears its ugly head in other departments too :

https://ph.yahoo.com/news/rich-asians-j … 10302.html

Story on link is true, my wife and myself cannot get our second Sinovac.

manwonder wrote:

Yes grease money rears its ugly head in other departments too :

https://ph.yahoo.com/news/rich-asians-j … 10302.html

From that article:

"The Philippines capital region is under a strict lockdown called enhanced community quarantine, most businesses are shut and only essential shops like supermarkets and pharmacies can fully operate."

Just lmao

johncroy wrote:

The Philippines is a very desirable place but the government has locked down the country limiting the number of people that can enter.   This is a breading ground for such scams considering everyone knows how corrupt government officials are.  My girlfriend left a government position because it didn't pay well and she refused to take bribe money.

The Philippines currently ranks 115 on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.
Government salaries are subsidised by kick backs. Its considered 'normal' to take bribes. Thats why its 'more fun in the Philippines'

The reason that there is such low external investment in the country is primarily due to this. If the government cleaned up their act this would change and the resultant extra inflow of capital would mean a larger tax take allowing the government to pay decent salaries to their employees self perpetuating the investment cycle.

Even the promised investment by China's Xi Jinping whom Duterte sucked up to on taking office never materialised. Jeez things must be bad.

Lotus Eater wrote:

Corruption Perception Index.
...
Government salaries are subsidised by kick backs. Its considered 'normal' to take bribes. Thats why its 'more fun in the Philippines'

It seem the rich families in power DONT WANT any biger amunt of foreign investments adding many jobs, because its the big unemployment, which hold the salaries so very low for workers. 
7000 pesos per month for a full time work is common in the provinces and some employers dont even pay that.

Yes. The term used is 'cutting your nose off to spite your face'

Or shooting yourself in the foot.

The rich families in power "shoot Phils in foot" to earn more themselves - as if they wouldnt have enough allready...

We arrived in Manila on July 23 and our dog arrived on July 28 and was to stay with a friend in Manila until Aug. 1 when we were released from quarantine then we would all fly on the same flight to Leyte. I found out from the animal industry that a dog has a 30 day quarantine at the point of entry which would require us to fly back to Manila on July 28 and endure another 7 day (now 18 day quarantine) when returning to our barangay. P30,000 later the dog flew with us (as checked baggage) to Leyte on Aug. 1. Grease money can be a good thing.

I saw a notice from a Government office in Davao stating it is illigal to sell a chainsaw unless your a licensed dealer, been here for years never had any idea selling a chainsaw without permit was illigal

No fixers in LTO like before, but I do get my registration every year from a guy who works at LTO for a fee

Almost all logging is illigal, in my place no enforcement only where they are on the main highway building a business will you see a sign Permit to cut trees

Moon Dog wrote:

We arrived in Manila on July 23 and our dog arrived on July 28 and was to stay with a friend in Manila until Aug. 1 when we were released from quarantine then we would all fly on the same flight to Leyte. I found out from the animal industry that a dog has a 30 day quarantine at the point of entry which would require us to fly back to Manila on July 28 and endure another 7 day (now 18 day quarantine) when returning to our barangay. P30,000 later the dog flew with us (as checked baggage) to Leyte on Aug. 1. Grease money can be a good thing.

Yes grease money can work wonders

At a certain place in the Philippines, I sat for over an hour waiting to be called. Then my wife applied a little grease and I was called next. Later next to the elevator there was a sign on the wall stating grease was illegal.

Now two past stories in my life about grease. In my younger days I owned a driver training school in Chicago. The first story, the Illinois Legislators were going to pass a law that all driving school instructors will have to be a college graduate with a minor in driver education. This was the requirement to teach teenagers and now they wanted for all students.

I and several other school owners went to Springfield Illinois, the state capitol. The committee that was going to vote, makeup was divided 8 to 7 between the political parties. We visited the chairman and as a result we were to meet with his bag man at a restaurant, which we did $500 later the vote was in our favor.

Now the second story also involves my driver training school. Driving schools are regulated by the secretary of state (Paul Powell) and he had two field representatives for driving school.

Just before the election one of the agents visited my school and strongly suggested I donate $500 to Mr. Powell's re-election campaign. I said who do I write the check to? He said no check, only cash. I replied "check only no cash", then he left with nothing.

Several months later the license renewal for my school was denied. My attorney got a judge to stay the license denial . Now back to Paul Powell, if you Wikipedia him he was famous for saying "There is only one thing worse than a defeated politician and that's a broke one". Upon his death they found shoe boxes full of money in his home.

Grease money in the Philippines is a fact of life and endemic down the whole of the supply chain. There is some level of corruption in most, if not all countries. In the UK corruption is well managed and at a very low level for the masses. However, the same cannot be said for those in power. A report by Transparency International UK  gives an overview of several UK corrupt practices that have hit the news over the last year or so.

These practices fall into insignificance compared to practices in the Philippines. The recent COA audit of the DOH records a deficiency of PHP67.3 Billion. This is a vast amount for a poor country. The auditors are very careful to not make any accusations about corruption (They want to keep their jobs) and there are recent reports that most of the deficiency has been resolved (i.e.it has been identified where the money should have gone). However, the lack of transparency and missing records, over a year after the financial period in question was made very clear by the report. It highlighted several examples that would be considered corrupt practices in most of the world and that would likely have resulted in legal action.

The audit report was available publicly, soon after it was released. It made very good and interesting read. The information has now been taken down and results in an "Access Denied" error with an explanation "This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks." No suspicious activity there then!

Much of the world is starting to recover from the worst pandemic in living history. There are a few high ranking people that are making a fortune, in barrels of grease money, at the expense of the wider Philippine economy. Signs of a collapse are starting to emerge, e.g. PAL filing for bankruptcy. The Philippine economy is not strong and it will not take much for the economy to lose its critical mass. Even if the pandemic were to be brought under control in the Philippines, headlines like the DOH audit and hiding of previously available information will not encourage badly needed investment here.

Today's rant over

Steve

Okieboy wrote:

Almost all logging is illigal, in my place no enforcement only where they are on the main highway building a business will you see a sign Permit to cut trees

We had to have 4 of the sacred coconut trees removed in order to build the house. Tatay had to get a permit and pay P500 for each tree, even though he was the one to plant the trees. He had the guy cut them into planks and studs and built a cottage that we all enjoy.

I saw some discussion of chainsaws. They sell chainsaws on Lazada and the STHIL 20" chainsaw sells for P3,099 at one online shop which is crazy, that would be a $400 or $500 saw in the US. That is until you check the spelling of the brand name and notice the H & I have been switched. It is not a STIHL chainsaw, but at a glance looks like the real deal.

Moon Dog wrote:

We had to have 4 of the sacred coconut trees removed in order to build the house. Tatay had to get a permit and pay P500 for each tree, even though he was the one to plant the trees. He had the guy cut them into planks and studs and built a cottage that we all enjoy.

I had to remove a virtual forrest to clear the lot for our house. It cost a small fortune in permits. These appeared to be legit. I had a Tugas tree (protected) just outside the boundary of the plot. It would have been in the way of where I wanted to put my main gate. I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be granted any permissions to remove the tree. There was a strong hint that some help could be called on for a fee (rather more than PHP500). The dirt road outside the property was planned to be developed. I just waited for the road contractors to bulldoze the tree, which would have encroached onto the new road. It's now gone and I have put my gate where I originally wanted it. Problem solved.

Okieboy wrote:

I saw a notice from a Government office in Davao stating it is illigal to sell a chainsaw unless your a licensed dealer, been here for years never had any idea selling a chainsaw without permit was illigal

It has to do with DENR try to stop illegal loggings.

Okieboy wrote:

Almost all logging is illigal, in my place no enforcement only where they are on the main highway building a business will you see a sign Permit to cut trees

Well. There is some demands to fullfil to get cut permit (Simplified: proof owning the land and it isnt protected forest).  But if fullfil them, then its about time - and patience     - to get the permitS.  Actualy THREE special permits are needed if cut to sell. beside permit for the chainsaw the cuter use and business permits if its a business:
(0. Not a demand but can make it less hard to get the rest.  Registered its planted FOREST at the own land.)
1. cut
2. move the logs from cut place to public road.
3. transport at public road.

For each step DENR come and make inspectioin plus there are checkpoints at public roads.

Everything is easy in Phils 

BassMan_720 wrote:

I had a Tugas tree (protected) just outside the boundary of the plot. It would have been in the way of where I wanted to put my main gate. I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be granted any permissions to remove the tree. There was a strong hint that some help could be called on for a fee.

We got such offer too to get around a problem we have with special permit to our business, but no chance such "solution" would stand a control, which would be devestating for the future of the business if found out. I said "No thanks" anyway, so now we have to wait.  But I got an other solution idea last Friday  =Offering the baranggay to pay OFFICIAL salaries   for the work they need to get the process done, which is missing to get the process running.  My business partner will go and offer that this week. Left to see how they wil react, because the salaries are to cover extra WORKERS, NOT officials   

Greed is one of the 7 Sins and unfortunately. Some greed are so ingrained in modern society, that nothing can be done, and I mean absolutely nothing. SOmething as simple as maybe "making the wheel turn" requires somebody to pay somebody or know somebody.

Been around Asia Pacific for over a decade, I have been put into many spots where I'd basically had to either join them or move on. This is unfortunate. You can hire the best  engineers in the world to put your project  together, but if you come across that one corrupt fire marshall or just need that one particular permit or license & they just wont budge unless you "grease the palms". What can you do? Report them? It will never get done.

Don't think the west don't have this problem either, they just hide it better and people there tend to keep it more under the table and not so noticeable. There have been plenty of convictions where corruption was involved.

Now lets talk about Envy, another of the 7 Sins. Imagine this underpaid patrol officer or "insert title here" -  see you living your life lavishly according to his eyes as you can spend in a day what it takes him a month to make, or more...  Then the temptation comes and leads to Greed. Admit it, we have all been there at some point. Why pay for it when we can get it for free?

Now Pride, this "insert title here" will reason with him/herself that you are too.. How can I put this? Arrogant. OK, and justify Envy and Greed by say.. Teaching you a lesson.

Should I go on and continue down this rabbit hole? 

Poverty breeds crime, greed breeds corruption.

frankanderson wrote:

corrupt...
What can you do? Report them? It will never get done.

(Before Duterte) a foreigner got so upset by a BI officer demanded I believe it was 25 000 pesos to approve an extension which he is suppoused to do for free, so he PROVED it by a secret recording.

The officer just got moved to SAM;E level in an other office...
(According to the foreimner.)

There are roads that are not public, I bought a truck load of Gemilina and Mahogany cut from the mountains, had to wait for about 3 weeks until the road was passable to get it, most Government officials would never venture into those mountains without the military

Okieboy wrote:

There are roads that are not public, I bought a truck load of Gemilina and Mahogany cut from the mountains, had to wait for about 3 weeks until the road was passable to get it, most Government officials would never venture into those mountains without the military

The logger need to have two permits anyway to be legal,  so theey are probably illegal, so you better not tell

coach53 wrote:

frankanderson wrote:

corrupt...
What can you do? Report them? It will never get done.

(Before Duterte) a foreigner got so upset by a BI officer demanded I believe it was 25 000 pesos to approve an extension which he is suppoused to do for free, so he PROVED it by a secret recording.

The officer just got moved to SAM;E level in an other office...
(According to the foreimner.)

A doubting Thomas here. Foreigner? PHP 25K, an extension that is free with BI? (cough and choke) Nothing is free with immi.
Do you have credible information from either the "foreigner" or the accused "immi officer" that was moved?
Perhaps here say and little more. Supply the facts. I can make up stories too.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Two BI officials walked in a bar.......

bigpearl wrote:

coach53 wrote:

frankanderson wrote:

corrupt...
What can you do? Report them? It will never get done.

(Before Duterte) a foreigner got so upset by a BI officer demanded I believe it was 25 000 pesos to approve an extension which he is suppoused to do for free, so he PROVED it by a secret recording.

The officer just got moved to SAM;E level in an other office...
(According to the foreimner.)

A doubting Thomas here. Foreigner? PHP 25K, an extension that is free with BI? (cough and choke) Nothing is free with immi.

Perhaps you missunderstood what I wrote.
25lk was the GREASE MONEY to the local immi boss he demanded to let the application THROUGH
to the normal oicial fees.

bigpearl wrote:

Do you have credible information from either the "foreigner" or the accused "immi officer" that was moved?
Perhaps here say and little more. Supply the facts. I can make up stories too..

Well. It was the proof collector and case filer foreigner who told it and when I told about it to others some after it happened then an other foreigner confirmed and told some EXTRA details and I believeit was tthis confirmer who told about what happened to that rease money demander.  I can remember wrong about the amount though, but it was at that level. 
It was many years ago and I havent saved contact info to any of them. I just "collect" such for myself and tell to them who want to hear         I remember though that grease money demander was related to Dumaguete somehow but I dont remember if he got moved to or from there or just had a house there.

Edit: I dont need to make up stories, because I know so many true ones      
((I have even partly organiced collected true remarkable/funny things since I were in Elementary school. Some of them I have put in books/essays(newspaper articlles (in Swedish) and  much of it are published mainly in different newspapers and some special subject magasins.  (NOT in any of the BS papparatsi user ones       but most in the province newspaper who gave me an asignment to cover interesting/funny things happening in the province related to one of my special subjects.  Which I dont tell because that would be same as tellin my identity    because I am/were national famous among people interested in that subject. I dont know if them under 30 know of me though, because it was a while since I were involved in such beside some exersise material I made, which got common in use, perhaps are still, I havent checked. I gave away the exersise material for free to assist kids to develop easier both within that subject and as persons because its character and self asteem building too. A national organisation first found my new method idiotic and laughable,  but they stoped laughing at it when "my kids" develped to reach national top results much faster than others, so  this "laughable" method they started to recomend instead