Did Pericles, Julius Caesar also maintain ‘ghost employees’?

“When I saw corruption, I was forced to find truth on my own. I couldn't swallow the hypocrisy.” Barry White

By Alex P. Vidal

IF prostitution is the oldest profession, the issue of “ghost employees” could be the oldest form of graft and corruption among government officials.

Before Jesus Christ was born, history tells us there were already prostituted women and men. 

There were whores of antiquity providing sexual favors in exchange of money, goods and even food.

Before Christianity flourished, corruption was already prevalent in the Roman Empire.

Predecessors of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) already rolled down their curtains on the Romans. 

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" Matthew (22:21).

Imperial taxes were probably stolen by a one-man dictator in a regime that did not have the media to conduct the check and balance.

The hiring of “ghost employees” probably began even before civil service became an official edict in government.

Was the practice of hiring “ghost employees” by corrupt government officials already rampant during the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome?

Did Athene's Pericles and the emperors of Rome hire "ghost employees" like their modern counterparts?

TURMOIL

In every graft and corruption turmoil or swapping of graft and corruption charges, the hiring of “ghost employees” would almost always surface.

Rhoderick Paulete, among other comedians and showbiz characters who joined the government, was indicted for allegedly pocketing at least P100,000 a month representing the salaries of his “ghost employees” during his term as councilor of Quezon City.

City hall and capitol are the favorite employment centers of “ghosts” or non-existing workers.

Corrupt mayors, vice mayors, governors, vice governors and members of the city and provincial legislatures make a pile from this nefarious scheme, aside from their kickbacks in various projects.

There is a saying that if you want to make a quick money in government hire “ghost employees.”

In this method, everybody is reportedly happy. As long as nobody will rat against the group, and as long as everyone’s lips are sealed.    

When government officials wash their dirty linens in public, they swap charges ranging from receiving regular payola from illegal activities, anomalies in overtime and cash advances, and hiring “ghost employees.”

 -o0o-

POLITICS has destroyed relationships.

Your friends today are your enemies tomorrow and vice versa.

Board Member Manny Gallar and Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones used to be political allies.

Both were loyal supporters of Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. except in the 2013 elections when Malones turned his back from Defensor to support former Iloilo fourth district Rep. Ferjenel Biron who lost to Defensor.

Like a father to a prodigal son, Defensor “reunited” with Malones after the elections.

Gallar, who was vanquished by Malones in the previous elections for board member in the third district of Iloilo, avenged the setback last year by edging Malones’ son.

Since then, their relationship has developed from bad to worse.

Malones rapped Gallar for allegedly maintaining “ghost employees” and questioned his other sources of income.

SALARY

Malones, a prominent figure in the local printing industry, believed that Gallar could not have bought a house and lot, a car and sent his children to private schools on a salary of P40,000 a month.

Their word war was actually the offshoot of the administrative complaints for oppression, misconduct in office, dishonesty and abuse of authority, among others, that Malones faces in the Provincial Board for dismissing Elsa Maternal as the town’s assistant human resource management officer in 2002.

Malones suspected that Gallar was trying to influence his peers to decide against the mayor’s favor.

The board member from Cabatuan, Iloilo denied Malones’ charges and did not wish to further engage the mayor in a verbal shootout related to the issue of “ghost employees.”

On September 9, the Iloilo Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) will render a verdict whether to suspend Malones.

Sex workers can’t change career overnight

“I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.” Steve Martin

By Alex P. Vidal

Sex workers are not supposed to beg for customers openly in public like beggars and street children.

It’s the job of their pimps to look for clients so they can negotiate for higher pay and be protected from abusive patrons.

The pimps do the selling and talking, while the sex workers or prostituted men and women do both the soft and hard labor.

And this should be done secretly or in places not frequented by minors.

Aside from being illegal, prostitution also particularly scandalizes the women. It assaults the woman’s moral fabric and degrades her person.

But this was not the case in Iloilo City.

Since last year, we’ve noticed that sex workers, some of them minors, have scattered right there in the vicinity of the historic Calle Real in downtown, City Proper from 9 o’clock in the evening up.

They personally approached males who passed by the dark sidewalks in the intersections of Ledesma and Valeria Sts., Ledesma and Quezon Sts., and in alleys within the parameters of the Plazoleta Gay rotunda.

The more aggressive of those "pink ladies" acted as pimps for themselves, blocking male pedestrians and proposing to perform sexual services for a certain amount.

HOMOSEXUALS

Sex workers in this area included homosexuals disguised as women.

They have virtually transformed Calle Real into a large prostitution market.

Some taxi, jeepney, tricycle and pedicab drivers, as well as sidewalk vendors, also sometimes dabbled as their pimps.

They scattered and disappeared temporarily when patrol cars passed by. And back again. Even barangay officials in these areas did nothing to stop them.

These transient commercial workers have become the eye sores in Calle Real. Sexual acts were sometimes performed in "standing position" nearby for a quickie. Fees ranged from P200 to P600 for "instant action." The amount increased when the client brought the sex worker to the motel.

Efforts to round them up last year and prevent them from selling their bodies openly by teaching them skills and livelihood training proved futile.

The Task Force on Moral Values Formation (TFMVF) trained them to make soap, household and personal products, and how to process fish, meat and other food they could sell.

Lack of funds failed to sustain the training as they did not get a small capital to start a livelihood as promised by the city hall.

ORDINANCE

Now that the city council has approved an ordinance which prohibits public solicitation for sex, authorities will now have the reason to lower the boom on them.

The ordinance was approved during the regular session of the city council August 19. The ordinance also covers the pimps or handler or anyone who offers sex for money in public.

It prohibits any person “to transact, engage, perform, portray and display any lascivious conduct before the public.”

Penalties for violation are: First Offense – a fine of P1,000 or imprisonment of 15 days at minimum to 30 days at maximum, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and undergo  moral counselling by a competent government agency like DSWD;

Second Offense – a fine of P2,000 or imprisonment of one month and one day to six months, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and undergo moral counseling by a competent government agency like DSWD; and

Third and subsequent offense – a fine of P3,000 or imprisonment of six months and one day to one year, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and undergo moral counseling by a competent government agency like DSWD.

We expect sex workers and their pimps to feel the heat and embrace a more decent livelihood that will not endanger public health and morals.

Cleopatra would have given those 'call girls' decent pay

By Alex P. Vidal 

A coffee shop in front of SM Delgado in the City Proper in Iloilo City has become the most favorite meeting place of "call girls" and their male clients (the most frequent and prominent customer is known as "Maw Tsetung," a bemoustached Chinese trader in his 60's who owns shops in the Mary Mart Mall and who hires two girls simultaneously like a chess player for an overnight tournament).
Most of these "pink" ladies are high school and college students and don't have regular pap smear tests as required those working in prostitution houses in Rizal Estanzuela, Timawa, Calumpang, Baluarte, Jaro, among other notorious "red barangays" in the metropolis. 
They have no pimps and their services are hired directly and openly like commodities sold in "tiangge" or kiosk.
If the city task force against anti-pornography, prostitution and lewd shows is really bent on clamping down on these illegal transactions, all it has to do is visit the place from one o'clock in the afternoon until 10 o'clock in the evening. 
Even malnourished-looking girls approach lolo "Maw Tsetung" for "tuition" and "text load."


QUEEN


Going back to the year 41 B.C., let's look in on Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. 
This was a few years after the assassination of Julius Caesar. 
A civil war followed between Caesar's killers, Brutus and Cassius, and Caesar's avengers, Octavius and Mark Antony. 
The few independent kingdoms left in the world were in a bad fix. 
They were always in a bad fix when civil war broke out in Rome. 
They weren't interested in either side. In fact, they would have loved to see both sides destroy each other, but they could not remain neutral. 
They had to pick one side and hope to high heaven that they had guessed right.
Now in this civil war after Caesar's assassination, they all guessed wrong. This was understandable. Octavius (who later became Emperor Augustus) was a young boy, hardly more than 17 years old, and Antony, the handsomest man in Rome, spent most of their time with dancing girls and having one big time for himself.
Therefore, everybody picked Brutus and Cassius, two experienced generals and particularly sober men, temperate in all things except in the study of politics and philosophy. 
How could they miss? But they did miss! Young Octavius and Mark (wine-women-and-song) Antony beat their brains out. 
Now for the payoff, Octavius and Antony divided the world with a third party who did not count for much.


COLLECTION


Antony took the East, and the first thing he did was start on a collection tour. 
Collecting fines and taxes from these independent states and kingdoms that had picked the losers. 
He was doing fine, real fine. 
Antony showed an amazing understanding of world politics. 
He assessed the people over a long term--so much a year, instead of crippling their economy and productivity with a huge lump-sum fine.
His next stop was Cleopatra. She, too, had sent some assistance to help Brutus and Cassius, figuring that she was on the winning side. 
Antony pulled up at the city of Tarsus, and sent word to the Queen of Egypt to present herself to him so that he might pass judgment.
Cleopatra came, but on her own time. 
While Antony sat on the throne in the Forum of Tarsus waiting for Cleopatra to plead her case and be judged, she was sailing up the River Cydnus, "in a barge with purple sails, gilded stern, and silver oars to beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. 
Her maids, dressed as sea nymphs, were the crew, while she herself, dressed as Venus, lay under a canopy of cloth gold." (Will Durant, "Caesar and Christ").


SUNDAY


When news of this barge reached the people of Tarsus, they all came out in their Sunday best, lined both  banks of the river to watch the wondrous sight. Pretty soon Antony was sitting in the Forum all alone. His now regiment of Roman legionnaires were at the riverbank. 
There was nothing left for Antony to do but to follow the crowd, and, as the barge was fastened to the pier, the crowds made way for Mark Antony.
He began by reproving her for being late, and ordered her to come to the Forum. 
Cleopatra, in sweet tones, suggested that they could get their business done in more pleasant surroundings on her barge. 
Antony's arms being twisted, he went aboard and stayed the night. 
The next morning, he gave Cleopatra Phoenicia, Syria, the Island of Cyprus, half of Arabia, Cilicia, and all of Judea. 
"Call girl" Cleopatra would have given those Iloilo coffeeshop "call girls" more than what "Maw Tsetung" is giving them if they were recruited as Cleopatra's maids.