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Friday, March 29, 2024

Probe of TPL scam urged

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A bipartisan group of Manila city councilors urged Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna to conduct separate investigations into a reported multimillion-peso third party liability or TPL insurance scam being perpetrated by “unscrupulous individuals” led by a certain “Ali Lee.”

Majority Councilors Rod Lacsamana, Jesus Fajardo and Ian Joey Uy and the minority’s Bernie Ang, Terence Alibarbar and Re Fugoso said their constituents told them of the supposedly illegal activities of Lee and his cohorts every taxpaying season in Manila, or from January to February, since 2014.

Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada

Lee’s group, the councilors say, earns up to P50 million from their operation every year, “operating from a spacious ground covered by tents inside the inner garden of the Manila City Hall complex.”

Manila Standard could not contact Lee for comment, as he was unavailable and has no official office at city hall.

Estrada and Lacuna, as presiding officer of the City Council, should determine in discrete probes “who Lee really is and how he has been able to conduct his insurance business right inside the city hall premises these past four years,” the lawmakers said. 

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The inquiries “will eventually redound to the good and benefit of the Manila government and local taxpayers,” they added.

“Who are Lee’s contacts, ‘padrinos,’ benefactors in or outside city hall, if any, in running his insurance scheme?” the councilors asked. “Is monetary consideration a factor?”

They also wondered if Lee is accredited by the Insurance Commission, especially with his alleged list of designated IC-licensed insurance companies Lee has authorized to issue insurance policies to “reluctant and disgruntled taypayers.”

The councilors said taxpayers had to deal with Lee’s favored insurance firms or else their applications for business permits in Manila would be disapproved. 

“The norm is that any IC-licensed or approved insurance and surety company—not only those named in Lee’s list—can transact such business anywhere else in the country,” they said, while asking if Lee’s group is being taxed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 

The councilors suggested Estrada and Lacuna start their respective probes at the city’s Bureau of Permits or Business Permits and Licensing Office, “where, as our sources disclosed, the Lee group members are mostly posted, said to be three to five staffers.”

Two of these staffers, the solons said, “sponsored” the inclusion of the firms Intrastrata Insurance Corp. and Travellers Insurance and Surety Corp. on Lee’s list.

City Hall workers known only by their aliases “Raymond” and “Sam,” allegedly trusted aides or “runners” of Lee, must also be questioned, the councilors said.

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