Apartment 6 on Walsh Street has been quiet for several weeks now. Neighbours say the tenant, Philippine Labor Attaché Victor Julio Ablan, left without saying goodbye. If allegations are true, he also left without settling his debts.
Ablan fled Australia last month. He was recalled by the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment following a recommendation made by the Philippine Embassy due to alleged “unpaid obligations” and “deceit.”
ABS-CBN has been calling Ablan on his mobile phone and leaving messages, but he never responded.
An American-Australian who lives on the same street says Ablan borrowed five hundred dollars from her in July. “I didn’t know him very well. He had just moved in and he needed money to pay the rent. He said the Manila office hadn’t wired his salary.”
The neighbour, who requested her name be withheld, says Ablan promised to pay her back within a week. When he failed to settle his debt by August, she wrote him a letter.
Pensioner on limited budget
“I am concerned about when the payment to me is to happen,” Ablan’s neighbour wrote in an e-mail dated August 25, 2009. “I am a pensioner on a very limited budget and need to pay my bills.”
Asked why she lent Ablan the money in the first place, she said she wanted to help because she knows what it’s like to be short on cash when rent is due.
But what the money was really used for remains a mystery. Ablan’s real estate agent claims the labor attaché never paid rent.
Government check bounces
The real estate agent, an elderly Australian who also requested her name be withheld, sent ABS-CBN bank documents to support allegations Ablan owes her over five thousand dollars. “I just want my money back,” she said.
Two checks issued by Ablan to pay rent had bounced, including a check drawn from the account of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, itself an irregularity as taxpayers’ money should not be used to pay for personal expenses of government officials like Ablan.
The real estate agent wrote the Philippine Embassy in October to seek help in resolving the situation. “Victor Ablan has taken advantage of me and the owner of the property by living in premises he does not pay for,” she said. “Rent is due once again and it appears he has no intention of honoring the commitment on the tenancy agreement.”
Compel him
ABS-CBN spoke to nine Filipino-Australian community leaders in three different states who claim Ablan borrowed or attempted to borrow money from them between 2008 and 2009.
Val Valdez approached ABS-CBN to tell his story. He says the Philippine government should compel Ablan to settle his financial obligations. Valdez says he met Ablan at a Filipino community gathering last May. Days later, Ablan allegedly rang him up to borrow eight hundred dollars.
Valdez said he was both surprised and hesitant, but eventually loaned the money to a man he barely knew. “With a family name like Ablan, plus he’s a diplomat, and he knows I’m a community leader, akala ko naman hindi ako lolokohin so I obliged na pahiramin siya, kasi sabi nya only for ten days, then he’s going to pay me back.”
“Lakay, I Need It Now”
Valdez, who spent his early years in Ilocos Norte like Ablan, says the labor attaché asked for cash. But Valdez wanted a record of transaction and insisted on depositing the money to Ablan’s account.
When Valdez didn’t get his money back after a month, he said he sent Ablan a text message. “Lakay, I need it now,” Valdez wrote. Lakay is an Ilokano term which means “friend”.
Valdez said Ablan always came up with an excuse not to settle his debt. Soon, angry text messages were exchanged.
Valdez intends to file a formal complaint, but he needs the support of others. “I’d like to make an appeal to the Filipino community here in Australia,” Valdez said. “If Victor Ablan borrowed money from you, please get in touch with me so we can lodge a complaint with the Australian Foreign Affairs Department. Let the Australian government lodge a complaint with the Philippine government regarding this person. Kung ako lang mag-isa, walang mangyayari.”
Valdez is also appealing to Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to ensure Ablan doesn’t get another foreign posting ever again. “Although nakalusot siya sa iba, this time, sobra na eh. Dapat i-fire na nila ang taong ito. He doesn’t deserve to be in the public service.”
The cultures of deception and lack of delicadeza have never been given so much prominence until GMA, the queen of deception and lack of delicadeza, became president.
I hope and I pray that I am wrong. Because it seems that GMA has succeeded to turn deception and lack of delicadeza into facts of life and, thus, acceptable ways of life.