Ronnie Ricketts: I’m not corrupt
“When you’re doing good things, this is what happens.”
This is Optical Media Board (OMB) Chair Ronnie Ricketts’ reactions to charges of corruption and incompetence levied against him in a blog titled “OMB: Exposed!”
The blog has accused him of not convicting anyone so far, despite the many raids OMB has done.
“We have pending cases and we will file administrative charges on the concerned party once we find sufficient evidence of piracy,” Ricketts told Yahoo! Philippines OMG! in a phone interview on Wednesday morning, October 19.
He cites humanitarian reasons in dealing with small –time offenders, whom OMB gives a second chance to after sufficiently warning them.
“You can’t jail them at once,” he reasons out. “We just confiscate their goods, warn them about the consequences of their actions and advise them on other sources of livelihood.”
As to the accusation that OMB agents can’t conduct raids without his approval, Ronnie admits that he does issue mission and inspection orders before every operation. But he has never disapproved a request to conduct any raid.
Money matters
“Neither is it true that our office raids only pirates who have no money,” he added.
Speaking of money, what’s his take on charges of corruption as posted in the blog?
“Simple lang yan,” Ronnie replies. “If I’m gonna give money to somebody, will I display it in my office? At sino naman ang tangang magdadala ng pera sa office ko? I don’t even close my door!”
He also denied knowing a certain Joey Uy, his alleged collector whenever raids are conducted.
“Pag marami kang nasasagasaan, that’s how it goes,” Ronnie relates.
He adds that his approach to the job is wholistic. He taps other agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP), the PARI (Philippine Association of the Recording Industry), Department of Trade and Industry and others.
“The movie and recording labels are supporting me. Industry people, like Senators Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid, Governors Vilma Santos and E.R. Ejercito, Wilson Tieng, Dominic Du, Vic del Rosario and others are supporting me,” Ronnie goes on.
He encourages everyone to check out www.omb.gov.ph and www.facebook.com/rickettsronnie to see what OMB has done so far.
