British Chamber of Commerce Philippines invited two speakers last Tuesday, 8 October 2013 to speak on protecting your company, and ensuring your personal safety when in the Philippines.
Charles Warren, Head of the Due Diligence & Investigations from Pacific Strategies & Assessments, addressed the issues of company fraud as an abuse of position, false representation, or prejudicing someone’s rights for personal gain.
While he explained the contributing factors that could lead to fraud, he also shared Transactional and Behavioural Red Flags as well as Preventive and Detective action steps to mitigate the risk of fraud in the company.
He emphasized the use of Computer Forensics, a powerful tool in mitigating the risk of fraud by being able to recover and use digital evidence that may be used for investigations and other fact-gathering exercises to mitigate the damages caused by fraud as well as by preventing future incidents.
Erick Alindogan, Business Unit Head from Black Pearl Consultancy, Inc. presented to guests personal safety issues and figures. “The Philippines is ranked at 129 out of 162 countries in terms of peacefulness” though unsettling, this is already an improvement coming from its 133rd rank in 2012.
“Most crimes in the Philippines are economic in nature” with the top crimes being theft, robbery and physical injuries. The National Capital Region ranks with the highest amount of crime rate in the country with key business districts being targeted.
There is however the issue of reported vs. unreported crimes with the ratio of 1 policeman being responsible for 702 citizens or 1 policeman addressing 3 crime cases per day.
The different modus operandi were discussed in detail from where they are most likely to occur, to how they work, as well as the common things that are done that tend to attract criminals. He ended his presentation by discussing preventive measures on how individuals can build their personal security.
The presentations of the two speakers may be found in the Resources section of the website.
