A spurious but well-funded “non-government organization” has assumed the role of a lobby group pressuring the 23-member Senate to pass the Palace-backed Sin Tax Reform bill.
The bill is seen as among the top revenue sources for 2013 which incidentally is the year for the mid-term elections.
After posting 18 full page advertisements in the major national broadsheets, said group identifying itself as “Concerned Entrepreneurs Against Monopoly or CEAM” claims to be the only legitimate NGO with an authority to lobby against efforts consistent with  government’s pro-poor policies.
The group is citing the need for the 23-member Senate to pass the bill earlier passed by the House of Representatives.
However, a check showed CEAM is a “shadow NGO” designated by a top Palace official to pressure senators to swiftly act on the passage of the bill.
The  revenue measure is seen to raise an additional P33 billion from the tobacco industry.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), they have no record of CEAM under the categories of NGO, people’s organization or any other organizational classification.
The commission said CEAM isn’t also a registered organization, foundation or corporate entity going by their name.
SEC, which was created under Republic Act 8799, is a government agency mandated to keep a consolidated record of groups, associations and organizations directly (investing) or indirectly (spending on investment-related concerns, raising organizational funds or recipient of grants) engaged in the local economic activities.
A check at the Department of Trade Industry (DTI) also yielded negative results for CEAM, which recently spent not less than P3 million in the last three months  for the 18 full page advertisements.
The ads were “advocating on the need for a legislative bill” rationalizing what the group claimed as an obsolete tax computation system.
Further efforts to verify on the legal personality of the group from the Free Trade Organization of the Philippines also showed there was no entity listed as CEAM.
With no legal or corporate personality behind a well-funded campaign in the media to discredit the growing opposition to a pending important bill in Congress, individuals sitting as officers of CEAM face the possibility of a jail term due to what legal experts consider as fraud or glaring deception of the Senate as an independent legislative institution.
Meanwhile, CEAM has managed to apply pressure on the Senate without making a personal appearance. It has been farming out correspondences to all 23 senators, including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
After spending roughly over P3 million in the publication of pro-sin tax advertorials, not one from CEAM came forward to expound the logic behind their support to the Palace-backed measure.
CEAM, which claims to be an advocacy organization, also has no known mailing address, contact number, Web site — not even a Facebook or Twitter account.