PACQUIAO WAIVES P40 MILLION TALENT FEE FOR 7 AMBULANCES
MANILA, JUNE 8, 2011 (MANILA BULLETIN) [PHOTO - His name is Emmanuel 'Manny' Dapidran Pacquiao]
MANILA, Philippines — Waive P40 million in cold cash for seven ambulances?
Yes, that's what world boxing champion and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao actually did with his talent fee as endorser of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Instead of cash, Pacquiao graciously agreed to accept seven PCSO ambulances on Tuesday which he is expected to donate to public hospitals in his district, considered among the poorest in the country.
Ecstatic over Pacquiao's charitable gesture, PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juico lauded the Filipino boxing icon, saying what he did would go a long way for the country's poor.
Pacquiao, who recently accepted a $3-million endorsement deal with international IT firm Hewlett-Packard, is expected to receive his "talent fee" in simple ceremonies on Tuesday.
"We feel honored that no less than Manny Pacquiao will be gracing our advertising materials. The PCSO savings from this exchange deal will go a long way in helping the sick and underprivileged among our kababayans," said Juico. The cost of ambulances stands from P6.3 to P6.5 million, it was learned.
Juico has started pursuing reforms in the PCSO that was neck-deep in debt before her appointment at its helm last year.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Nery Colmenares revealed that the current financial predicament of PCSO was apparently caused by the questionable spending of the previous management that splurged some P7.2 billion for promotion and advertising from 2001 to the first half of 2010.
Colmenares said that one glaring evidence that the nine-year public relations spending was fraught with anomalies is the fact that multi-million peso graft charges have been filed against PR department head, Manny Garcia.
Juico revealed that evidence of anomalies cropped up at Garcia's office following his transfer to another department in the PCSO.
The PCSO chairperson said Garcia's name has been ordered stricken off the roll of employees.
In a privilege speech last week, Colmenares called for a congressional inquiry into the huge PR spending from 2001-2010.
Colmenares said the big PR budget may be linked to the graft cases filed against Garcia.
"How much of the charity fund was malversed to pay expensive media advertising, overpriced contracts, and perks of the PCSO board? Why were PCSO board members given the control of disposing millions in PR fund? This is irregular," he said.
Colmenares noted that even former PCSO chairman Sergio Valencia acknowledges that he was entitled to a P25-million PR fund which he did not use.
"This means that the previous PCSO boards were given millions of PR funds for their disposal," he said.
The congressman said the anomaly is glaring since Republic Act 1169 provides that 30 percent of the gross receipts of PCSO shall be devoted to the charity fund while 55 percent goes to prizes and 15 percent is allotted for operations.
Colmenares said that by bloating the PR fund beyond the 15 percent operation fund, the PCSO "essentially diverted funds intended for charity."
The party-list lawmaker also revealed PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte's letter to then President Arroyo wherein she asked to be allowed to realign 50 percent or at least P150 million of the PR fund to "intelligence funds" – an item which the congressman said the PCSO does not even need.
The letter request, dated January 4, 2010, or just before the 2010 presidential elections, was approved by Arroyo.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
