FUNDS MISUSED
COTABATO CITY,
JULY 8, 2011 (STAR) By John Unson – Cotabato Archbishop
Orlando Quevedo yesterday denied allegations that he received funds from the
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to purchase his personal service
vehicles.
"For the record, I'm using a Toyota Innova in moving around the diocese, and
a 4x4 pickup truck that I use when I go to the mountains to visit Catholic
communities there that were procured using money given by a German entity and a
foreigner-friend who is a bishop in Munich, Germany," Quevedo said.
He also said that the diocese will soon submit the liquidation for P1.4
million granted by the PCSO to prove that the funds were spent for community
services.
"I have ordered my staff to look into that. I didn't know the grant has not
been liquidated yet," said Quevedo, former president of the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
He said the PCSO funds were indeed used to buy a pickup truck but the vehicle
was used for health and relief missions of the archdiocese in troubled
communities and flood-stricken areas in Central Mindanao.
"I did not ask funds from the PCSO for my personal use," said Quevedo, who
has ministerial control of humanitarian projects for Muslim and Christian
communities in the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato.
He said he does not have to, but is prepared to attend a Senate inquiry on
the funds released by the PCSO to Catholic dioceses nationwide.
"But in case I will be invited by Senate, I will appear there. There is no
problem with me appearing there," Quevedo said.
Vice President Jejomar Binay said there is nothing wrong with the provision
of PCSO funds to Catholic dioceses.
"I repeat, there is nothing wrong (with the provision of funds) if these were
used to help the poor, hungry, and needy," Binay said at the sidelines of launch
of the Pabahay Caravan in Zamboanga yesterday. "It becomes wrong if they
(bishops) used it personally."
'PCSO funds not misused'
During yesterday's hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the fund
mess, former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte said there were many lawmakers
and local executives who received ambulances during the Arroyo administration to
show that PCSO funds were properly used.
Some of these lawmakers were: Antonio Miranda (3 units), Danilo Suarez (3),
and former Speaker Prospero Nograles (2). Receiving a unit each were Salvacion
Enrile, Rachel Arenas, Antonio Diaz, Maria Victoria Alvarado, Darlene Antonino,
Rodolfo Antonino, Monica Teodoro, Renato Catacutan, Danilo Lagbas, Antonio Diaz,
Florencio Miraflores, Exequiel Javier, Roberto Pajes, Martin Romualdez, Reynaldo
Uy, Mario Almario, Miles Roces, Solomon Quiambao, Teodoro Locsin, Jose Antonio
Roxas, and Mikey Arroyo.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile acknowledged Salvacion as his
daughter-in-law and that he himself requested for the ambulance because the
government hospital named after his father needed an ambulance.
Sen. Franklin Drilon revealed that Ilocos Sur Vice Gov. Victor Sevillano
received 20 ambulances in 2009 and that then Ilocos Sur Rep. Luis Singson
received two units.
As proof, Drilon presented board resolutions 1860 series of 2010 and 2030
series of 2009, showing the provision of 20 units to Sevillano.
In the hearing, Enrile asked why some provinces received more ambulances than
others.
Incumbent PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the new set of
officers have discovered the inequitable distribution of ambulances after a
review.
"We were doing an ambulance mapping because the new policy of the board as of
todate, is to have an ambulance mapping for the donation of ambulances. And in
the course of the mapping, this is what the board found out, that there was
inequitable distribution of ambulances," Rojas said.
Uriarte told the committee that the documents she had in her possession are
incomplete because she was forced to resign during the first meeting of the new
board under the leadership of new PCSO chair Margarita Juico.
Manuel Morato, PCSO chair and director during the Ramos administration, said
that not all the ambulances could have been distributed to all beneficiaries.
"It needs to be studied very carefully," Morato said.
Enrile, however, blasted Morato's excuse, saying the resolutions being
questioned were made in 2009, and it is impossible that these were not acted
upon until now.
At the conclusion of the hearing, committee chair Teofisto Guingona said a
system should be made on the distribution of ambulances nationwide.
"It was proven there was a disproportionate distribution of ambulances. There
should be a system in this, and a standard on the distribution of ambulances all
over the country," he said.
No Pajeros
Uriarte also claims that the PCSO did not give Mitsubishi Pajeros to at least
seven Catholic bishops during the Arroyo administration.
"It is clear that based on the resolution issued by the board, that we did
not give out Pajeros," she told the committee.
She explained that the PCSO gave out financial assistance as donation to the
bishops to enable them to buy services vehicles to use in medical and charity
work in remote areas.
Uriarte noted that the PCSO has been in active partnership with various
religious groups, with 100 institutional partners as beneficiaries.
She explained that in conflict-ridden areas, some charitable institutions use
vehicles owned by religious groups to avoid being attacked by hostile forces.
In last Tuesday's hearing at the Senate, the CBCP through its president,
Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, sent a letter defending the seven bishops whose
names were dragged into the controversy as the supposed recipients of Mitsubishi
Pajeros.
The utility vehicles that figured in the controversy were a secondhand,
10-year old Nissan pathfinder; two units of Mitsubishi Strada pickup truck; two
units of Toyota Grandia Hi-Ace; a Mitsubishi Montero; and an Isuzu Crosswind.
The vehicles were provided to the Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe,
Diocese of Bangued, Abra, Archdiocese of Cotabato, Roman Catholic Prelate of
Isabela, Basilan, Archdiocese of Zamboanga, and Diocese of Butuan.
Diocese of Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos admitted receiving a sports
utility vehicle worth P1.7 million from Arroyo for his birthday. He said the
vehicle was used for community service.
Tagged in the controversy, aside from De Dios Pueblos and Quevedo, were
Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad, Bontoc Bishop Rodolfo Beltran, Abra Bishop
Leopoldo Jaucian, Zamboanga Bishop Romulo Valles, and Ilocos Sur Bishop Ernesto
Salgado.
The CBCP said they are ready to explain the use of "financial assistance to
the poor" provided them by the PCSO.
"In response to allegations reports regarding impropriety, if not illegality,
of PCSO financial assistance being extended to the Catholic Church, we truly
believe there was no violation of the law. Moreover, we categorically deny that
the funds were used to buy 7 Pajeros for the personal use of bishops," said the
letter submitted to the committee.
The bishops implicated in the controversy are invited to the hearing next
week.
De Dios Pueblos said he would attend the hearing next week.
"I would even like to make a privilege speech at the Senate," he said in an
interview with Church-run Radio Veritas.
Uriarte also explained that endowment funds are directly given to hospitals
and "not a single centavo reached the pockets of politicians."
"Apart from this the endowment fund is given to hospitals in tranches,
quarterly or by semester. And these budget are liquidated by the quarter before
new funds are released," she said.
Not picking a fight
Malacañang reiterated yesterday it is not picking a fight with the Catholic
Church.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it would be up to the bishops to
decide whether to discipline those who accepted donations from PCSO and
allegedly used them for personal purposes.
"Are we disappointed? No, we are not disappointed. We respect their decision,
their statement. The explanations of the individual bishops were varied," he
said.
Lacierda said the administration was only acting on the report of the
Commission on Audit (COA).
"This did not come from the executive branch. They're (COA) the ones who
released the report. So we were not responsible for revealing the details. So
that's how they explained it; it's up to the public to decide whether to believe
the statements they issued. Let the public decide on their statements," he said.
Lacierda noted that there is a constitutional ban on the allocation of public
funds to religious groups. There is, however, no violation committed if the
funds were used for legitimate secular purposes.
He said the hearings on the fund mess are meant to correct the alleged misuse
of funds.
There are also existing allegations against former PCSO officials including
Uriarte and Manuel Garcia, a former advertising and promotions manager accused
of collecting 20 percent or about P1.5 billion in kickbacks from promotions.
Uriarte, on the other hand, supposedly encashed P315 million in intelligence
funds from the PCSO.
Lacierda said the Palace awaits the recommendations of the Senate Blue Ribbon
committee. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, on the other hand, would deal with
the tax evasion case against Garcia.
Garcia, who was invited to yesterday's hearing only on Tuesday, came to the
hearing without a lawyer. He instead invoked his right of counsel and would
therefore return to the hearing next week. - With Roel
Pareño, Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica, Evelyn Macairan
Ex-PCSO chief says intel fund misused By Marvin Sy
(The Philippine Star) Updated July 08, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) had
misused hundreds of millions of pesos, mostly for dubious intelligence
activities, in a span of three years during the previous Arroyo administration,
its former chief told the Senate yesterday.
At the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee's inquiry into alleged
anomalies in the use of PCSO funds, former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte
said former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved her request on Jan. 4,
2010 to divert 20 percent of the agency's public relations budget or a minimum
of P150 million to intelligence funds/confidential funds.
"In other words, what happened in your case is that you are making up a story
that you are going to use this money for intelligence when in fact you are using
it for a purpose other than intelligence," an indignant Senate President Juan
Ponce Enrile told Uriarte.
"You are actually using it for another purpose. You are disguising the
disbursement as intelligence fund because it is easy to liquidate. You are not
really using it for stamping out illegal numbers game, to protect the interest
of PCSO," he added.
Uriarte said then President Arroyo approved a total of P325 million in
intelligence funds in a span of three years, P160 million of which was in 2010
alone.
Another P10 million for the same purpose was approved by the Office of the
President during the campaign period in 2010.
Based on documents provided to the Senate, a total of P75 million in
intelligence funds were requested and approved in 2008, and in 2009, the figure
went up to P90 million.
She said that in the first seven months of 2010 or before President Aquino
removed her and fellow board members, P138.2 million of the intelligence funds
had already been spent.
Uriarte fumbled when explaining how the intelligence funds had been spent.
She said the funds went to intelligence assets, surveillance on illegal numbers
game operations, the rollout of the small town lottery (STL) project of the
PCSO, payment of blood money for overseas Filipino workers on death row and for
typhoon relief operations.
She admitted that she handed the request letters directly to Arroyo and that
the former president approved these during those meetings.
Asked if they knew about the projects enumerated by Uriarte, the former
members of the PCSO board led by its chairman Sergio Valencia said that they
were not aware of this.
"The letters were discussed in the board meetings. We confirmed the approvals
of the President. This has been the practice," Valencia said.
Uriarte said she would inform the PCSO board in executive session of any
planned disbursement of intelligence funds. This means that there were no
records of these meetings.
Uriarte explained that she had to seek the approval of the president for
additional intelligence funds because the PCSO is under the Office of the
President.
She also admitted that Arroyo knew about the use of the intelligence funds
because they would discuss it during their meetings.
She claimed that the request for a huge amount in intelligence funds in 2010
was meant to support the rollout of the STL project of the PCSO.
Uriarte justified the promotion of the STL, saying the PCSO was able to
generate P7.9 billion in revenues when it was still in the experimental stage.
Uriarte also said that intelligence funds had been used to provide blood
money for OFWs on death row.
She recalled that there had been four cases, each costing P5 million for a
total of P20 million.
Uriarte said that the blood money was given in cash directly to former
foreign affairs undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos.
Liable for plunder
Enrile denounced the diversion of the intelligence funds of the PCSO and said
Uriarte may be held liable for plunder.
"You are digging yourself into a hole with your statements. I pity you. You
know, I tell you, and you better consult your lawyer, if you are charged for the
disbursement of this fund, you cannot give this kind of answers to a judge. You
will go to jail," Enrile said.
"You better be careful, this is a series of transactions, it comes under the
real definition of plunder and the way you are answering it, you are putting
yourself inside jail," he added.
Sen. Franklin Drilon admonished Uriarte for being loose in the handling of
intelligence funds.
"You implicated the former president by saying that the former president knew
all of this, approved of all of this. I hope you realize what you are saying.
You are implicating the former president by your statements that she was part of
this crime," Drilon said.
He said that it would be up to the former president, who is now congresswoman
of Pampanga, to give her side on the issue.
Drilon noted that Uriarte's statements were "very, very damaging" and that
the ombudsman should take a look at her testimonies and "see what liabilities
the former president has on the basis of that testimony under oath of Uriarte."
"Certainly there is basis for the ombudsman to conduct a thorough
investigation."
Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III said that public
opinion about the issue as well as the ongoing inquiry should prompt the former
president to come out with an explanation about the use of the PCSO's
intelligence funds.
"This is very serious and this amounts to plunder and if it's not properly
explained, this can also go to the courts and there she has to explain,"
Guingona said.
Sen. Francis Escudero said Uriarte and Arroyo could face malversation raps
for the misuse of PCSO's intelligence funds.
"Under oath at the Senate, she readily admitted to using the intelligence
fund to offset other requests for funding like blood money and relief operations
and under oath, she also said that former President Arroyo was knowledgeable and
approved all of these transactions," Escudero said.
"No matter how noble the intentions were, these still do not justify the
misappropriation of the funds intended for what they claimed to be for
intelligence operations," he added.
He explained that under the law, any public officer who misuses or
misappropriates public funds is guilty of malversation and could face life
imprisonment under the Revised Penal Code.
The Senate will resume its hearings next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Migrante joined the growing call for the filing of plunder charges
against former President Arroyo and several PCSO officials and DFA's Conejos.
"If it is indeed true that part of PCSO's intel funds amounting to P20
million have been used for the 'blood money' of OFWs in Saudi death row, why
were OFWs Reynaldo Cortez and Jenifer Beduya executed by sword in 2007 and 2008,
respectively?" John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-ME regional coordinator, asked.
"Given the extent of graft and corruption in the Arroyo government, we are
not sure if the P20 million intel funds from PCSO diverted to the DFA were
indeed used for the blood money of OFWs in Saudi death row," Monterona added.
Monterona urged the Blue Ribbon committee to summon Conejos and ask him to
testify on the PCSO intel funds used for the blood money of OFWs in Saudi death
row.
No more donation
Malacañang, for its part, vowed yesterday to stop the practice of giving
hefty donations only to allies of the administration using PCSO funds.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing in Malacañang
that major reforms would be undertaken by the PCSO board to ensure that the
agency's funds would be used prudently to avoid anomalies.
"That's going be part of the reforms," Lacierda said, referring to the use of
PCSO funds for partisan purposes.
"The past administration had been hit incessantly for (allegedly) donating 20
ambulances to one governor. I'm sure that will not happen again. And if you want
transparency, we can certainly ask the PCSO to be transparent with their
dealings," Lacierda said.
Lacierda could not say whether the practice of donating to bishops would be
stopped as the PCSO would have to be the ones to decide on it. "We don't want to
say that we're controlling them. We want to wait for their decision on that
matter," he said.
But he said they were expecting the PCSO to be more circumspect in their
donations.
"Gauging from the revelations made by the PCSO, I think they will be more
prudent in deciding requests for assistance. That's all I can say, that they
will be going through the request with a fine-toothed comb and making sure that
the purpose for which the request is sought is geared towards charitable
purposes. That's all I can say until we receive a report from PCSO," Lacierda
said.
"Very, very clear they (PCSO) will be more strict, that is one thing very
clear based on the revelations," Lacierda said.
Lacierda said PCSO officials' reporting directly to the President may also be
looked into, although he noted that Aquino would always meet with all the
officials of the agency and not just one or a few of them.
"It's always been the entire board," he said.
"We can argue without being disagreeable and we can argue without being
personal. Unfortunately some of the bishops have taken upon themselves to hurl
personal accusations against the President and we have not done so. We only
respond to their statements and we will do so and continue to protect the
President," Lacierda said.
"Let the people decide. Let the public decide on their (bishops) conduct. The
public knows who asked for a Pajero for his birthday so let the public judge
him. We will not be the one to make a judgment," Lacierda said. With Aurea Calica, Mayen Jaymalin
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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