Estrada orders audit of PCSO funds

President Estrada asked both the Commission on Audit (COA) and the private accounting firm Sycip, Gorres & Velayo to conduct separate audits of the funds released by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), including those for the charity projects of the First Family.

An irate President asked for the audits yesterday after former PCSO board member Sister Christine Tan implicated the President himself together with First Lady Luisa Ejercito and their eldest son, San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, in the alleged misuse of P430 million in PCSO funds.

On dzMM radio, Mr. Estrada expressed anew how hurt he was because of the innuendoes of corruption against the First Family.

"Wala sa lahi namin yung magnanakaw o mga akusasyon na ganyan. Nakakalungkot nga lamang at nanggagaling sa isang madre at ayoko nang magsalita (Thievery does not run in our family. It's sad that the charges are coming from a nun so I'd rather not speak)," he said.

All he could say, the President stressed, was that the separate audits will be conducted by government and the private sector, and that both Mrs. Ejercito and Jinggoy were ready to testify in any inquiry by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee "so that the public may know."

The latest disclosure of Sister Tan, made over the same radio station earlier, was that the Office of the President also received P267 million for the Philippine National Police (PNP) hospital.

The Chief Executive confirmed this and explained that the PCSO funds for the PNP hospital were recommended to him by PNP Deputy Director General Panfilo Lacson.

"Ano ba ang masama noon e para sa kapakanan naman ng mga pulis iyon? Hindi naman natin ibinubulsa (What's wrong with that when it will benefit the police? We're not pocketing it)," he pointed out.

Mr. Estrada said the double audit was to ensure utmost transparency and so that the charity funds will be accounted for "up to the last cent."

The President again expressed puzzlement over the nun's charges when she was a member of the PCSO board and could have objected to the fund releases if there were any shady deals involved.

At a separate press conference, Mrs. Ejercito presented to Palace reporters two boxes full of receipts and documents, including a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) bank book showing up to the last centavo the interest earnings of the P5,198,061.14 grant given by the PCSO to her MARE Association on Oct. 30, 1998.

In her office at the third floor of the New Executive Building in Malacañang, Mrs. Ejercito also showed a copy of the BPI bank book which tallied the P250 million PCSO grant to the Partnerships for the Poor Foundation Inc. for the acquisition of 80 mobile clinics.

The clinics, equipped with X-ray, laboratories, pharmacies and other facilities, were for distribution to the 80 poorest provinces in the country.

The latest update of the bank book revealed the balance of that grant stood at P64,514,011.69, placed in a time deposit at the BPI as of March 15.

She explained that representatives from the PCSO, COA, and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) were all present in the bidding for the contract to supply ambulances, the first batch of 40 units of which were offered in a public bidding.

She said the Office of the First Lady receives P1-million monthly allocation from the PMS for the purchase of expensive medicines for indigent kidney patients undergoing dialysis treatment for free at the Malacañang Clinic.

Although she lamented anew the accusations by the Good Shepherd nun, Mrs. Ejercito said she was nevertheless thankful to Sister Tan for raising these questions about her charity projects which would otherwise not have been publicized by media.

"My problem is the public is not aware of my civic-medical missions all over the country... I am still thankful to Sr. Christine... this way we get to explain to the public where the funds from the PCSO go because the PCSO is for charity, for health care. So I'm thankful that we can show we have a clean accounting of these funds," she said.

"I'm really very careful about these funds. It's not my money," she pointed out.

Meanwhile, Senate president Blas Ople defended the First Couple yesterday from the "undeserved attack" on the alleged partisan use of P430-million PCSO funds.

"It is grossly unfair to ascribe political motives to the release of PCSO funds for purely social and charitable causes," Ople said in a statement from Paris where he is attending a conference of the world's Senate leaders.

He said that the documents on the PCSO fund releases would speak for themselves, "leaving no reason for doubt as to their legitimate use for social and humanitarian projects in accordance with the mandate of the PCSO."

He lamented the inclusion of the First Lady in the alleged PCSO fund mess.

"She is probably the most apolitical or non-political first lady we've ever had. She has demonstrated that her work is above politics ever since she was the first lady of the municipality of San Juan," Ople said.

As for the present San Juan mayor's role in this latest controversy, Ople said he was sure Jinggoy distributed the ambulances based on the needs of the municipalities because "as president of the League of Municipalities, Mayor Estrada cannot afford to play favorites."

In another development, Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called up Press Secretary Rod Reyes yesterday to clarify statements attributed to her which came out in other newspapers.

Arroyo said she was quoted out of context when news said she compared the PCSO funds scandal to the Best World Resources Corp.'s insider trading anomaly.

What she meant, she said, was that both cases need a credible investigation to avert erosion of confidence. The Vice President, who holds the social welfare portfolio in the Estrada Cabinet, stressed she remains solidly behind the administration. -- With Efren Danao, Mayen Jaymalin