PCSO set to file new cases vs GMA, ex-officials

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is building up new cases against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her former officials who dipped into the funds of the agency.

PCSO chair Margarita Juico yesterday said a team is now gathering evidence and preparing a strong case against the former president and her officials.

“We want to have an airtight case,” Juico said over dzMM radio.

Juico made the statement ahead of today’s congressional hearing by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee over the controversy.

Juico earlier revealed the agency’s former board approved the grant of sports utility vehicles to several bishops.

The Senate also wanted to investigate the reports that some lawmakers allied with Arroyo received millions from the PCSO funds.

Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III had a meeting with PCSO officials on Monday but no details were made available.

Guingona yesterday said among the officials that will attend today’s hearing at the Senate would be Juico, PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II and board members Betty Nantes, Maria Aleta Tolentino, Mabel Mamba, and Francisco Joaquin III, as well as board secretary Eduardo Araullo.

Commission on Audit (COA) chair Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan would also attend the Senate hearing as resource person.

Guingona said former PCSO officials, including former chairman Manuel Morato, were also invited to attend the hearing.

While critics said the bishops who received the SUVs should be made accountable, Guingona admitted he was more cautious about inviting the clergy to the hearings.

Juico yesterday revealed that the new cases would evolve on possible violations regarding the separation of Church and State.

Juico claimed that her predecessors left the PCSO saddled in debt amounting to P4 billion.

Juico stressed the previous administration should have been careful in directly allowing such requests.

Juico confirmed that checks were directly issued to some of the clergy representing the parishes and dioceses in various parts of the country.

“The checks should have been issued not directly to the bishops,” she said.

Seven Catholic bishops have reportedly received cash or Mitsubishi Pajeros from PCSO during the last years of the Arroyo administration. They have derisively become known as the “Pajero 7.”

Aside from the SUV scandal, Juico said the PCSO legal team is also preparing another case on the alleged diversion of the PCSO’s P150-million public relations funds into intelligence funds as approved by Arroyo.

The alleged diversion of funds was contained in a memorandum dated Jan. 4, 2010 of former PCSO vice chair and general manager Rosario Uriarte requesting then President Arroyo for intelligence funds to finance the deployment of confidential agents to monitor illegal gambling activities.

The document showed the marginal note “OK” with Arroyo’s signature indicating approval of the request.

The memo is so far the only document that linked Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, to other anomalies in the PCSO.

Other irregularities uncovered by the new PCSO board also included the supposed juggling of prizes, charity, and operational funds for medical assistance.

The PCSO board reported that the three funds of the PCSO – prize, charity and operation – that were supposed to be separate were instead lumped into one big fund.

Birthday gift

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), on the other hand, is expected to tackle the issue concerning the seven bishops who received funds and vehicles from the PCSO.

CBCP president Tandag, Surigao del Sur Bishop Nereo Odchimar said the prelates involved in the PCSO mess would be personally asked to discuss their position on the issue.

The CBCP would hold this week its 103rd Plenary Assembly and elect a new set of officials.

Butuan City Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos – the CBCP official who asked President Aquino to resign or risk ouster last month – was among the recipients of a Pajero when he celebrated his 66th birthday on March 8, 2009. – With Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan, Jess Diaz, Sheila Crisostomo