Senator calls for lifestyle check on Uriarte

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis Escudero is calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a lifestyle check on former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Rosario Uriarte.

Uriarte had admitted at the Senate hearing last Thursday that she personally sought the release of about P150 million in additional intelligence funds sometime in January last year.

“The DOJ or the NBI should place GM Uriarte under a lifestyle check to determine if her wealth is commensurate to her income and source of livelihood,” Escudero said yesterday, adding that this could be used as a gauge of whether Uriarte paid correct taxes.

As this developed, members of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee who last week delivered to Uriarte’s Quezon City residence an invitation to attend the Senate hearing spotted several cars including a Mercedez-Benz and a BMW in her garage. “There were so many cars, plus a Benz and a BMW,” the source said.

During the Senate hearing on the PCSO fund mess last Thursday, Uriarte testified that some of the PCSO’s multi-million funds were used in relief operations after the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy” in September 2009.

But senators were not impressed with Uriarte’s justifications particularly her claim that the P150-million intel funds were mostly used for the preparations for the government’s small town lottery (STL) operations.

Escudero, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Franklin Drilon, and even Sen. Panfilo Lacson were aghast, and said Uriarte failed to convince them on how the supposed intel project against STL worked.  

Escudero said Uriarte can be charged with malversation of public funds for diverting part of the PCSO’s public relations money to so-called intelligence funds.  

He added that there is a prima facie case that can be built up against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for malversation or technical malversation.

Escudero, a lawyer, said it will be difficult to pin down Arroyo and Uriarte, whom the ex-president has worked with since she was trade undersecretary more than a decade ago, on plunder charges.  

Although the amount involved is more than the threshold for plunder which is P50 million, the senator said there is a need to establish that Arroyo had personal gain over the use of the multi-million funds.

Cover up

Drilon also wanted former Commission on Audit (COA)  chairman Reynaldo Villar to explain before the Senate his hasty decision to approve the liquidation supposedly made by Uriarte over the use of the P150-million intelligence funds in 2010.

Drilon suspects a cover-up since the COA chairman seemed to have readily okayed the disbursements of funds by the PCSO, especially regarding the intel funds which reached about P300 million.

Drilon revealed that the COA under Villar also approved the disbursement and use of P10 million two weeks before June 30 or the day when ex-President Arroyo bowed out of office.

“This is a hasty approval without extensive examination, and taking advantage of the situation, it would appear that there is a cover-up on the part of the former COA chairman,” Drilon said.

More time

Meanwhile, Escudero said he also wants former PCSO chairman Manuel Morato to be given a chance to explain himself during the next hearing. 

Morato has complained that he was not given enough opportunity to explain his side over allegations that the old PCSO board of directors allowed special treatment to allies of former President Arroyo in giving out ambulances and other kinds of assistance to sick and poor patients.