GMA faces plunder rap over PCSO fund mess

MANILA, Philippines - A plunder case was filed yesterday against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Rosario Uriarte before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged misuse of P325 million in PCSO intelligence funds.

In a complaint prefaced with a Biblical passage, Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Teddy Casiño and Neri Javier Colmenares said that in their alleged misuse of the funds, Arroyo and Uriarte had actually stolen from the poor and not just from ordinary Filipinos.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap,” they said quoting Galatians Chapter 6 Verse 7. An anomaly qualifies as plunder if it involves more than P50 million and is committed in a series of overt acts as defined by Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.

Arroyo, now a Pampanga congresswoman, is in Europe and is expected to be back anytime this week.

They said in the complaint that the funds “may have been used for political largesse, partly to retain the loyalty of public officers to the President.”

“Some were most likely used for partisan electoral purposes, and some were amassed as ill-gotten wealth. These disbursements came from illegally diverted and malversed intelligence funds,” their complaint read.

Uriarte said on national television during a recent Senate hearing on PCSO fund anomalies that she was “close” to then President Arroyo and had worked for her in various capacities since the 1990s when Arroyo was still trade undersecretary. She said it was Arroyo who approved of the release of funds.

Colmenares said that on May 30, he had already exposed in a privilege speech a number of PCSO irregularities and anomalies during the Arroyo administration.

“These include PCSO entering into contracts with the Philippine Gaming and Management Corporation (PGMC) on the rent of overpriced lotto machines and a 50-year contract on thermal paper production both of which are highly disadvantageous to the Philippine government,” he said.

Colmenares said he had also exposed the realignment, without any PCSO board resolution, of the media fund to the intelligence fund.

His revelations reportedly led to a Senate inquiry into PCSO’s alleged use of intelligence funds to buy and donate ambulances and expensive cars to seven Roman Catholic bishops.

Uriarte admitted under oath during the July 7 Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing that Arroyo was aware that the intelligence fund would be used for something else.

“However, despite such knowledge, President Arroyo still approved the realignment of funds. The illegal motivation of President Arroyo is clear. Despite knowledge that said intelligence fund will not be used for intelligence work, she kept on approving the various requests of Ms. Uriarte for the grant and realignment of funds to this phantom intelligence fund project for years,” the complainants said.

“In view of the foregoing, it is very clear that President Arroyo and Uriarte conspired in using the intelligence fund for purposes other than intelligence work,” they said.

They also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct a lifestyle check on Arroyo and Uriarte.

The two party-list lawmakers also said Arroyo and Uriarte should also face graft charges for “causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official, administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

They said the misuse of PCSO funds “took away from what would have been spent for charity and very necessary assistance to the needy and the poor.”

They added that the respondents “also besmirched the reputation of PCSO as an institution for the poor and the needy into an institution for the rich and the greedy.”

They said information “exposed in both houses of Congress have revealed a level of corruption and abuse that puts to shame even the most heartless of thieves.”

“We run to the Ombudsman to complain, expecting it to use all its powers and resources to unearth the evil whose surface we have barely scratched. There are, no doubt, many more pieces of evidence that are beyond the access of ordinary citizens or even legislators like herein complainants,” their complaint read. “We trust that this complaint will be appreciated not only for the substance that it already contains, but the potential avenues that it opens for investigation and prosecution of those who would steal from the poor,” they added.

Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro personally made Casiño and Colmenares swear to the veracity of their affidavit. 

Not bothered

Arroyo’s allies, meanwhile, said they don’t expect the plunder case to prosper.

House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said he finds the filing of the case “unusual” but not surprising.

“Normally, other parties would do that but I’m not surprised,” Suarez said. “But I guess, they’re really good at getting media mileage, getting public attention and this is really all for the 2013 elections,” he said.

“I hope all the elements of plunder as provided by law are present or else they’re just filing for the sake of media mileage and that would be dishonest to the people,” Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas said.

He said the militant lawmakers filed the complaint against Arroyo because of her alleged misdeeds while president.

“It’s very clear that they had always wanted to go after the former president. I think it’s becoming to be personal thing,” Cagas said. “But it’s been a year, all we have are exposés, we must move on because we have so many urgent problems that we all must collectively solve.”

“Whether or not there were irregularities committed in the PCSO, all past transactions should be reviewed with the end view of helping the agency deliver more assistance to the poor,” he said.

“They rampage up and down just to run after GMA. But that is understandable because they are grandstanding at the same time,” former justice secretary Raul Gonzalez said.

“These are the people who have no qualms of doing anything just to get public attention and make it appear that they are against corruption. All these are connected to 2013. Because they want to become senators and dominate Congress,” he said.

He described the militant lawmakers as “double-bladed” because they “take advantage of our democratic processes while at the same time undermining them.” – Paolo Romero