Senate wants plunder raps vs GMA over PCSO

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Rosario Uriarte must be charged with plunder for the alleged misuse of funds from lottery operations, the Senate said yesterday.

In a report last December, the Senate committee on accountability of public officers and investigations (Blue Ribbon) said PCSO funds were misused.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, said the report contains “highly persuasive” information.

He has provided the Office of the Ombudsman with a copy of the report, he added.

The committee recommended the filing of plunder and technical malversation charges against Arroyo and Uriarte after six hearings conducted last year.

The recommendation was based on Arroyo’s grant of P325 million in additional intelligence funds to Uriarte from 2008 to 2010.

During the hearings, it was revealed that Uriarte made the requests directly to Arroyo through memorandums, which the former president had approved through mere marginal notes, often in the presence of Uriarte.

Checks were issued in the name of Uriarte as special disbursing officer and the former PCSO board of directors had endorsed the requests.

Liquidation of the funds, just like the practice of other agencies, was accomplished with a mere certification that the funds were used for a variety of reasons.

The Blue Ribbon committee found that the use of the funds were questionable, including the payment of blood money for overseas Filipino workers in distress, which was not among the purposes for which the funds were requested and approved.

It was revealed that before 2008, the office of the chairman and vice chairman of the PCSO were given only P5 million each in the form of a regular fund devoted for intelligence purposes.

“The glaring and suspicious difference in their requests, however, is the fact that Mrs. Uriarte requested for P325 million, not just P10 million, despite the similarity of purposes for which these funds were requested,” the report said.

In asking for the additional funds, Uriarte told the Senate that it was for the purpose of addressing security concerns like bomb threats, kidnapping, destabilization and terrorism, bilateral and security reasons – all of which were not clearly indicated in Uriarte’s memorandums to Arroyo.

“It is clear from the records that the diversion of the funds was made only because of an order from the Office of the President,” the report said.

“No board resolution was ever issued to authorize the altered use of PCSO intelligence funds.”

The Blue Ribbon committee recommended charging Arroyo and Uriarte with technical malversation for using the intelligence funds for the purchase of relief goods and for blood money.

“The PCSO is not an intelligence agency. Neither is it mandated to pursue complex intelligence projects,” the report said.

“It is therefore extremely offensive for this agency to have been suspiciously gifted with a pot of intelligence funds so large, it dwarfs the share of agencies and offices that are, by nature of its mandated functions, required to pursue confidential/intelligence projects at varying degrees.”

The Blue Ribbon committee also recommended that the intelligence fund allocation of the PCSO be reduced significantly, preferably to not more than P15 million annually for the next three years.

At least P244.5 million of PCSO funds released to Uriarte were never used for public purposes and were “illegally siphoned into the pockets of Uriarte and Arroyo,” the committee added.

The committee believes that the documents do not exist since Uriarte was not able to produce the documents to prove her claims on the supposed use of the funds.

“Because of these circumstances, it is reasonable to believe that these funds were illegally diverted for personal use,” the report said.

The Blue Ribbon committee also recommended the filing of charges against the PCSO’s former public relations manager Manuel Garcia for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for his alleged kickbacks on advertising contracts over several years.

“The committee strongly recommends the immediate resolution of these cases,” the report said.

The Blue Ribbon committee also recommended the filing of several cases against former PCSO chairman Manuel Morato, including violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for signing an equipment lease agreement (ELA) for the lottery operations, which was deemed “extremely prejudicial to the nation” by the committee.

It also recommended that Uriarte be charged for the same offense for approving amendments to the ELA.

For using a PCSO-funded television show to campaign for candidates of the Arroyo administration in the 2010 elections, the committee also recommended that Morato be charged with electioneering.

The Blue Ribbon committee also recommended a number of policy and legislative remedies to avoid future abuses in the use of PCSO funds.

Among the recommendations are the following:

• amendment of the PCSO’s charter to contain penal provisions, imposing criminal, civil and administrative liabilities for acts in violation of the charter;

• strict adherence to the provision of the charter requiring the immediate transfer of prizes that remain unclaimed within one year from the date of the draw;

• the passage of an omnibus law repealing all laws that seek to allocate PCSO funds to various national programs not relevant to the mandate of the PCSO; and

• stricter auditing rules on the use of intelligence funds.

GMA sad

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is sad over news that the Blue Ribbon committee has recommended the filing of plunder charges against her and former PCSO officials, her lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Anacleto Diaz said Arroyo did not use the presidency to enrich herself.

The Blue Ribbon committee “recklessly disregarded” the point that Arroyo did not amass, accumulate or acquire any amount from PCSO funds, he added.

The Senate did not consider the fact that the PCSO during the Arroyo administration “reached unprecedented levels in revenues and benefits extended to various charities, health and medical programs granted to our people,” Diaz said.

Lawyer not worried

Arroyo’s lawyer is not worried over the recommendation of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that plunder and technical malversation charges would be filed against his client over the alleged misuse of PCSO funds.

Lawyer Benjie Santos told The STAR while he is concerned over the development, the committee report was just a recommendation.

“Of course we’re concerned over the report, but the recommendation depends on the Office of the Ombudsman or whoever party that wants to follow it up and file a complaint,” he said.

However, Santos said he has yet to get an official copy of the committee report.

The Blue Ribbon committee’s main function is to recommend possible remedial legislation and not to prosecute, he added.

Ferdinand Topacio, a legal spokesman for Arroyo, said he could not yet determine the effect of the committee report on the pending case against the former leader in the Office of the Ombudsman on the same allegations filed by two militant lawmakers.

‘Dismiss suit’

Arroyo has asked the Regional Trial Court to dismiss the P15-million damage suit against her filed by the “Morong 43” health workers.

Arroyo said her name was not even stated in any of the affidavits of the health workers detained on suspicion of being New People’s Army rebels during her administration.

“(It) does not contain any allegation of bad faith, malice or gross negligence on the part of defendant, in order to create at least any reasonable connection between defendant’s being president and the damage allegedly suffered by the plaintiffs, as to make defendant accountable for the damage purportedly afflicted,” she said.

Arroyo’s motion to dismiss was filed late last year before Judge Ma. Luisa Padilla. – With Reinir Padua, Paolo Romero