Gov’t starts probe on PDAF use by Noy allies

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The government is expanding its probe into allegations of misuse of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to include possible cases committed by allies of President Aquino during his administration.

The development is shown in letters sent by Department of Budget and Management (DBM)-Western Visayas regional director Alfonso Bedonia Jr. to Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Bacolod Mayor Monico Puentevella dated Nov. 11.

In the letter, the DBM stated it was monitoring the status of various PDAF-funded development projects implemented by local government units in the province from Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2013.

PDAF is the official name of the congressional pork barrel. President Aquino assumed office in June 2010.

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and 34 others – including alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles – were respondents in a plunder and malversation complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Bedonia said more than P245 million worth of projects in Negros Occidental were PDAF funded.

Of the amount, P184.1 million went to towns and cities under the jurisdiction of the Negros Occidental provincial government, and P61.6 million to Bacolod City, which is outside the jurisdiction of the provincial government.

Bedonia furnished Marañon and Puentevella Statements of Fund Releases for 2010 to 2013 and asked the two officials to submit a report on the status of projects in their respective jurisdictions not later than Nov. 30.

In response to the DBM order, Marañon said in an interview Tuesday that “every project that had gone through the province is accounted (for)... everything is accounted (for) up to the last cent.”

Provincial administrator Enrique Pinongan said they are preparing detailed reports on “physical accomplishment,” including amounts disbursed for each project. He said the Office of the Provincial Accountant is preparing more documentation.

Provincial accountant Merly Fortu said they had to rush work since they only received the DBM order last Nov. 26.

Puentevella, for his part, said he had instructed City Accountant Ed Ravena to prepare a status report on the PDAF releases.

He said he had also created a task force to check on the implementation of PDAF-funded projects in the city.

Ravena said P35 million of the amount being examined represented special award for good housekeeping from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

SC clarification

In Manila, DBM Assistant Secretary Janet Abuel said they are seeking clarification from the Supreme Court on what pork barrel funds are exactly covered by the SC’s ruling declaring PDAF unconstitutional.

“We would like to seek guidance and clarification from the Supreme Court specifically on PDAF allocations that have already been released,” Abuel told the House committee on appropriations yesterday.

Under the SC ruling, Abuel said PDAF allocations covered by special allotment and release orders (SARO) but not by notice of cash allocations (NCA) should be frozen and the corresponding funds returned to the national treasury.

She said the ruling presents some practical difficulties for DBM and PDAF implementing agencies since SAROs are official government documents that authorize these agencies to obligate funds and conduct biddings for projects.

She said NCAs, which are advisories on the actual availability of cash for the payment of obligations, are usually released weeks or even months after the SAROs, since bidding process takes time.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad earlier said the most affected by the SC ruling on PDAF are more than 300,000 college scholars receiving financial aid from congressmen out of the latter’s pork barrel funds.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said he and his colleagues welcome the DBM’s initiative to seek guidance from the SC on PDAF allocations released.

He said members of the House of Representatives have millions in funds already deposited in hospitals but which cannot be used for their sick constituents because of the SC ruling.

Status of medical aid

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has promised to discuss with Health Secretary Enrique Ona the status of millions in medical aid released from the now unconstitutional PDAF to government hospitals.

“We need to clarify this with Secretary Ona. It’s hard to do this with individual hospitals. It’s not just PGH (Philippine General Hospital),” he said.

Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. earlier complained that PGH had turned away two of his constituents with serious ailments, including one with breast cancer.

Barzaga said he gave his cancer patient a guarantee letter for P20,000 to be drawn from his PDAF funds deposited with the hospital.

He said PDAF funds released to hospitals long before the Supreme Court issued its anti-PDAF decision in September should not be covered by the court ruling.

“They sent my cancer patient home. What would happen to her? She could not go to a private hospital because she has no money. We all know that a cancer patient, like a person with kidney failure needing dialysis, has to get immediate treatment,” he said.

He said the PGH should be held liable for “not honoring the contract they have with me.”

Barzaga, a lawyer, said the hospital, which is part of the University of the Philippines system, should treat his patients as long as there are sufficient funds for their treatment.

The lawmaker reported that as of last week, his PDAF balance with PGH stood at more than P1.5 million out of releases totaling P19.8 million.

“Help for sick people like this particular cancer patient-constituent of mine and for poor college students is the good side of PDAF that pork barrel critics and some sectors of the public do not see or refuse to see. They only see the abuses that some lawmakers have committed,” he lamented.

He said he is sure that he is not the only lawmaker with PDAF balances with various government hospitals in Metro Manila and the provinces. “What would happen to all those funds?”

The STAR learned that the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, like the PGH, has stopped honoring guarantee letters from senators and congressmen.

Rep. Sherwin Tugna of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption said he suspects that hospital officers were being careful in handling PDAF funds in the wake of the SC decision.

“They might need guidance from Secretary Ona, the Department of Budget and Management and the Supreme Court,” he said.

He agreed with Barzaga that money released before the SC order should be used for the purposes for which they were intended. With Jess Diaz