Unusual bank transfers of Cebu solon’s donations to GSP bared

CEBU — Some P26 million in government funds purportedly donated as assistance to the Girl Scouts in Cebu allegedly landed in the personal accounts of fourth district Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez.

Martinez, however, denied "cooking the books" and said this was purely an internal matter.

The fund transfers were allegedly done from June 2002 to October 2003 when Martinez reportedly used P26 million from her Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and placed this under the account of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) Cebu Council.

Martinez reportedly disbursed the pork barrel funds thrice ostensibly as financial assistance to the Girl Scouts’ Cebu Council whose treasurer was incidentally her daughter, Ma Cielo.

Disbursements of P7.5 million each were deposited in two separate banks, while another P11.5 million was allegedly funneled through the municipality of Bogo whose mayor, Celestino III, is her son.

The municipal treasurer of Bogo issued the first check with No. 155821 on June 13, 2002 payable to the GSP Cebu Council.

The following day, the check was deposited in the GSP Cebu Council trust fund in Landbank’s Banilad branch.

But on the same day, Martinez withdrew the entire amount by having the GSP council issue a check (No. 056177) payable to cash.

After Martinez withdrew the amount, she then made a donation of P400,000 in cash and check to the GSP council.

Martinez, the council’s president, gave the approval for the amount to be withdrawn.

The municipal treasurer of Bogo issued another check for P7.5 million (No. 155854) on Sept. 18, 2002.

The check was again deposited in Landbank’s Banilad branch under the account of the GSP Cebu Council.

Employing the same scheme, Martinez withdrew the amount and gave only a P200,000 donation to the council.

This transaction did not appear in the monthly financial report of the council’s treasurer nor was it pre-audited by the internal auditor, an ad hoc committee of the council reported.

But the transactions provoked curiosity among the council members when the municipal treasurer of Bogo, for the third time, issued a check for P11.5 million payable to the council.

Martinez allegedly brought the check back to Landbank’s Bogo branch to be changed into a manager’s check in favor of her daughter, Ma. Cielo.

To complete the transaction, the bank asked for a board resolution so this could be discussed among council members.

Unable to change it into a manager’s check for lack of the required board resolution, Martinez deposited it on Oct. 20, 2003 in the Bank of Philippine Islands’ Capitol branch under the GSP trust fund (No. 090630451-92).

A few days later, on Oct. 27, Martinez withdrew the amount and deposited it in her personal account (No. 96630063-01) at the BPI’s Pasay City branch.

When sought for comment, Martinez merely said, "Ayaw nalang na ninyo hilabti kay (Don’t touch that issue because) that is purely internal."

She insisted that there was nothing irregular about her donation to the GSP Cebu Council.

She said such acts do not constitute a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act because the disbursement of her pork barrel is under her discretion.

Martinez also said she channeled the funds to the Bogo account to avoid the hassle of issuing separate checks to the GSP council.

"It was not for GSP originally pero I requested my son nga tagaan og bahin ang GSP kay kinahanglanon namo (but I requested my son to give part of it to GSP because we need it)," she said, explaining why she had to withdraw the money and donated only a measly two percent of the total amount.

"I had to get it back for Bogo," she added.

The transactions prompted the GSP Cebu Council to investigate the trail of disbursements. Former Toledo City mayor Eliza San Juan headed the probe committee, with members Dr. Dolores Abellanosa, Dr. Julieta Ortiz, Virginia Vamenta, Leticia Canoy and Venus Flores.

The committee recommended that the council’s board initiate remedial measures to improve auditing procedures to guard against a repeat of the unusual fund transfers.

The committee’s report prompted San Juan and Flores to resign from the GSP council because of their disappointment in the council’s leadership and reportedly because their findings were kept under wraps.

San Juan told The Freeman that she was not pressured to resign, admitting that she quit because she was disappointed with the council’s leadership.

But she said the committee report was supposed to be confidential.

Vamenta and Abellanosa declined to comment, saying it would be improper for them to say anything since they are still connected with the council.

They, however, confirmed that they were members of the ad hoc committee and that they had submitted a report to the GSP council’s board. — Freeman News Service