Fiasco at PCSO - From The Stands

The letter of Sister Christine Tan, RGS, which came out in major newspapers on March 5, created no little discomfort among readers. It was a revealing letter which should have come out in the front page, but which had not. Before I continue, I must say that Sister Christine is one of the most respected and credible members of the religious community, and a fighter for human rights since the dictatorship. Her joining the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes as a director, along that with Maria Y. Feria -- another no-nonsense person -- had come about upon the request of former Supreme Court Associate Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma who had been appointed at the start of the Estrada administration as the PCSO board chair. In fact, when President Estrada appointed Justice Palma as chair, I thought it was a politically good move that set off to a good start the former's rating in credibility and sincerity, in as much as Justice Palma's, with her unassailable integrity, would protect the coffers of the PCSO, one of the government's biggest money-makers.

But things have not turned out the way a lot of people had hoped they would.

In her letter to the editors, Ms. Feria said that she had accepted her position as "co-terminus" with that of the President. "I accepted the job because I wanted to help channel funds to the truly poor. Since then, I had tried my best, doing not only what was expected, but more than what was expected, cheating no one, padding no prices of medicine, recommending no ghost employees, stealing not a single peso from this multibillion-peso government agency."

After a few months in office, Ms. Feria observed that "requests from congressmen and mayors, from the President and the First Lady, were becoming more frequent, while funds for our regular hospitals and institutions were becoming extremely difficult to secure." In her letter, she said she and the board were "ordered to send all our ambulances to Jinggoy Estrada, for him to distribute, while hundreds of millions of pesos went to congressmen, mayors and the First Couple." To accommodate the requests, P430,279,581.28 was authorized, "within a span of one year." On the other hand, only P65,364,400 was earmarked for the PCSO's regular beneficiaries consisting of "thousands of sick, aged, children, orphans and unfortunate."

Ms. Feria did not state in her letter that she had expressed extreme displeasure over the requests from the powers-that be, but that could have been the case, for why would she, after 20 months in office, find herself suddenly arbitrarily dismissed from the PCSO? She said that on February 28, when she inquired about the time of the board meeting, she was told by the secretary of the board that she should not attend the meeting because a new board had been appointed by the President." She was "caught by surprise as in the case of Justice Palma, where even the security guards and janitors knew of the change before she did . . . I asked myself what could be the reason for the arbitrariness of such an act, and the haste with which it was executed."

We are not surprised at the arbitrariness of the three women's dismissal without being told about it beforehand, and firsthand, as simple gestures of courtesy and respect. Remember what happened to Karina David and Mel Alonzo, who were arbitrarily yanked out of their positions without explanation? Such arbitrary acts of dismissal are the trend in this administration. This trend is so pathetic considering that these women are competent and of help to the administration's credibility. One can only assume that the reasons for their dismissal are due to their asking the wrong right questions and other people being interested in assuming their positions. Unfortunately, no appointees should expect explanations for their termination.

The new PCSO board chair, Rosario N. Lopez, answered Sister Christine in her letter to the editors dated March 9. She said that by virtue of Section 1, RA 1169, as amended, the President has the power to remove any appointments, including those appointed to the PCSO, and their being replaced "at any time by the President without having to explain his action."

Contrary to Sister Christine's letter, Justice Palma had resigned, and her resignation was accepted by the President, Ms. Lopez said, this "was an ample and apparent signal for the Palma-recommended members of the Board to follow suit as Director Maria Y. Feria appropriately did, in order to give the President a free hand to choose and name their replacements."

Ms. Lopez said, "We see nothing wrong nor irregular about the funding requests made by some mayors, governors, congressmen and Malacañang as they are intended for projects meant to improve the health and living conditions of the poor masses." The undertakings "perfectly adjunct to and in parallel with the PCSO mandate" include First Lady's projects. Ms. Lopez makes no mention of the ambulances distributed by Jinggoy Estrada, though.

She also said that there was "no cogent and logical reason" for Sister Christine to complain about the requests because these were granted and approved during the time of Justice Palma's administration "including the sister." The letter concluded with the pledge that the board will "do its best to fully achieve our mandate of assisting the poor, the sick and the needy . . . " This column wishes Ms. Lopez and the new board good luck.

ON ANOTHER FRONT: For lovers of the exotic, addictive durian, the place to go tomorrow, Sunday, will be the Durian Park at the Manila International Airport. A "formal opening" will feature competitions including on the proper way to open durian, talks on the fruit, and durian-eating, and Muslim dancers . . . Aside from the international airport, the fruit, sold under the brand name Sun Gee, is available at the main branch at 124 Domestic Airport Rd., The Festival Supermall (Alabang) and the Dacon Bldg., 2282 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati. Another branch will be opening at Liberty Center, Shaw Blvd. . .The fruit comes from the plantation in Mindanao run by the Consunji family. Jing Consunji-Reyes says the popularity of durian even among Manilans is "amazing." Durian can be purchased as durian sweets, jam, syrup, pastillas, hopia, bibingka, puto bungbong and milk shake. Other Mindanao fruits Sun Gee carries are pomelo, mango, mangosteen and banana. For details, call 831-5963.