The sooner the complete picture is revealed about a financial controversy involving two Cabinet members, the better it will be for the administration. With President Aquino creating a Truth Commission to probe anomalies during the watch of his predecessor, there are growing calls to include in the probe two of his Cabinet members who also worked for the Arroyo administration: Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman and Peace Adviser Teresita Deles. The controversy is affecting the work of the two women and could hold back the fulfillment of the mandates of their offices.
Soliman and Deles were part of civil society groups that supported Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her rise to power. In 2001 the groups aimed to raise P1 billion for poverty alleviation projects by buying bonds floated by the government, selling these in the secondary market, and then using the profits to set up a foundation that would administer the funds. The scheme netted P1.4 billion, which went to the Caucus of Development NGO Networks. Among the beneficiaries of the CODE-NGO windfall was the Peace Equity Access for Community Empowerment Foundation headed by Soliman. The PEACE Foundation received about P1 billion in soft loans and grants that were reportedly used to support small and medium enterprises as well as potable water projects.
Critics have pointed out that the deal cheated the government of P5 billion in taxes through sweeteners cooked up by, among others, a sister of the finance chief at the time, Jose Isidro Camacho. The deal, critics added, also compelled taxpayers to pay P25 billion in interest to bondholder Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., and allocated P200 million out of the P1.4 billion as payment to two individuals who claimed to have designed the fund-raising scheme, plus P100 million in annual expenses for CODE-NGO. The Freedom from Debt Coalition commented that rules were bent and influence used so CODE-NGO could get a P1.3-billion endowment and a commission of P140 million from the Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates or PEACe bonds.
There are legitimate issues in this controversy that need to be put to rest by an administration that is committed to transparency and good governance. Bringing closure to the controversy would eliminate distractions to ongoing peace initiatives and poverty alleviation programs.