BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Our neighborhood perennially drunk philosopher
who turned sober due to liquor restrictions this time of Covid-19 cannot stop
fuming where the money of this Banana Republic is going.
He says after the PhilHealth mess wherein top officials
of the government agency were accused of absconding billions of pesos in
taxpayers money, here comes another bigtime anomaly – this time involving top
officials of the Philippine Charity Sweeptakes Office (PCSO).
He says he read an article of a major broadsheet the
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed charges of graft and gross
misconduct against 15 former and incumbent PCSO officials.
The case stemmed from alleged anomalies in the printing
cost fund of the PCSO’s Small Town Lottery (STL) program involving more than
P837 million for 2017 and 2018.
The article: “Those charged before the Office of the
Ombudsman were the late former PCSO board chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz, former
general manager Alexander Balutan and board members Remeliza Gabuyo, Lauro
Patiag, Anna Liza Inciong, Mercedetas Hinayon, Arnel Casas, Andy Gauran and
Edwin Mackay.
“The NBI also recommended Gabuyo’s prosecution for
obstruction of justice and serious dishonesty over her alleged attempt to cover
up the anomaly by failing to provide a copy of the relevant PCSO board
resolution on the Print Cost Fund (PCF) to investigators.
In a 19-page letter dated July 7 to Ombudsman Samuel
Martires, the NBI said former and incumbent PCSO officials were involved in
making revisions to the STL implementing rules and regulations (IRR) in 2016
that were highly disadvantageous to the PCSO, especially on the PCF.
The NBI said PCSO officials awarded .5 percent of the two
percent STL gross receipts allocated for the PCSO’s PCF to STL operators or
authorized agent corporations (AAC) after allowing them to undertake the
printing of STL tickets.
The STL IRR 2016, which amended STL IRR 2014, mainly
provided for the nationwide expansion of the STL to all the provinces and
highly urbanized cities in the country.
“Aside from allowing the AAC’s unbridled discretion to
print their own STL tickets, the officials awarded the excess of the two
percent printing cost or the 1.5 percent that was made part of the PCSO’s
operating fund, instead of declaring the same as savings to be reverted to the
charity fund,” the NBI said.
“This act of PCSO indirectly increased the percentage of
operating funds as provided by law, by adding the excess of the printing fund
to finance its operating expenses. To be more specific, the 1.5 percent PCF was
used by the PCSO to support its maintenance and operating expenses for 2017 and
2018,” the NBI said.
The bureau said the PCSO could not have incurred printing
expenses, as printing was unlawfully delegated to the STL operators, “which was
a violation Section 2(d) of Batas Pambansa 42,” a law amending the PCSO
charter, the NBI added.
It was learned that the PCSO had a printing cost fund of
P129,246,096.40 in 2016; P314.8 million in 2017 and P522,250,777.67 in 2018.
By awarding .5 percent of the printing fund, the PCSO
gave a total of P69,303,997.70 in 2017 and P130,562,696.73 in 2018 to STL
operators.
“In this particular case, how could the PCSO fix the
number of the tickets to be distributed to AACs when it allowed them to print
their own ticket? In a situation where the .5 percent printing cost retained by
the AAC is not sufficient to cover the printing cost, who would cover the
excess? What if the .5 percent is more than sufficient to cover the cost of
printing, what would be the rule regarding the excess?” the NBI pointed out.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara ordered the probe after
President Duterte ordered the PCSO to stop all its gaming operations including
Lotto, STL, Keno, ScratchIt Sweepstakes and Peryahan ng Bayan games due to
“massive corruption” in July 2019.
Duterte had fired Balutan, a retired Marine general, due
to alleged “corruption.”
Malacañang later issued a clarification that Balutan had
resigned from his post, and was not fired by the President.
***
As if anomalies were not enough, here comes Sen. Imee
Marcos saying some funds under Bayanihan 2 were slashed
Some of the funds intended to assist sectors struggling
because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have been slashed to
smaller amounts under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the
Bayanihan 2 bill, Senator Imee Marcos disclosed on Wednesday.
“Napakakuripot nitong budget na to. Hirap na hirap kami.
There’s too little to fight over because it’s simply impossible to accommodate
everyone’s request,” Marcos said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
Marcos is part of the bicameral conference committee
currently reconciling the disagreeing provisions of the measure’s Senate and
House version.
The Bayanihan 2 bill lays out the country’s Covid-19
response and recovery plan and allocates funds to help struggling sectors cope
up with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawmakers agreed on P162-billion funding. However, only
P140 billion will be readily available.
“It’s a very small fund, P140 billion, of which P50
billion goes directly to the banks so already there’s one-third logged off and
very, very little left to give away to the tourism sector, transportation
groups, of course, our health workers, which the President has promised P15,000 per head, our students, most of our OFWs
(overseas Filipino workers),” Marcos went on.
“Ang haba po ng listahan. Sinabi nila na kapag maikli ang
kumot, bumaluktot. Kapag wala ng kumot, mag-tumbling na po,” she added.
According to Marcos, the P15 billion initially earmarked
for the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) cash-for-work program and
the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD)
under the Senate version was cut down to P5 billion.
“Napakapayat, naghahanap pa rin kami. Lahat nagdadaing
na. There are horrific projections for OFWs, hundreds of thousands are coming
back jobless,” she said.
Meanwhile, the P17 billion allocated to the Department of
Transportation for the provision of interest rate subsidies and the provision
of temporary livelihood to displaced workers was slashed to P6 billion, the
senator added.
“I understand where our finance people are coming from,
they’re trying to impose prudent fiscal management, but on the other hand
talagang ang hirap pagkasyahin,” Marcos said.
To provide for more funding to accommodate more sectors,
the lawmaker proposed that the government divert its funds initially allocated
for the travel expenses of officials to help those affected by the pandemic.
“We can get from the 2020 budget. I don’t think anyone
would travel so all the travel expense…all these things, ibibigay na natin sa
tao,” she said.
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