CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- A belated revelation by a former aide of Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio that P20,000 from the P500,000 given in Malacañang last year had been used and returned to the provincial coffers was strong proof that the priest was not totally honest, a critic of the priest said Saturday.

Rosve Henson, president of the Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. (Kambilan), the group that filed a recall petition against Panlilio on Wednesday, made the indictment on Panlilio’s integrity a day Archimedes Reyes, a former Panlilio chief of staff, bared that part of the alleged Palace cash gift was used to shoulder the expenses for a spiritual retreat in Tagaytay City on October 13 and 14 last year.

Reyes, public information officer Rommel De Jesus, and social welfare program coordinator Roperlee Syquia joined that retreat.

It was Reyes who received on October 11 last year a brown paper gift bag that he initially thought contained sandwiches. Its contents turned out to be a wad of P1,000 bills totaling P500,000.

Bulacan Governor Joselito Mendoza confirmed that he handed the gift bag to Reyes after a meeting of local officials with President Macapagal-Arroyo in Malacañang.

“That put into question the transparency and honesty na binabandera niya (that he has been brandishing).…There’s a cover-up here and he’s not being consistent,” Henson said of how Panlilio handled the money that he refused to spend owing to its still unknown source.

On Saturday, Reyes clarified that in the Kapihan sa Rembrandt in Quezon City, where he made the disclosure on Friday, he said he did not have firsthand information about the amount.

He said it was De Jesus who mentioned that he received P20,000 from provincial administrator Vivian Dabu.

De Jesus, who is in the United States, could not be reached on Saturday to confirm the amount.

In a telephone interview, Dabu confirmed taking out P10,000 from the stash of cash and handing this to De Jesus.

By her account, this was how the event went: “Among Ed turned over the money [given at the Palace] to me on Friday morning (October 12) through his secretary Marlene. When he called by lunch, he said Archie, Rommel, and Rop needed cash for the retreat. I said it’s a holiday and I’m not in the office. I said the only money I have at that time in Clark was the money [he] handed to me. I suggested we borrow first from that and replace it later that day.”

“[Panlilio] gave permission. That same afternoon, I went to the capitol, replenished the amount, and put the entire money in the safe,” Dabu said.

“Nothing was taken from money after that. P500,000 pa rin (It’s still P500,000),” she said.

When the Inquirer called on October 13, 2007 to seek confirmation about the alleged doleout, Dabu said the money was intact.

“We really didn’t know what to do with that money. Among Ed thought that the best thing to do was put it in the safe because he did not know where it really originated,” Dabu said.