APPROVED Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (right) shows annoyance during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on alleged financial shenanigans at the PCSO. At left is Sen. Teofisto Guingona III. Projected on the screen in the background is the signature of approval by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on a PCSO document. LYN RILLON
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now Pampanga representative, may face charges of plunder over allegations that she had approved the allocation of hundreds of millions of pesos in charity funds for possibly nonexistent projects.
The smoking gun: board memoranda of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) requesting additional funds for intelligence operations that she approved from 2008 to 2010.
Former PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte on Thursday confirmed before the Senate blue ribbon committee that Arroyo had signed or initialed the memos in her presence.
The PCSO spent P325 million in confidential intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010, according to Uriarte.
“These are very damaging. The Ombudsman should take a look at these testimonies and see what liability the former President has,” Senator Franklin Drilon said after the hearing.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the blue ribbon committee, was more forthright: “It implicates the former President in this whole mystery. It makes her a coconspirator… When you steal more than P50 million, it’s plunder.”
The anti-plunder law defines plunder as the direct or indirect amassing by a public official of at least P50 million in ill-gotten wealth through a combination or a series of acts like misappropriating public funds and illegal disposition of government assets. Plunder is a nonbailable offense.
In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration would not hesitate to file charges against Arroyo if the Senate probe would yield enough proof to link her to any wrongdoing.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, however, said the committee could not pin down Arroyo over Uriarte’s disclosures.
“Of course the approving authority is the President. The President probably relied on their representation. There are a lot of things that have to be unearthed first before you can pin down the responsibility for the approving authority,” Enrile later told reporters.
Being a member of the House of Representatives, Arroyo could not be invited to the inquiry.
Grilled by senators for hours, Uriarte said the PCSO made the biggest spending—P138 million out of the approved P160 million in intelligence fund—in 2010, an election year.
Arroyo signed the PCSO memos requesting additional intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010 and in Uriarte’s presence. The former PCSO executive pointed out that all intelligence funds needed the President’s approval.
Not immune from suit
Drilon deferred to the Office of the Ombudsman on what course of action to take against Arroyo, but he said she was not immune from suit.
After the hearing, former PCSO Director Manuel Morato concluded: “The ultimate person they want to pin down is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through the PCSO, through me, through us. It leads to that.”
In her testimony, Uriarte said the charity agency disbursed the P138 million to stamp out the illegal numbers games in preparation for the “roll-out” of the small-town lottery (STL).
Apart from saying that the fund was spent for “intelligence assets” keeping close tabs on the possible rigging in the numbers games in different provinces, she failed to give specifics as to how this was used.
“The more you talk, the deeper you implicate yourself. If you are charged for the disbursement of the fund, you can’t respond to the judge like that. You’ll be jailed,” Enrile told her.
“Better be careful. This is a series of transactions. It comes under the definition of plunder,” he added.
Blood money
After much grilling, Uriarte claimed the intelligence fund also went to pay blood money for workers on trial in Saudi Arabia and to finance relief operations for typhoon victims.
She said some P20 million was given to Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos to help four overseas workers pay for the blood money to the families of crime victims.
Enrile and Drilon agreed that this constituted diversion of funds. The committee would invite Conejos to shed light on the matter.
Senators were unconvinced that the intelligence funds were disbursed for purposes that they were intended for.
“I think there is reasonable basis that this was used for purposes other than intelligence-gathering and since it was during the election, there is basis for the suspicion that this was used during the election,” Drilon said.
Uriarte said she and Arroyo had talked about the use of the fund for intelligence purposes when she went to see the then President to ask her to sign the memos. “Her questions were more on the projects that we were doing,” she said.
Uriarte said that for the rest of the requests for additional intelligence funds, the usual reason given by the PCSO board was to counter fraudulent schemes, such as the sale of donated medicines in drug stores, unofficial use of ambulances, unauthorized expenditure of endowment fund, lotto scams and activities of fixers.
“That means you’re disguising the disbursement as intelligence fund because it’s easy to liquidate,” Enrile remarked.
Guingona’s slide presentation established that Uriarte controlled intelligence funds totaling P325 million from April 2008 to Feb. 25, 2010.
Letters
What made the senators unusually curious was a letter with the PCSO letterhead dated Jan. 4, 2010, in which Uriarte asked Arroyo that her office “be given at most, 20 percent of the public relations fund or a minimum of P150 million, to be used as intelligence/confidential fund.”
Drilon, in a separate slide presentation, presented seven letters that showed Uriarte, as PCSO general manager, asking sums ranging from P10 million to P150 million as “additional intelligence fund” for specific periods.
Most of the letters Drilon presented bore bar codes or “received” stamps indicating they were officially received by the Office of the President.
Uriarte confirmed it was Arroyo’s signature or initials that appear near the marking “OK” in a letter to indicate the former President approved her request.
Sen. Francis Escudero noted that in at least two letters, no “received” stamps were seen. “At least two letters indicate you went directly to the President because there was no stamp in the letter saying it was formally received by Malacañang,” Escudero said.
Close to President
“There is only the President’s signature. Does this mean you are close to her,” the senator asked.
“Yes,” Uriarte replied.
Guingona noted the letters asking for additional funds stated very similar excuses for doing so.
Singling out the Jan. 4, 2010, letter, he wondered why Uriarte asked for P150 million. A month later Uriarte requested an additional P10 million.
Intelligence operator
Uriarte’s designation as “special disbursing officer” for the PCSO’s “confidential/intelligence fund” also drew scrutiny.
“Who was your intelligence operator,” Enrile asked. “I cannot say that,” Uriarte said.
Uriarte herself revealed that her office was supposed to have an annual corporate operations budget of only P60 million.
“If you already have P60 million, why did you still ask for big sums of money? What event were you preparing for? An insurgency? A rebellion within the PCSO?” Enrile asked.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former director general of the Philippine National Police, noted that in intelligence operations he had supervised, a P5-million project proposal was already big. “With P150 million, how many project proposals were (involved)?”
Uriarte said the P150 million was necessary since “it was for the nationwide operations of STL.”
AFP intel fund
Lacson pointed out the amount was greater than the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ intelligence fund of P124.3 million for this year.
“How many project officers did you have,” Lacson asked. Uriarte said she served as the lone intelligence project officer.
“Did you undergo intelligence training? Were you subjected to schooling before the project,” Lacson lashed back.
“I only have advocacy and development work. This project was meant to combat the illegal numbers game and (fund) ongoing projects to benefit the people,” Uriarte replied.
“An intelligence project is not run that way. It cannot be managed that way,” the senator protested.
Documents with Arroyo
This exchange prompted Enrile to ask who Uriarte’s project custodian was. “And where are your documents,” he snarled.
“I don’t have copies,” Uriarte answered. “I turned over the documents to President Arroyo.”
“But that is not a national security problem. You made the report just for the sake of the PCSO. Your answers indicate you don’t understand intelligence operations and I don’t believe you are an intelligence operator. Sorry to tell you,” Enrile said.
“Tell us, who is the intelligence project officer of this operation,” he added.
Taruc, Roquero, Valencia
Uriarte refused to name her custodian, prompting Enrile to turn to Morato. Morato only shifted in his seat.
Enrile called former PCSO Directors Jose Taruc V and Raymundo Roquero who both answered: “I’m not aware, your honor.”
Former PCSO Chair Sergio Valencia was also of no help.
“I am aware of the problems in the implementation of STL but I am not aware of the entire nature of the problem,” he said.
“You cannot know the problem without knowing its nature, my goodness,” Enrile fumed.
Addressing the previous PCSO board, Enrile said: “You just approved or confirmed the disbursement of money by your general manager without scrutinizing the purpose for which it was used!”
Valencia defended his board saying it “has been the practice since I came.”
Former PCSO promotions manager Manuel Garcia, who had been accused of pocketing some P1.5 billion in kickbacks from ad placement contracts, appeared at the hearing. He was excused since he was not represented by a counsel and he had high blood pressure. With a report from Norman Bordadora