Trail of the goat

Were it not for the confirmation of several barangay captains, former congressman Antonio Cuenco’s explanation about how the unused P7.6 million from his Priority Development Fund Assistance (PDAF) in 2006 was spent would have fueled suspicions of irregularities on his part.

Cuenco immediately clarified that the amount didn’t go to buying luxury Toyota Altis sedans but assorted vehicles like minibuses, fire trucks and garbage trucks.

He said south district barangay officials, who were disappointed with the aborted goat-raising project that was to be funded by his PDAF, were assuaged with a substition. They asked for vehicles instead, and he accommodated it by asking that the P7.6 milion intended to buy goats be released to them to purchase vehicles in 2008.

Barangay chairman George Rama of Basak San Nicholas and barangay Tisa chairman Eddie Cabulao both confirmed receiving varied vehicles.

Cuenco showed documents addressed to the barangay captains informing them that the amount “shall be used solely for the purchase of a motor vehicle, and make of which shall depend upon your office’s discretion for the benefit of our constituents in the barangays.”

A copy of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) showed that checks were released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) directly to 10 barangay captains.

That document will be useful in the wake of an Ombudsman investigation of a seven-year-old case involving former Guadalupe barangay chairman Eugenio Faelnar, whose feud with Cuenco over the goats-that-never-were has come back to bite both men.

Why complainants only came forward recently to stir an Ombudsman probe has something to do with the October barangay elections ahead.

Faelnar’s chance of reelection has been compromised by the scandal, and Cuenco is worried about the timing of the fallout after the expose over Napoles.

The public may forgive Cuenco for his memory lapse about what kind of vehicles were bought using his PDAF but they woudn’t be as charitable if they found out that he had a hand in the fund misuse.

An abandoned P660,000 never-been-used goat house in barangay Taptap built by Faelnar is a permanent reminder of a PDAF outlay that was wasted.

With plunder charges filed against three senators and Napoles over pork barrel corruption, it’s a hard reminder for all national legislators that they will be held accountable for how they spent their PDAF, every centavo of it.