Solon: Probe P2.3-B fund transfer

Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares on Saturday called for an investigation into the alleged transfer of P2.29 billion from the Malampaya Fund to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for its “disaster preparedness” in 2009, noting that the funds were released the year preceding the May 10, 2010 national elections.

Colmenares said the amount was compiled from three Special Allotment Release Orders (Saro): D-09-08074 dated Nov. 4, 2009 which released P1.6 billion, D-09-08965 dated Dec. 8, 2009 releasing P540 million and A-11-00842 which released P150 million.

The Malampaya Fund comprises government’s share from the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power project. The $4.5-billion Malampaya gas project, which began in 2002, involves the extraction of natural gas from the waters off Palawan.

He said the amounts were released through automatic appropriations. Because they were not included in the 2009 budget, he added, they were therefore beyond the scrutiny of Congress.

“Now why was it that the funds were allotted to the PNP and no other agencies that are more equipped to handle disaster management?” Colmenares asked. “It must also be noted that the release of the funds came on an election year and we want to know where the funds really went. Is there an audit of these funds?”

He lamented that many of the social services allocations in the budget were being cut while billions of pesos were allotted to “graft-ridden agencies like the PNP.”

During deliberations at the House committee on appropriations on the proposed budget of the PNP for 2012, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo gave assurance that an investigation into the matter would be conducted after he failed to explain why the amounts were given to the PNP and how they were used.

Colmenares pointed out the Constitution required that “no money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.”

She said no law authorized the Malampaya Fund to be used by the PNP and in other non-energy related projects.

“The spending of the P2-billion Saro is therefore illegal,” he concluded.

Colmenares also asked the government to investigate “strange expenses and disbursements” of the Malampaya Fund evident from the various Saros released in 2009, such as: Saro E-09-08747 for the Agriculture Guarantee Fund Pool, P4 billion; Saro E-09039 for the Department of Agriculture, P1.8 billion; Saro A-09-08779 for the Department of Public Works and Highways, P207.8 million; Saro A-09-9076 also for the DPWH, P551.5 million; Saro A-09-09492 for the DPWH, P500 million; Saro A-09-9534 for the DPWH, P2.2 billion; and Saro D-09-08418 for the Department of National Defense, P185.3 million.

Colmenares said the heads of the departments which received the amounts could be prosecuted if they were unable to cite a legal basis for the diversion of the Malampaya funds.

He said that the Department of Energy had put total Malampaya collections at P115.172 billion as of June 30 2011.

“And yet the people did not feel any development from these billions of funds,” he said.

Colmenares also asked President Aquino to explain his own use of the Malampaya Fund, including the allotment of P2 billion for the National Power Corporation this year through Saro F-11-00599.