PCSO chair Maliksi faces graft raps for using post to release P2M

Former Cavite Rep. Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi, now PCSO chairman. Photo from congress.gov.ph

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chair Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi faces a graft complaint before the Ombudsman for using his position to release P2 million in charity funds for his driver.

Complainant Jennifer Castro accused Maliksi of endorsing the release of P2.151 million for the hospitalization bills of his late driver Celestino Aman.

Maliksi is a Liberal Party member and a former governor and congressman of Cavite.

Castro of Fate or the Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment said she was able to obtain a copy of the endorsement letter signed by Maliksi on the request for approval of P2.151 million for Aman.

“What is crucial is not the granting of the patient’s application for assistance of the PCSO, rather the amount being endorsed. It’s very evident that there was preferential treatment to Mr. Aman being the driver of the respondent,” the complaint read.

“(I)t was the respondent himself who personally pushed for the speedy release of the benefit to his driver,” it added.

The PCSO only partly paid for Aman’s bills which ballooned to P2.851 million, but Maliksi using his capacity as PCSO chair supposedly used his unused P700,000 Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to pay for the remaining balance.

The complaint said Maliksi used his unused PDAF long after the Supreme Court declared the pork barrel system as unconstitutional. The high court required solons to return the unused pork to the treasury.

“The above situations are a clear violation of the law… His acts constitute criminal in nature, he made use of his position to expedite an amount more than what should be granted, he even personally asked for the immediate process of the release of funds,” the complaint said.

“His act were very discriminatory in nature as the amount endorsed by respondent cannot be availed of by any other patient applicant…” it added.

Maliksi is sued for the criminal offense of violating Sections 3(a) and 3(j) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and the administrative offense of violating Section 4(a) and 4(c) of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Section 3(a) of the anti-graft law considers as corrupt the act of persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulation, while Section 3(j) considers corrupt the act of knowingly approving or granting any license, permit, privilege or benefit in favor of an unqualified person.

Meanwhile, Section 4(a) of the Code of Conduct requires public officials to uphold public interest over personal interest, while Section 4(c) require them to act with justness and sincerity and not discriminate against anyone, especially the poor and underprivileged.

Maliksi earlier faced a graft case before the Sandiganbayan stemming from an allegedly irregular procurement of medicines worth P2.5 million in 2002. But the court threw out the case for the Ombudsman’s inordinate delay in filing the case. TVJ

READ: Graft rap vs ex-Cavite governor dismissed over Ombudsman’s ‘inordinate delay’