Senate panel committee recommends plunder charge vs Arroyo, former PCSO boss

MANILA, Philippines—The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has recommended plunder and technical malversation charges against former President  Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Rosario Uriarte for the disbursement of P325 million in confidential intelligence funds from 2008 until the months leading to the 2010 elections.

Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo confers a presidential medal of merit on Rosario Uriarte, then vice chairman and general Manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, during the state gaming corporation’s 75th anniversary in 2009. EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER

In a 124-page report, the committee said Uriarte on several occasions approached Arroyo directly in Malacañang to ask for the release of “special funds” to help the agency conduct intelligence operations related to “bomb threat, kidnapping, destabilization and terrorism” when its core services were the distribution of free medicines to indigent patients and providing medical assistance to poor individuals and deserving institutiions.

The Senate committe also noted that Arroyo’s signature appeared on the margins of Uriarte’s disbursement request letters, an indication of her approval of the release of hefty sums that ranged from P25 million to P150 million that Uriarte asked in early 2010.

The committee said Uriarte could not produce receipts and other liquidation documents that would justify the use of at least P244 million of the funds released to her.