Juico opens can of worms on PGMA-PCSO collusion with politicians, media allies

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chair Margarita Juico said her legal team at the PCSO unearthed records showing how former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allegedly used the agency’s multi-billion peso funds for political patronage, to boost the clout of her allies in Congress, and line the pockets of her friends in media.

Juico said that she planned to submit her findings that showed how funds meant for charity were allegedly diverted in the form of endowments to favored politicians and commissions to media personalities, in a plunder case that can be filed against the current Pampanga representative and in a complaint that can be submitted to the dismantled Truth Commission.

The Supreme Court, through a majority vote, has ruled the creation of the commission as unconstitutional and as violative of the equal protection clause that guarantees due process for anybody accused of a crime. Malacañang has appealed the ruling, saying previous fact-finding commissions were created in past governments.

Juico said the paper trail showed how Arroyo allagedly lavished PCSO funds on her allies in Congress who stayed with her at the height of the “Hello Garci’’ election cheating scandal, and the resignation of her Cabinet dubbed the “Hyatt 10” in 2005.

“Most of these congressmen were those who voted against her impeachment, she used it a like a pork barrel,’’ said Juico.

She said the favored representatives were reportedly given PCSO charity funds between P20 million and P55 million that they could assign to their preferred hospitals as an endowment fund of P5 million each.

“If any of their constituents fall ill or need medical attention, they endorse them to hospitals with their endowment funds. That’s political patronage,’’ said Juico who said that the favoritism was also manifested in the PCSO’s distribution of ambulances.

Juico said Arroyo reportedly chose to give PCSO funds based on the loyalty of lawmakers, and not on the actual need of their districts. She pointed out that not one of the poorest districts in the country that deserved Arroyo’s support obtained any endowment fund during her term. “Why give to select congressmen? Why is there political mapping?” asked Juico.

Juico claimed that the favors given to politicians coincided with the rising number of spurious medical claims in PCSO. She pointed out the P2.6-million claim for the kidney transplant, angioplasty and heart bypass operation done on a certain “Imelda Antonio” in February to March 2010.

She said PCSO has refused to pay for these kind of claims and reimbursements because of lack of documentation. “If we pay for these dubious claims, the COA will run after us,” said Juico.

Aside from politicians, Juico said Arroyo allegedly showed her preference for select media personalities who were getting hefty cuts from PCSO’s ad placements in their radio programs or television shows or newspaper advertising space. She said these ad agencies that got between 40 percent and 50 percent of the ad budget, were actually put up by media personalities themselves to allegedly facilitate their juicy commissions.

Juico claimed this racket was perpetrated by PCSO’s PR Manager Manuel Garcia who was fired last March after a dozen years in that position. She said there were PCSO checks issued to media block-timers that found their way into Garcia’s bank accounts. “He got the PCSO checks, and deposited them in his account. He never thought he’d get caught until we got the return checks,’’ said Juico.

She said Garcia, who reportedly has a logging concession in Papua New Guinea, had “connections’’ in Congress being the son-in-law of a former Pangasinan representative. He once obtained a medical certificate from the House of Representatives to justify his application for a one-year leave of absence. “We did not honor it (medical certificate) so we dropped him from the rolls,’’ said Juico. “We’re still trying to establish whether he had links with former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo but so far, I’m not convinced.’’

She accused Arroyo of filling up the board with so many media personalities, a fact that could explain why the PCSO’s advertising budget grew exponentially from only P319 million in 2001 to P1.7 billion in 2010, an election year. The PCSO directors in the last two years were Manuel “Manoling” L. Morato; Jose Taruc, V; Raymundo T. Roquero; and Ma. Fatima A.S. Valdes.

As early as 2005, the Commission on Audit already warned PCSO not only about its unusually high ad expenses (it said that being a monopoly business, a reduction in ad expenses would hardly impact its sales) but also its practice of charging expenses to next year’s budget (which enabled it to hide the fact that it was losing P89 million as early as 2003).

In the 2005 report, COA said PCSO’s accumulated deficit of nearly P1 billion should have been reduced had it cut its ad expenses. Juico claimed that when the Arroyo board left in July 2010, PCSO’s accumulated debts had reached a staggering P4 billion.

Juico said that among the promotion deals that perplexed PCSO management was how the agency could have lost P77 million for its P75 million diamond anniversary sweepstakes draw in 2009. Based on her experience, Juico said that the PCSO was hostaged by some “vicious’’ media personalities. “If you pull out their ad, you become fair game,’’ said Juico who made a review of all ad contracts and terminated many ad placements in the process.

Juico said that she even received a letter from an Arroyo ally in Congress asking her to maintain the endowment funds that he has been getting in the past administration. “The letter writer claimed that since they were in the minority, the more they would need access to these endowment funds,’’ said Juico who refused to name the Arroyo ally in the House.