EDITORIAL

Givers of PCSO Fund Must Bear Heavy Penalty,

Not Recipients

Sen. Chiz Escudero has urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take cognizance of the pieces of information revealed at the Senate inquiries into the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) fund mess.
　

The second Senate hearing last week unearthed damaging information that implicated former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte admitted that she was able to draw additional funds for intelligence operations of the agency, which were later found, at the course of the inquiry, to have been misappropriated and used for questionable or non-existent projects.
　

Uriarte told the Senate panel that portions of the agency’s intelligence fund were diverted to relief operations and "blood money" donations to Filipino workers facing death sentences in the Middle East.
　

All the disbursements, Uriarte admitted, were approved by Arroyo.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the DOJ should seriously look into Uriarte’s testimonies considering that her statements were given under oath and now a matter of public record.

"I leave it with the DOJ to decide on the matter but I hope they will consider the merits and the weight of the testimonies. The PCSO has been used as a promoter of patronage politics by the past administration and as such it has become a source of injustice and inequality in the use and distribution of its charity fund," Escudero pointed out.

The senator said under the Revised Penal Code both Arroyo and Uriarte may be liable for malversation of public funds.

"At the very least, they could be charged with malversation of public funds given that they used government money for a purpose, however noble, other than what the fund was intended for," the senator argued.
　

He stressed "personal gain" was neither shown nor proven during the hearing to make the liability plunder, the staggering amounts of the said intelligence funds exceeded P50 million notwithstanding. With these revelations, the PCSO charter must be revisited and made true to its purpose and mandate by amending certain provisions that have been abused in the past.

The PCSO should ensure a more equitable distribution of its allotment after issues relating to fund misuse and unfair allocation were discovered in the agency.
　

Escudero during the Senate inquiry into the PCSO fund mess that centers on the vehicles and cash allegedly given to Catholic bishops allegedly close to the previous administration recommended the country’s premiere charity institution should come up with strict and clear guidelines on how funding will be equitably and judiciously distributed among areas where assistance is actually needed.

"Based on these discoveries mostly culled from Commission on Audit (COA) reports, the PCSO is used as a pork barrel by the past sitting president, favored only a selected few. The PCSO　is meant to service health programs, medical services and charities of national character, totally inclusive of all Filipinos in need of assistance and not only exclusive to those who fall on the good side of the sitting president," Escudero pointed out.

The new PCSO administration is pushing to clean the house. This upstart should be coupled with a strong dynamics of equitable distribution of funds utilizing existing system. Escudero asked the PCSO to provide the guidelines on how decisions on medical assistance and grants are made.

"We can use the census and our labor force survey to identify the extent and magnitude of poor families by areas. The PCSO can use this to target and to reach the most number of people in the provinces too and extend its services," the senator said.
　

At the course of the hearing, Escudero asked PCSO officials the manner and equity of their fund distribution. The PCSO officials admitted that out of the 79 provinces in the country, it only has 29 offices located nationwide.

"This should not be the case anymore as it is again a reminder of the "Imperial Manila" syndrome where most of the services and grants are accessible only to the people in the metropolis," reminded Escudero.

"The poor and sick people are not concentrated only in certain parts of the country. We have them all over the country. I believe that the 29 offices of PCSO nationwide have pre-identified the poorest areas where fund allocation and disburse-ment are most needed, like the ARMM and majority of Mindanao," Escudero explained.

A dynamic system is partly a matter of being able to allocate to the right areas and performing post, and checking if assistance was indeed distributed. "The PCSO must rely on a matching system for it to be able to prioritize or have a notion of where charity must be distributed," said Escudero. The PCSO officials whose function is fund allocation must bear penalty and not the receivers who cannot choose like the bishops. /MP