All The President's Fund

Posted by: Isa Lorenzo | October 19, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Filed under: Arroyo Impeachment, Governance, In the News

NOW that Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya has denied that the funds used for “cash gifts” and “tokens” to local officials came from the national budget, many are wondering where the money could have come from.

Some have suggested that the money came from the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) which promptly issued a denial, saying that it doesn’t have access to such a big amount of money. Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said that the money came from the Office of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., which the latter also denied.

Speculations have formed around the Office of the President, which has one of the biggest budgets in the bureaucracy. This year the budget amounted to about P3.8 billion, according to Andaya, who also denied that the money came from the Office of the President.

If Andaya is to be believed, then the money may have come from the as-yet-unknown benefactor/s’ private funds, something which is no less disturbing. Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio has said that the money was withdrawn from the Bank of Commerce.

WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?

P500,000 Amount of ‘cash gift’ received by some local officials at Malacañang

238 Number of congressmen and governors who attended meetings at Malacañang

7 Number of local officials who have admitted receiving money

P119 MILLION Total amount of money received by local officials (assuming each received P500,000)

The President draws her confidential and intelligence funds from the budget allotted to her office for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE.) These funds include amounts from savings authorized by special provisions to be used for intelligence and counter-intelligence activities and are released only upon approval of the President.

Confidential and intelligence funds, along with other discretionary funds, do not undergo the usual auditing procedures. Instead, a quarterly report on the accomplishments in the use of confidential and intelligence funds is submitted to the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chairman of the Commission on Audit.

There is also the executive’s “pork barrel” under the President’s Social Fund which are sourced from earnings of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to help finance development projects. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) also contributes portions of its earnings to the Office of the President.

There are also lump-sum allocations falling under Special Purpose Funds which, although meant for the specific purposes they were appropriated, critics say, are vulnerable to presidential discretion. These include the National Unification Fund, Calamity Fund, Contingent Fund, E-Government Fund, and certain funds categorized under Allocations to Local Government Units such as the Kilos Asenso and Kalayaan Barangay Program Funds.

The Kilos Asenso Fund is the national government counterpart to support programs and projects of LGUs under the Kilos Asenso Movement. The fund is meant to finance construction of farm-to-market roads, small bridges, and day care centers; improvement of potable water supply; setting up or upgrading of micro-financed community livelihood enterprises; investments in agro-forestry projects; and other similar projects.

Funds under the Kalayaan Barangay Program, on the other hand, are financial assistance to barangays in conflict areas as identified by the Department of National Defense and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. These are to be used for livelihood projects and basic infrastructure works such as access roads, school buildings, water systems, electricity and medical facilities.

Lastly, there are unprogrammed funds in the national budget that are also under the discretion of the President. The release of the funds, however, is contingent on an excess in revenue collection targets.

FUNDS UNDER THE PRESIDENT’S DISCRETION

P650 million Confidential and Intelligence Funds

P9 billion Calamity Fund

P800 million Contingent Fund

P50 million National Unification Fund

P1 billion E-Government Fund

P1.7 billion Pagcor Social Fund and Intelligence Fund

P3 billion PCSO and Lotto Funds

P5 billion (2006) Kilos Asenso Support Fund

P3 billion (2006) Kalayaan Barangay Program Fund

P30.5 billion Unprogrammed Fund (Support for Infrastructure Projects and Social Programs)

Sources: DBM, House of Representatives

In 2005, the PCIJ revealed that Arroyo issued postdated checks to support the pet projects of favored legislators and other questionable projects.

Three postdated checks worth P15 million were released from the President’s Social Fund to the Department of Education (DepEd). Although the DepEd was listed as a payee, the A.M. Diaz Scholarship Program of then Zambales representative Antonio Magsaysay Diaz was printed on the back of the checks.

Then, DepEd sources suspected that the fund releases were tied to Palace maneuvers to kill the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

With another impeachment complaint looming on the horizon, could history be repeating itself?