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Friday, October 26, 2007
Guv still believes P500T was from Palace
By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio said he would continue to determine where the cash gift of P500,000 given to him through his chief of staff after a breakfast meeting in Malacañang really came from.
"After all that has happened, my conclusions point out that the money was illegally disbursed and I am fairly convinced that it came from the Palace," Panilio told a throng of supporters in a public consultation at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center here Wednesday night.
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The consultation focused on the issue of the "bribe money" and the equally controversial ordinance on "equitable sharing" of quarry resources (Ordinance 176). Civil society groups and around 700 representatives from different towns in the province attended the event.
"Tuklasan talapa nung nukarin la menibat reng perang areni (We have yet to find out where the money came from)," Panlilio said, adding that recent events prompted him to believe that pursuing his inquiry into its origin would lead to a fight against "patronage politics" and "corruption."
The money was handed to Panlilio's chief of staff, Archie Reyes, by Bulacan Governor Joselito Mendoza during a meeting of governors in Malacañang last October 11.
When reports of the cash giving broke out, it prompted an outcry from opposition leaders who wanted to know where the money came from and what it was for.
Panlilio had said he originally believed the money was intended for community projects but began to entertain doubts when Malacañang denied disbursing the money.
The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) on Monday said the money came from the group. More recently, though, LPP president and Misamis Occidental Governor Loreto Leo Ocampos told Sun.Star the leaders and members of Ulap and the LPP "strongly deny" allegations they were given cash by Malacañang last Thursday.
"The report that Governor Panlilio was given money was unknown to all of us. Maybe, just maybe, since he's the governor of Pampanga, the President's home province, he was given special attention," Ocampos said in a text message to reporters of Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
Panlilio said he was skeptical over LPP's admission and wondered why, if the money did come from the group, it took officers 12 days to make their admission.
Elmer Beltran of Abac na Balen, a civil society group in Pampanga, said the governor "should safe keep" the money until the time that its true origin is determined.
"Dapat salikut nala pamung Gob reng pera uling ebidensiya la ren at ela dapat misusubli anggang etala balu nung nula ibat. (The governor should place the money in a safe place because it is evidence and he should not return it until we are certain where they came from)," Beltran said.
He added that if the governor intends to use the funds he should utilize them for orphanage programs. "The governor must not use the money for projects, rather he should give these to social institutions so that he would not be branded as using illegal money."
Other people attending the consultation hold a similar view.
Antonio Valencia, 46, of Sta. Rita town, believes the governor should continue looking into the origin of the money. "He (the governor) must first find out if the money was intended for bribery or for tangible projects before even using it for any project," he said.
Fr. Resty Lumanlan of Porac Foundation Incorporated told reporters he believes the governor has been doing the right thing. "Before he could make a decision on the matter, he should first determine if the money came from good means," the priest said.
Governor Panlilio said he is still open to suggestions from various groups on what to do with the P500,000. "This is already a fight against patronage politics and corruption, it doesn't mean that it is tradition that we have to condone it," the priest-turned-governor added. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (October 26, 2007 issue)
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