By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated October 29, 2010
MANILA, Philippines – Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman may be headed for rough waters in the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).
“She may face rough sailing in the CA depending on our inquiry into the PEACe (poverty eradication and alleviation certificate) bonds floated in 2001 and which involved her,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez told the Serye Café’ news forum yesterday.
He said if there were irregularities in the bond floatation, she would definitely have a hard time winning confirmation for her appointment.
“She would also have to explain who benefited from the P1.4 billion in commissions,” Rodriguez said.
When the bonds were floated, Soliman was working for a non-government organization (NGO), which proposed the floatation reportedly as a way of raising funds for the poor.
Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, representative of the party-list group Abante Mindanao, have filed a resolution seeking a House inquiry into the issuance of the bonds.
The Cagayan de Oro lawmaker said he has asked Iloilo Rep. Jerry Trenas, who chairs the committee on good government, to set a hearing upon the resumption of the congressional session on Nov. 8.
Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, on the other hand, said he asked Soliman about the bonds during the recent hearings on the proposed P1.6-trillion 2011 budget, but was not satisfied with her answers.
“They could not sufficiently explain why the government would pay P37 billion for bonds worth only P10 billion. They could not tell us who benefited from the P1.4-billion in commissions,” he said.
Suarez said he received information that P800 million of the P1.4 billion went to the non-government organization Soliman worked for.
“The money was supposed to be distributed to poor beneficiaries. Who are they?” he said, adding that it is not clear who pocketed the remaining P600 million.
There have been proposals that the Truth Commission include the PEACe bonds in its projected inquiry into anomalies involving the Arroyo administration.
Malacañang officials have said that President Aquino won’t stop the commission from investigating Soliman and Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles, who was also involved in the bond floatation project.
Soliman, Deles and other senior officials quit the Arroyo Cabinet in July 2005 at the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal on vote rigging in the 2004 presidential election.
NGO’s welcomes probe
The alliance of NGOs dragged in the PEACe Bonds controversy welcomed the calls for investigation on alleged irregularities, even as it tagged the allegations as merely political and aimed at attacking the integrity of Soliman and Deles.
Sixto Donato Macasaet, executive director of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), said the legitimacy of the PEACe bonds had been questioned in the past but they were already deemed aboveboard.
“Now it is being linked to Secretary Dinky and Secretary Ging. The issue is being resurrected because of their appointment. Apparently some people don’t want their appointment. From the past until now, nothing has changed with the PEACe bonds, except that Dinky and Ging were appointed,” Macasaet said during a press conference yesterday.
According to CODE-NGO, Deles never served as one of its board members. The group she belonged to prior to joining the government was not even a member of CODE-NGO or any of its networks.
Soliman, on the other hand, served as CODE-NGO chairperson from July 1998 to January 2001, prior to the design and auction of the bonds.
The group said that the Peace and Equity Foundation, which was set up to preserve and manage the income derived from the sale of the PEACe bonds in the financial market, has helped fund potable water systems, livelihood programs, social enterprises and renewable energy projects.
“The PEACe bonds has since been lauded internationally as an innovative means of raising resources for the poverty reduction programs of non-government and people’s organizations,” CODE-NGO said in a statement.
The group said both chambers of Congress have investigated the PEACe bonds in 2002 and both failed to find any evidence of impropriety.
“We look forward to a transparent and independent investigation by the Truth Commission to put closure to this rehashed issue which critics are now using to attack personalities who were not even involved.”
House will also scrutinize CCT
Meanwhile, Soliman said she welcomes the move of the House of Representatives to form an oversight committee to look into the disbursement of the P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.
“I do not see a problem with the creation of an oversight committee. It is their right and their responsibility to make sure that the money is spent well,” Soliman said.
She did not give suggestions on how the committee would conduct itself and only hoped that they would do the task effectively, adding that the committee is an independent group and would fulfill its obligation.
It was earlier reported that the House intends to insert special provisions in the P1.64-trillion national budget that would allow them to form a committee to check on how the CCT fund would be utilized.
More than 100 lawmakers signed a resolution calling for the transformation of the oversight committee to monitor the spending of the huge allocation for the DSWD.
The CCT is considered as one of the flagship projects under the Aquino administration. It was said that an estimated 2.3 million poor families stand to benefit from the program.
Under the program, the beneficiaries would be given as much as P1,400 subsidy every month, for the next 10 months. In return, their children would have to continue attending classes and that their mothers undergo regular check-ups in government health centers.
Cavite Rep. Jose Emilio Abaya reportedly said that the formation of the oversight committee and the specific earmarking of unused CCT funds are meant to allay fears of misuse and wastage of the allocation.
Lawmakers felt that the CCT allocation was made at the expense of several agencies and institutions such as the National Food Authority and state colleges and universities.
In line with this, the House will keep intact President Aquino’s P21-billion CCT program and the P15-billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) tucked in various government departments as lawmakers work on amendments to the P1.64-trillion national budget for next year.
Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, noted that the chamber’s leadership is already putting in special provisions to monitor the implementation of the CCT to allay fears of corruption.
Abaya heads a five-man panel working on amendments to the national budget approved by the chamber earlier this month.
Abaya said the CCT and the PPP are flagship programs that are needed for the delivery of social services and to generate investments. – With Evelyn Macairan, Reinir Padua, Paolo Romero
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