Palace officials yesterday admitted before a panel of
senators that the $718.9 million or P35 billion of the
Marcos money allotted for human rights victims will
dry up this year, two years after it had been
transferred to the national government.
Of the amount, only P13 billion is left, prompting
senators to pursue an investigation on the matter,
alleging that most of it had been used in the
fertilizer fund scam as they found highly suspect the
timing of the fund releases during the election
period.
Sen. Joker Arroyo accused the administration of having
juggled the Marcos money called Fund 158 which is
intended for the acquisition of the land to be
distributed to Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP) beneficiaries. It was discovered that the funds
were claimed by the Palace to have been spent on
salaries and on farm-to-market roads.
Sen. Arroyo’s assertion came after the Senate
Committee of the Whole, in tackling the proposed
appropriations this year of
the Department of Budget and Management (DBM),
inquired into the status of the fund as there had been
testimonies during the fertilizer scam hearing that
part of the Marcos money was used in funding farmers’
farm inputs in 2004.
Senate President Franklin Drilon initiated the inquiry
where he was told that the remaining P5 billion for
victims of atrocities of the Marcos regime is
“practically gone.”
Drilon was informed that for this year, the required
financing to complete the CARP would be P16 billion
and much of it would be sourced from the general fund
and the so-called Marcos wealth with the remaining P5
billion.
“Because you need P16 billion this year and you have
only theoretically P5 billion left, so it’s all
finished. The P35 billion is all spent,” Drilon said.
“Yes your honor...Practically gone, your honor...,” an
official from DBM responded.
The Senate chief was told by Budget Secretary Romulo
Neri that in the beginning balance of Jan. 30, 2004, a
total of $718.7 million or P35 billion was turned over
to the national government.
“What was the total release in 2004 from this (Fund)
158?” asked Drilon to which Neri replied: P17.8
billion.
Drilon questioned the timing of the release from the
supposed trust fund intended for CARP on April 24,
2004, less than a month before the presidential
elections.
Neri said that from April 26, 2004 to October last
year, a total of P8.8 billion was transferred to the
national government’s fund or the general fund.
While there was a total allotment for the purpose of
being used for the Fund 158, there were no actual
releases in 2004, only cash releases for Special
Allotment Release Order (SARO).
Palace officials explained that in actual mechanism,
when they release actual cash, they use the general
fund first and then have this replenished by the
Marcos money.
“Can we set aside technicalities first...We just want to
know because we’re jammed, if you have P13.1 billion
in SARO, that means it’s committed?” Drilon asked.
“It is committed your honor,” the DBM official said.
“So for the purpose of accounting, just for purposes
of our discussion, out of the P35 billion in 2004,
P13.2 billion was committed,” noted Drilon.
The Senate chief was later informed that in 2005,
there was another set of allotments released and yet
no additional funding came in for the said Fund 158.
“So under 158 account, we can say that for the whole
year of 2005, the total balance is P22 billion,”
Drilon said.
The Senate chief was then told that total allotment
releases in 2005 under Fund 158 totaled P8.9 billion
in the form of SARO to finance programs other than the
Marcos wealth beneficiaries.
With the remaining P13 billion, Drilon was told by
Neri that P8 billion is being set aside for the human
rights violations victims while P5 billion is intended
to be used this year for the CARP program.
Both Drilon and Sen. Arroyo commented P10 billion
would be given to the human rights victims, under a
proposed legislation.
“The government, DBM and the finance officials cannot
make a categorical statement that the P10 billion
earmarked for human rights victims is really intact
and it won’t be touched in case of emergency. They
just say it’s a special fund but they don’t give us
the assurance that just in case the government needs
money, they won’t get it. No definite answer.
“Before it was P10 billion. Now it’s P8 billion. We
want them to create a trust fund than say it’s a
special fund. They say they have it but we’re not
comfortable with the statement that the amount is
really secure,” the senators said.