Senate panel clears bishops

By Jill Beltran and Jonathan de Santos
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
MANILA — Sympathy shifted in favor of Catholic Church leaders Wednesday as senators said it was time to close the issue of improper donation of vehicles by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to seven bishops.
Senator Teofisto Guingona III, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chair, said there was “nothing irregular” about vehicles, including Mitsubishi Montero, that the PCSO donated to the church leaders.
The Commission on Audit (COA) questioned the donations because of a ban on using government money for religious purposes.
Guingona said, however, that the vehicles were used for secular outreach programs like bringing sick parishioners to the hospital.
He said the committee may call the bishops again if the ongoing probe into PCSO spending uncovers information to indicate more irregularities.
But Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who walked out of the session hall Wednesday morning, said the Senate should not be investigating the bishops at all.
She said the COA is only tasked with auditing government funds, and not to comment on the constitutionality of spending.
“That power is granted only to the Supreme Court. COA should have recommended that the constitutional issue should be raised with the Department of Justice, which is the official legal adviser of the executive branch of the government,” she said.
Santiago added the issue may have been used to cover up bigger irregularities in the PCSO fund.
She said the committee should recommend charges against PCSO officials who deposited P1.548 billion without approval from the Finance department.
Under the Department of Finance (DOF) Order 27-05, state firms need the permission of the Finance agency before putting money in banks other than the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
“Like the wanton world-class theft of public funds and conspicuous consumption generated by the road user’s tax, the PCSO anomaly is bodaciously corrupt. Keep the bishops out of it,” she said.
Malacanang, meanwhile, kept its hands off the issue.
“The investigation was started by the Senate. We defer to PCSO on its next course of action in light of the developments in today’s (Wednesday) Senate hearing,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
No Pajeros
Senators, meanwhile, directed their ire at PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juico, who was quoted in news reports as saying the bishops had received Mitsubishi Pajero sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
It was found during the hearings that although Butuan Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos bought a Montero, the other bishops bought simpler vehicles.
One bishop, Rodolfo Beltran of Bontoc-Lagawe, even bought a “second-hand 10-year-old Nissan Pathfinder pick-up,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the bishops were “unfairly accused of receiving expensive vehicles, which is rather incorrect.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada also wanted to find out where the allegations came from since, he said, as a devout Catholic, he was shocked when he heard about it.
Juico said she didn’t say that the bishops got Pajeros.
Estrada cited news reports, however, that quoted Juico saying former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave Pajeros to bishops.
PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said Juico might have been misquoted.
Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, speaking for the COA, said their report was very short and mentioned neither Pajeros nor names of bishops.
She said the COA only took note of the “unrelated expenses” from the PCSO charity fund.
She said the money was not supposed to be used for vehicles. Using the vehicles for outreach programs may justify the spending, she said.
But Santiago, in an interview outside the session hall, said the issue against the bishops may have been an orchestrated campaign.
She said a certain PR practitioner had been “going the rounds, at least in the print media, emphasizing the bishop controversy.” She said, however, that has yet to be confirmed.
“I respectfully move to investigate the source of the false report about the so-called ‘Pajero bishops,’ when it turns out that no Pajeros were involved. Who is this maleficent twisted genius?” she said.
Bishops return donated vehicles
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, speaking for other bishops criticized for accepting vehicles from the PCSO, said Wednesday that they will return the vehicles after apologizing for the pain and confusion they have given Filipino Catholics.
After reading an apology released by the CBCP earlier this week, he announced the vehicles will be given back to the PCSO.
He said the vehicles sent to dioceses in Mindanao are ready for turnover to the sweepstakes office.
The vehicles given to dioceses in Luzon were already outside the Senate building, he said.
The vehicles were received by PCSO assistant general manager Benigno Aguas on Wednesday afternoon.
PCSO chairperson Margarita Juico said the vehicles — two pickup trucks, an Isuzu Crosswind, and a Mitsubishi L300 van — will be sold and the money will be put in the PCSO charity fund.
Butuan Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos, who personally wrote then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009 to ask for a new 4×4 vehicle, admitted that doing so was a “lapse in judgment on (his) part.”
He said he had been motivated by the diocese’s need for a vehicle “that could withstand rigorous use.” He said he asked for the vehicle without malice.
Pueblos also confirmed that the Mitsubishi Montero donated by the PCSO was registered under his name. He said this does not mean that he owns the vehicle and that he cannot take it with him when he leaves his archdiocese.
Speaking after the Senate hearing on PCSO funds, Quevedo said the CBCP will review its rules for working with government agencies at a council meeting soon.
He said the Church will still help the government because “we serve the same constituency.”
He said, however, that they will have to change their rules on engagement with government agencies.
“The environment has changed,” he said.
Quevedo said Church leaders will have to be more careful “because of this scandal based on a false report.”
At the hearing were Beltran (Apostolic Vicariate Bontoc-Lagawe), Bishop Leopoldo Juacian (Diocese of Bangued, Abra) Bishop Martin Jumoad (Roman Catholic Prelate of Isabela, Basilan), and Archbishop Romulo Valles (Zamboanga Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate).
Archbishop Ernesto Salgado (Caritas Nueva Segovia) was out of the country. (Sunnex)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/07/13/senate-panel-clears-bishops-166708

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