“Our senators should leave the issue to the proper investigating bodies, such as the Office of the Ombudsman.”
by Ducky Paredes
Let us get one thing clear: The probable crime of retired Police Director Eliseo dela Paz is a world apart from the probable crime of former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante.
At worst, Dela Paz “borrowed” money under his care and for which he was solely responsible. He “borrowed” the equivalent of 105,000 euros from that intelligence fund. He must, when confronted, show that all the money under his care and responsibility is intact and available for the next PNP Comptroller.
Dela Paz informed the senators during last Saturday’s joint hearing of the foreign relations committee and blue ribbon committee that the Russian authorities will soon turn over the money to the Philippine government.
Dela Paz converted P6.93 million drawn from the PNP’s intelligence fund to 105,000 euros before leaving for the trip to Moscow last month. The former comptroller was questioned by Russian authorities after the undeclared amount of euros was found in his possession as he was about to go through the final boarding gate at the Moscow airport.
His lawyer, Roel Malaya, said last week that Dela Paz’s Russian lawyer, Alex Binetskiy, had informed him that the 105,000 euros “will be returned immediately.” The remittance of the money back to the PNP was being facilitated, said Binetskiy, by a certain Capt. E. Rudenko.
When the Russian side has actually returned the money, that ought to be the end of that. When that happens, what Senator Gringo Honasan unearthed regarding the handling of intelligence funds ought to be thought over and changes in the law should be considered. (Gringo seemed the only senator who was actually interested in pursuing the De la Paz investigation “in aid of legislation.” He was actually the only senator who was into how such incidents could be prevented.)
Our senators should leave the issue to the proper investigating bodies, such as the Office of the Ombudsman, which is actually set this week to kick off its own probe of the Moscow incident.
After conducting two hearings on the issue, it has now become clear to our Senators that Dela Paz bears the full responsibility for the fund mess.
In his testimony before the Senate, Dela Paz said he got the P6.93 million in cash from Senior Supt. Tomas Rentoy III, who is budget division chief of the PNP Director for Comptrollership and the designated Special Disbursing Officer for the travel allowances of police personnel.
As Commission on Audit chief Reynaldo Villar himself noted during the Senate hearing, there is a need to change the system within the PNP (and other government agencies) that allows officials like Dela Paz to be both the requesting and approving party in the release of the funds involved, being the then PNP comptroller.
But despite the overwhelming evidence all pointing to Dela Paz as the sole culprit—topped by his own admission of culpability—Senate probers were in no mood to let the issue rest. Instead they railed at what Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago described as a “bigger conspiracy” with Dela Paz as a fall guy covering up for those above him in the food chain.
When will these senators realize that what needs legislating is how intelligence funds should be handled. Period. There is no “parallelism” (a Senator’s word) between De la Paz and Joc-Joc. Bolante is covering up while De la Paz is taking responsibility for the whole thing.
P6.93 million is definitely a lot less than P728 million, more so when one considers that the 105,000 euros equivalent to the P6.93 million will be remitted back to the PNP by Russian authorities while the P728 million, or most of it, has been lost already in overpriced liquid fertilizer purportedly given to ghost farmer-beneficiaries four years ago.
Unlike Bolante, Dela Paz did not flee the country to dodge a Senate investigation. De la Paz volunteered to testify during the second hearing after the Supreme Court failed to rule on the motion for a TRO.
Also, while Bolante professed innocence and even blamed other agriculture executives for the P728-million scam, Dela Paz, from the beginning, owned up to the Moscow fiasco. Moreover, his admission of guilt had been corroborated during the Senate hearing by the three Camp Crame finance officers who have had a hand in withdrawing the intelligence funds on his direct orders.
* * *
When I was in government, I always worried about the intelligence funds under my care. All one needs to do – at the end of a quarter – is to type out a one-page confirmation that the funds under your care were spent for the purposes for which they were intended. You sign it and your superior signs it. And, that’s it!
In my case, the President signed as the superior. That made me nervous. I was always ready with a full report of where all the money went in the event that she would ever want to know how the money was spent. I never had to show that report to anyone.
# # # #
hvp 11.18.08)
Post a Comment