Loi, Jinggoy cleared in PCSO fund mess

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee cleared yesterday First Lady Luisa "Loi" Ejercito and her son, San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, of charges that they misused Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., committee chairman, said there was "no evidence showing any irregular, unlawful or inordinate diversion" of PCSO charity funds to the Office of the President or the projects of the First Lady and Jinggoy.

The committee also noted that all allocations to the offices or projects of the First Family had been duly approved by the PCSO board.

"There is no evidence, likewise, to indicate that the President, the First Lady or Mayor Estrada has misused, misspent, let alone misappropriated any amount allocated to their offices, projects or activities by the PCSO," a report of the committee said.

It also concluded that there was nothing irregular or illegal, nor was there any political motivation in the distribution of PCSO-funded ambulances by the League of Mayors of the Philippines to various towns through Jinggoy, who is LMP president.

The committee also noted that the recipients of the ambulances were mostly financially strapped towns, whose mayors were mainly oppositionists.

"More, it has been shown that the distribution of ambulances through the LMP had been the practice of past administrations," the seven-page report said.

Pimentel said a key recommendation of the committee seeks to amend the PCSO charter to ban funding requests from the PCSO by members of Congress and local government units or officials.

Another proposed amendment to the PCSO charter would limit the amount of percentage that may be allocated to the office or projects of the President or the First Lady "so as not to prejudice the regular charities or beneficiaries."

The senators pointed out that the PCSO does not seem to have a clear-cut policy in the allocation or grant of its charity funds, as noted by former PCSO chairwoman Cecilia Muñoz-Palma.

Sr. Christine Tan, a former PCSO director, had previously criticized the disproportionate distribution or allocation of PCSO funds between the regular charities or beneficiaries, on the one hand, and the Office of the President, the projects of the First Lady and requests of the politicians on the other, to the prejudice of the former.

The committee investigation showed that P430 million in PCSO funds allocated for the Office of the President and the projects of the First Lady and some congressmen has not been entirely released, but only authorized for release.

The committee noted that the PCSO charter does not specify the persons, entities or institutions that are to receive funding from the agency, but its board has full authority to act on funding requests.

The Blue Ribbon Committee urged the PCSO board to set standards or guidelines in the donation of ambulances and to observe the priority it has set in the grant of requests for PCSO funding or financial assistance.

"The PCSO board should participate actively in the evaluation of applications for ambulance submitted by municipalities instead of merely leaving the entire process to the LMP and just mechanically approve the recommendations," the committee stressed.