EDITORIAL – Fund misuse

Something good must come out of all these investigations into the way public funds are spent. At the very least, the probes should encourage public officials to be judicious in the use of taxpayers’ money. The probes should promote transparency and accountability, and lead to more effective oversight functions that play a vital role in a democracy.

These can happen only if those responsible for the misuse of public funds can be made to account for their offense. The administration cannot keep sweeping anomalies under the rug, and officials implicated in scandals should be compelled to return home and face their accusers.

Malacañang may claim that President Arroyo has no power over missing poll official Virgilio Garcillano since the Commission on Elections is an independent constitutional body. But what about agriculture officials responsible for the disbursement of fertilizer funds? For several months now there have been reports that the funds were diverted to the war chest of President Arroyo during the campaign last year. Now the Commission on Audit has finished reports pointing to the misuse of fertilizer funds mostly by pro-administration politicians. A COA audit showed that P544 million recovered from the Marcoses was added to the P2-billion fertilizer and farm input funds and released to politicians in the final weeks of the campaign.

How high does responsibility go? Resigned budget secretary Emilia Boncodin could not categorically tell the Senate the other day if President Arroyo was aware of the fund releases. Boncodin was sure only that the releases were requested by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, who — why isn’t anyone surprised? — has gone missing like Garcillano and former agriculture chief Luis Lorenzo.

Missing men tell no tales. But COA audit reports can be revealing, and cannot be retracted like the testimonies of coached or coerced witnesses. The administration must come clean on the use — or misuse — of fertilizer funds. It cannot brush aside the accusations by telling critics to go find Bolante and Lorenzo themselves. If the whole truth is not known and the culprits are allowed to get away with their crime, it won’t be the last time that public funds will be misspent. This can only erode the credibility of the administration. This in turn will erode the capability to govern.