How not to spend public funds
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August 2, 2004
REP. Augusto "Jun" Baculio Jr. of Misamis Oriental's 2nd District needs to think of a way to convince us that he is not a tulisan. Baculio had better come up with a good explanation in connection with the reported P14-million graft case filed against him, his mayor-sister Emelita Almirante and other officials.
The graft case filed against Baculio and Co. is too serious the congressman cannot just dismiss the accusations as politically motivated charges.
The "politically motivated" defense is already a lumang tugtugin. I doubt if this kind of defense still works given that it has been used a trillion times by trapos. People know that this kind of defense is a copout of politicians who can't face some difficulty squarely. In most cases, it is a convenient excuse for corruption.
Let's just say that people with political motives were behind the graft case. So what? Does it mean Baculio and Co. did not steal? The issue here is not whether or not politicians who don't like Baculio were behind the graft case. Rather, the issue is on whether or not Baculio and Co. pocketed public funds intended for Misamis Oriental.
Based on newspaper reports, the accusations are:
* that Baculio and Co. spent P300 thousand for undelivered 21 thousand liters of crude and 125 gallons of engine oil supposedly for road projects in Gitagum, Initao and Claveria towns on March 5, 2002;
* that the congressman and other officials spent P500 thousand for undelivered 33,200 liters of crude and nine pails of engine oil on April 25, 2002, and that a similar transaction was made and consummated again on May 23, 2002;
* that El Salvador treasurer Elmer Pacuribot, with the green light of town Mayor Emelita Almirante, Baculio's sister, cash advanced P2.266 million from the congressman’s pork-barrel allocation for no specific purpose;
* that Baculio spent P3.9 million of his pork-barrel fund to give barangay officials mid-year bonuses;
* that Baculio paid a company P901,680 for the accident insurance coverage of 90,168 public school teachers and students in the province's 2nd District without a public bidding;
* that Baculio spent another P2.4 million to give similar insurance benefits to eight thousand barangay health workers;
* that Baculio gave a P250-thousand cash grant to the Lanise Farmers' Cooperative and P484 thousand as assistance to the Claveria Livestock Raisers' Cooperative; and
* that a P2.950-million fund supposedly given to the Claveria Livestock Raisers Cooperative is missing.
Baculio needs to explain how in hell can heavy equipment being used for a handful of road projects use up 87 thousand liters of crude, 125 gallons and 18 pails of engine oil.
How can Baculio allow a town treasurer, allegedly with the go-ahead of the congressman's sister, to cash advance over P2 million from his pork-barrel allocation?
Shouldn't mid-year bonuses intended for barangay officials be shouldered by local governments? Even if allowed by law, I don't see any logic in the release of nearly P4 million from the congressman's pork-barrel fund just to make a number of barangay officials happy.
And I doubt if a significant number of publicteachers, students and barangay health workers benefited from Baculio's P3,301,680-insurance coverage. Those who are familiar with insurance companies know how big commissions agents are getting from deals like this. The funds used to insure these people are not exactly money well spent.
I guess the people who voted for Baculio also want to know how the Lanise Farmers' Cooperative and the Claveria Livestock Raisers' Cooperative are using the P3,684,000 they got as "assistance" from the congressman. I hope the money was not used to buy goats for a Claveria farm owned by a Baculio man.
What is really questionable about livelihood assistance grants such as this is, the funds are not subject to government auditing.
No wonder Misamis Oriental's roads such as the one linking Youngsville to the highway in Opol town are becoming impassable. Officials are either buying the wrong things--spending taxpayers' money unwisely--or are squandering public funds for commissions.
Pastilan.
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