Palace: No hanky-panky in using calamity funds

Malacañang on Saturday sought to allay fears that it may exploit the state of calamity in Mindanao to divert funds meant for power generation to its candidates’ campaign kitties. But presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo hit back at politicians raising such fears, saying they are already exploiting the situation by making power crisis a political issue. “Meron tayo sa national government na Procurement Transparency Group (PTG). Ito ay binubuo ng mga ahensya ng gobyerno at civil society, pati the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines ... May civil society at private observer sa lahat na procurement sa bids and awards committee ng national government (The national government has a Procurement Transparency Group, which is composed of representatives from civil society groups, government agencies and even the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. So there will always be observers from the CBCP and civil society in the government’s bids and awards committee)," Saludo said on government-run dzRB radio. The PTG was created through Executive Order 662-A on Nov. 15, 2007. Government members include the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Justice, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of Interior and Local Government. Some of its members come five non-government organizations. Aside from the group, Saludo also said the Palace encourages non-government organizations, Church groups and the media to monitor the releases of calamity funds. “Hindi bulag ang ating taumbayan (Our people are not blind). (We welcome) constructive criticisms from all sides," he said. “We expect civil society to make sure the funds go to where they should go," he added. But Saludo also said the government agencies concerned should make sure the funds are used quickly and efficiently, as both business and the forthcoming elections are affected by the power crisis. According to him, addressing the situation quickly will not only ease the problems of residents in Mindanao, it will also allay fears of the possibility that the automated elections will disrupted. On Friday, presidential bets warned against the use of calamity funds for election purposes following the declaration of a state of calamity over Mindanao due to the power shortage there.[see: Presidential bets warn vs use of calamity funds for polls] Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III said the public should monitor how the funds will be used to ease the impact of the power shortage. Senator Richard Gordon also said the government should have laid down its specific plans on how the funds would be spent to address the power shortage. Former President Joseph Estrada warned of the country having a repeat of paying for unused electricity contracted from independent power producers during the Ramos administration. Speedy release of funds Saludo said local governments must cooperate to make sure the release of calamity funds will be speedy, by preparing the needed documents. He said these include the contracts or at least quotations for additional generating capacity. In Manila, he said the Department of Budget and Management will process such requests for funds as quickly as possible. He said that local governments need to produce copies of contracts or quotations for power generation if they want the funds released quickly. On our part, the DBM is ready to act speedily. Palace strikes back On the other hand, Saludo hit back at politicians who he said are trying to turn the situation to their political advantage, especially with the elections nearing. “Hindi natin aalisin sa kandidato ng opposition na uulitin yan dahil yan ay nadidiyaryo (We expect candidates especially from the opposition to repeatedly use this as a campaign issue because they can get good media mileage out of this)," he said. He said that this is the time for politicians to come out with smear efforts just so they can land in the media. Meanwhile, he said government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture are already on the job to help farmers affected by the droughts caused by the El Niño phenomenon.—LBG, GMANews.TV