President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has reverted to the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) the handling of the President's Social Fund (PSF) that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo placed directly under the control of her office in 2002. Through Memorandum Order No. 1, dated July 14, Aquino authorized the PMS to "to oversee the management and administration of the PSF," which is also known as the president's "pork barrel." The memorandum was signed by Aquino and Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa Jr. The PMS is headed by Julia Abad, Aquino's chief of staff when he was in the Senate. The PSF is sourced from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) earnings. Under Aquino's order, the PMS has the authority to do the following:
Undertake the final review of all requests for assistance from the funds and submit recommendations on the requests to the president; Sign Memoranda of Agreement/Deeds of Donation covering projects and/or requests approved by the president for assistance from the PSF; Receive remittances for the PSF and accept donations to the same; Approve requests for revision of project specifications, project alignments, and utilization of savings and/or unused funds of projects assisted by the PSF; and Disburse vouchers to authorize payments for projects approved by the president for assistance; Sign and release checks covering fund releases from the PSF; and Issue the appropriate guidelines to implement" MO No. 1. MO No. 1 also repealed and modified all previous presidential issuances that are "contrary or inconsistent" with its provisions. According to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the PSF was under the control of the PMS during the administrations of the late former president Corazon Aquino until the administration of deposed president Joseph Estrada. On March 15, 2002, however, then president Arroyo ordered the funds transferred to the Office of the President through Memorandum Order No. 56. The PCIJ said the PSF amounted to P1.09 billion at the time of the transfer. — Jam Sisante/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
