Bishops face Senate blue ribbon panel

Arriving on a Coaster van, the prelates who supposedly requested and received sports utility vehicles (SUVs) from the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Wednesday faced for the first time the Senate blue ribbon committee. Among those present during Wednesday's hearing were:

• Bishop Rodolfo F. Beltran, DD (Apostolic Vicariate Bontoc-Lagawe)
• Bishop Leopoldo C. Juacian, SVD, DD (Diocese of Bangued, Abra)
• Most Rev. Martin S.Jumoad, DD (Roman Catholic Prelate of Isabela,Basila)
• Bishop Juan de Dios M. Pueblos (Diocese of Butuan)
• Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo OMI (Archdiocese of Cotabato)
• Archbishop Romulo G. Valles, DD (Zamboanga Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate)

During the panel's first hearing, PCSO chair Margie Juico said the charity fund's previous board had granted Quevedo's vehicle request for the Diocese of Abra and Bontoc but they could not determine what type of vehicles were donated to them because these were not liquidated. On the other hand, she said Jumoad received funding for a Mitsubishi Strada; Pueblos a Montero Sport; the Archdiocese of Cotabato a Toyota Grandia; and the Archdiocese of Caritas Nueva Segovia an Isuzu Crosswind. It was also revealed that Pueblos had personally written to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ask for the Montero Sport as a gift for his 66th birthday. On Monday, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) apologized to the public for the SUV controversy. On Wednesday, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III assured the prelates linked to the controversy that the chamber does not intend to malign or discredit anyone, whether he be a member of the Church or not. "Magtiwala po tayo na ang proseso ng ating Senado ay patas sa lahat (Let us trust that the process in the Senate is fair for all)," he said. Also present during the day's hearing was Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban B. Conejos Jr., who was accused of having received PCSO intelligence funds used as blood money for four overseas Filipino workers who were on death row in Saudi Arabia. Commission on Audit Commissioner Heidi L. Mendoza was also present. — LBG, GMA News