Miriam sees PR man’s hand in ‘Pajero bishops’ issue

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday said a certain public relations practitioner, whom she refused to identify, was responsible for blowing up the issue on Catholic bishops who received vehicle donations from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). "I understand that there is a certain PR practitioner [who] has been going the rounds at least in the print media, emphasizing the bishop controversy. That is my understanding," Santiago told reporters after she delivered her statement during Wednesday's Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the issue. PCSO director Aleta Tolentino had earlier said that according to a Commission Audit report, P6.9 million of PCSO's funds were allocated for the purchase of utility vehicles, supposedly for the Archdiocese of Cotabato, Zamboanga, Caritas Nueva Segovia, Basilan, and Butuan, from February to July 2009. The prelates were dubbed as the "Pajero bishops," although it was later revealed that the Church officials did not receive Pajeros but different utility vehicles that were supposedly used for their charity work and other missions. The senators on Wednesday then scolded PCSO chair Margie Juico for supposedly saying that the prelates received Pajeros. Santiago said the PR practitioner was probably behind the propaganda against the bishops. "If someone can make this basic unintelligible mistake as calling the SUVs Pajeros when none is a Pajero at all, then that can only mean that perhaps a PR practitioner designed this entire program," she said. She explained that the person behind the Pajero propaganda probably wanted to cover up the billions in government funds that were abused and wasted. "They are trying to cover up bigger multi-billion peso anomalies in the PCSO and PAGCOR, and they have conveniently found a scapegoat in the CBCP because, you know, it makes a sensational headline," she said. "We’re barking up the wrong tree. Why the emphasis on P7 million when there are billions that on the surface were apparently abused and wasted by these officials? Why are we being led this path? Who is manipulating the scenarios?" she added. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News