Lacson: PCSO funds used for Gloria '04 campaign posters

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Monday grilled former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Rosario Uriarte on why the agency granted funding for a non-government organization which prodded then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to run in the 2004 presidential elections. At the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on alleged anomalies at the PCSO, Lacson said the agency gave the group Gawin Natin Lakas Pinoy P2 million in 2003. The Gawin Natin Lakas Pinoy foundation, less than a year old at the time, was behind several "Run, Gloria Run!" posters plastered in many parts of the country. "Binigyan ninyo sila ng P2 million pero ang nangyari instead na gawin for charity, nagpagawa ng maraming posters (You gave them P2 million but what happened was it was not used for charity but for posters)," Lacson said, holding up a copy of the poster. Lacson also revealed that the person who requested the funding was Raul Nestor Ancheta, Uriarte's chief of staff and one of the incorporators of the foundation. "Wala po ba kayong due diligence para malaman kung papunta talaga sa charity? Maski san ko pong anggulong tingnan, wala po akong makitang charitable purpose (Don't you have due diligence to know if this money went to charity? No matter how I look at it, it wasn't used for charitable purposes)," he said. Uriarte, however, said she could not remember the transaction with the NGO. "Hindi ko na po siya matandaan... ang usual binibigay po namin medical at charity (I don't remember, but we usually give funding to medical missions and charity)," she said. Lacson likewise asked why funds requested from the PCSO for the purchase of ambulances in 2003 were used for a motorcade. He added that the PCSO even provided a medical team for the event. Uriarte, however, also denied knowing anything about the matter. But she said that it was common for them to provide medical teams for development work. 2004 polls Arroyo was proclaimed the winner in the 2004 elections, getting 12,905,808 votes while her closest rival actor Fernando Poe Jr. got 11,782,232 votes. Poe claimed that Arroyo had robbed him of his electoral victory. He died on Dec. 14, 2004 but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the protest. In March 2005, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) dismissed the protest. During the same year, a taped conversation about alleged vote-rigging between a woman presumed to be Arroyo and a man presumed to be former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano surfaced. It became known as the “Hello Garci" controversy. Intelligence funds Uriarte had earlier revealed that she personally requested intelligence funds from then-President Arroyo, who promptly approved the requests. Senators, however, doubted the amount of the intelligence funds requested and approved by Mrs. Arroyo, which amounted to P325 million from 2008 to 2010. They specifically found suspicious the PCSO's request of P160 million in funds before the elections. In a subsequent hearing, it was likewise revealed that Uriarte encashed P102.5 million in PCSO funds from January to June 2010, also within the election period. She refused to reveal where the funds went. Last week, Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares filed graft and plunder cases against Mrs. Arroyo and Uriarte for allegedly diverting PCSO funds to “phantom" intelligence funds not subject to regular auditing. — RSJ/HS, GMA News