|
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Roperos: ‘Illegal’ deposits
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
Now, it is getting clearer to me. Making illegal deposits of cash from the pork barrel fund of congressmen is not really an isolated practice. It seems that a number of our lawmakers have been doing it, as reported by the Commission on Audit.
The case of the municipality of Santander, where some P10 million was reportedly lost after it was deposited without authority in the town's rural bank, is the second such case brought to public notice.
The other one happened in the town of Bogo. The money also came from the pork barrel of the lawmaker and was given as grant to the Girl Scout of the province. If I recall correctly, the amount was P6 million.
It seems the money was brought to Cebu, was deposited in a bank in Bogo, then withdrawn and brought to another bank or something. The last I heard of it, the fund was brought to Manila and re-deposited there or something like it.
The difference between the two incidents is that, in the case of the former, the rural bank was also owned by the family of the depositing public official. In the latter case, the banks were commercial ones.
In both instances, the paper trail did not indicate the funds were really used as intended. Public funds that they were, their disposition must have to be clearly noted and publicly accounted for. That is the standard practice, I believe, in the utilization of public funds.
What I cannot understand, though, is where the Abines mother and son got the idea they could use at will the public funds entrusted to them. Sure, the head of the family was said to be the source of the funds deposited in their rural bank, but that still does not give them the right to consider these as family-owned.
Now that the rural bank is bankrupt, to whom shall the town folk go to seek its recovery? After all, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas did not authorize the deposit, the Santander rural bank not having been recognized as an official public depository bank.
But again, how could the mother and son, even as municipal mayors respectively, gather enough gumption to do it? I cannot believe they were not conscious that what they did was illegal and not in keeping with the standard procedure that a public office should follow in handling public funds.
Thus, the only conclusion anyone like me could make is that their possession of political power and influence did give them administrative leverage. And possibly heady with such reality, they felt committing such wrongful act could soon be righted with their politics.
Truth to tell, this is the psychological make-up of our politicians—-they feel impregnable once they possess political power and influence.
Which may explain why the vernacular saying "Nagtuo na man sila nga wa na gyuy arang nila" appear to fit the attitude of local officials who do something that is clearly not in keeping with, or is sanctioned by proper management or standard administrative procedures.
In situations such as this, the tacit loser here is not just the diminished image of public service, but also an open erosion of public trust.
(September 17, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
