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Wednesday, January 28, 2004
John-john told: Show Perdido leaders
By Jeanette P. Malinao and Garry A. Cabotaje
CEBU -- Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia challenged Vice Gov. John Gregory Osmeņa Tuesday to produce Milagros Herrera, president of Perdido Lex Foundation Inc., which got P5 million from Osmeņa's funds for a computerization program.
Dissatisfied with the Provincial Board's (PB) decision not to probe Osmeņa's release of his discretionary funds for a foundation that could be fictitious, Garcia also urged the PB to reconsider.
"They must find out who Milagros Herrera is and the other incorporators because they were the ones who accredited it. This all started with them," Garcia said of the board.
Yet even field-tested agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 cannot locate most of the five incorporators, raising speculations they used fake names or addresses.
The NBI traced the home of incorporator Victoria Ceceres in Subangdaku, Mandaue City, only to be told by a sister that Ceceres lives in the vice governor's condominium in Lahug, Cebu City.
If he can't present Herrera, Governor Garcia said, Osmeņa must at least present the representative of the foundation who transacted business with his office, which prompted him to shell out the money.
In response, Osmeņa asked why he should produce Herrera, "when she's not an associate of mine."
"Instead I would like to see a full and independent audit of all the province's financial records," added Osmeņa, who had requested PB members to refrain from talking about each other's actuations with the media.
False logo
The case raises questions about how carefully the Capitol selects recipients of taxpayers' funds. But with the incorporators keeping away from the public eye, these questions go unanswered.
NBI 7 head agent Renato Mandawe, the case investigator, said all their subpoenas were returned unserved as they could not find the five incorporators.
While Ceceres' address proved correct, her sister told an NBI 7 subpoena server that Ceceres now lives in Osmeņa's condominium.
"We received a report that she is a caretaker of the condominium," Mandawe said.
The four other incorporators were Herrera, Nancy Sia, Fe Tan and Teodora Limcangco. None of them were found in the addresses they listed in Capitol Site, Guadalupe, or Mandaue City.
Also, the NBI 7 verified that the Government Information Solutions Inc. does not exist.
In its investigation, the NBI 7 discovered that the logo of Corporate Information Solutions Inc., a private firm, was falsified by changing the letter C to G, Mandawe said.
The private firm also said that it has no employee named Michael Santos, who wrote a letter dated March 7, 2003 to Perdido Lex's Herrera. In that letter, he offered a curriculum for computer education from kindergarten to high school.
Mandawe said the letter was allegedly used as basis by Perdido Lex to solicit financial assistance from the Cebu Provincial Government.
The NBI 7 began investigating after a certain Jose Castronuevo sent a letter-complaint asking the bureau to verify Perdido Lex Foundation's operations.
Records obtained by the NBI 7 showed that Perdido Lex was registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 22, 2002.
Buck-passing
It was intended "to receive and maintain funds... to promote education among our youth."
According to its articles of incorporation, it also aims to promote the "value of education" in communities by "providing educational assistance to schools and students in the form of educational materials and facilities."
It is also supposedly meant to set up scholarships to benefit out-of-school youth.
The governor points to Osmeņa as the one responsible for the release of the funds, while Osmeņa said Garcia couldn't completely deny responsibility because the chief executive has the final say on disbursements.
"There are ongoing investigations by the NBI and the Ombudsman. I am ready to offer any assistance they should require and have instructed my staff likewise. Is the governor implying that he released millions of pesos to someone he can't even contact?" added the vice governor.
Garcia, citing that it was Osmeņa's discretionary funds that went to Perdido Lex, said, "Di ka kaila sa tawo nga nikuha ug P5 million nimo? (You don't even know a person who has taken P5 million from you?)"
Survey, book
The foundation's articles of incorporation stated only Cebu City, Cebu, as the address of its principal office. The document's cover sheet, however, listed Lahug as its company address.
It got an agreement with Capitol to "provide intensified educational campaign" for Cebu last Dec. 9, 2002 and was released financial assistance seven days later.
It continued to receive aid, a total of P5 million, until the local finance committee warned of its failure to liquidate previous releases.
In its "progress statement" to the Province, which Osmeņa approved, the foundation claimed to have spent P1.2 million for a "survey on the educational needs of the province", and P3.1 million for the drafting of a "computer textbook."
Perdido Lex entered into a contract with two other companies in both stages of its project implementation.
(January 28, 2004 issue)
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