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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Guv admits using part of P500-T cash gift
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO –- Governor Eddie Panlilio admitted Monday that he had indeed allowed his former aids to use a portion of the P500,000 cash gift from Malacañang for their spiritual retreat.
However, Panlilio clarified that it was only P10,000 and not P20,000 as previously published in some reports, further assuring that the money was returned the same day after it was used.
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"The impression is that the money was used and was not returned. The truth is we did not have cash then for the activity, but the money was immediately returned," Panlilio stressed.
The governor, along with Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu, showed to mediamen on Monday the five bundles of crisp P1,000 bills and had them counted by a Capitol aide at the Governor's Office here.
"As you can see, the money is intact and not a single bill is missing from the bundles," Panlilio said, adding that while the Capitol has not decided on what to do with the money, it is still kept in a vault by Dabu.
Last Friday, Panlilio's former chief-of-staff Archimedes Reyes said the priest-turned-governor had spent part of the alleged P500,000 cash gift from Malacañang for a weekend respite and seminar of his three officials in Tagaytay City last year. The said officials included Reyes, former social service officer Roperlee Syquia, and Panlilio's speechwriter Rommel de Jesus.
"Some P10,000 of the said money was utilized before the said conference," Reyes said.
Reyes, who received the cash gift on October 11 last year at the Malacañang premises, was quoted in a report as saying "the money shown to media was already polluted and was not the same money distributed in Malacañang," as about P20,000 of it had already been spent to cover for the governor's weekend stay and for expenses of officials attending a three-day seminar in Tagaytay City.
Reyes, however, did not disclose the exact venue of the seminar and where Panlilio and the officials stayed when he spoke at the weekly “Balitaan sa Rembrandt Hotel” in Quezon City.
Panlilio clarified that the money was only utilized for an emergency situation but was immediately replenished. He said it was not with the intention of really spending the portion of the said cash.
Rosve Henson, president of the recall initiator Kapanalig at Kambilan Ning Memalen Pampanga (Kambilan), said Monday that Panlilio's action casts "a great doubt" on the latter's honesty.
"He did not tell the whole story before. You cannot touch evidence if you intend to use it to a crime later on. He is not honest and transparent after all," Henson said.
While Panlilio claimed the amount used was returned, Reyes has this to say: "He said he will not use the money until he determines where it came from. If the concern is just to maintain the original amount, he should return it. That is the right thing to do."
Ironically, Reyes was among the recipients of the money taken from the P500,000 cash gift. (Ian Ocampo Flora/Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (October 21, 2008 issue)
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