Arroyo still hasn’t donated to fund

She has pledged her wealth and diligent hard work in easing the plight of the country’s poor in her June inaugural address.

She has rallied Filipinos to make even small sacrifices for love of country.

But President Arroyo, who has been asking the nation to help her push the country forward, has yet to fulfill her pledge to donate P1 million of her own money to a fund-raiser whose success is hinged on love of country.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. recently began the so-called "Bayanihan Fund" — to which Mrs. Arroyo pledged to donate P1 million — to help her own cash-strapped administration steer clear of a looming fiscal crisis.

"No, not yet that I know of," she said when asked by reporters yesterday if she had already made her donation.

"Because they have to work out the mechanics (of the fund)."

By "they" Mrs. Arroyo meant the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Treasury, which were tasked with mapping out the voluntary fund’s mechanics.

"I don’t attend to the details of that because it’s a voluntary thing. The important thing is we’ve got to have the revenue measures," Mrs. Arroyo said. "Especially with private contributions, the less I meddle, the better, because it has to be purely voluntary."

Starting it off with a donation of P1 million of his own money, De Venecia conducted an impromptu pledging session during the President’s recent trip to Beijing and got pledges from several Cabinet officials and a group of Chinese-Filipino business leaders accompanying Mrs. Arroyo.

De Venecia raised P350 million in pledges, including commitments from shopping mall tycoon Henry Sy and tobacco magnate Lucio Tan, who also controls Philippine Airlines.

Last week, Metrobank and its partners donated P10 million to the fund.

"I appreciate the Bayanihan fund because, again, it is exhibiting the value of our people. The business community, not only them but many others, professionals, even some from the working class, recognize that there is a fiscal problem and that we all have to contribute to the solution," Mrs. Arroyo said.

De Venecia hopes to raise P5 billion, which he said could build 20,000 classrooms and provide 20,000 computers for public schools.

Rampant tax evasion, corruption, bloated state subsidies and protectionism have been blamed for the government’s fiscal problems. — Marichu Villanueva