Miriam wants DILG, PNP chiefs suspended

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is seeking the preventive suspension of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa even as retired police director Eliseo de la Paz admitted the unauthorized withdrawal of police intelligence funds.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. joined Santiago in claiming that De la Paz was apparently covering up for his superiors.

Santiago and Pimentel stressed that both Puno and Verzosa must be held responsible for the fund mess.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, pointed out the police officials violated several laws in the unauthorized withdrawal.

According to Santiago, it would be up to President Arroyo whether to suspend Puno and Verzosa during an investigation into the issue.

“They can do it out of a sense of delicadeza,” she said.

Santiago said De la Paz should be pitied for being willing to be the fall guy.

She said the superior officials could always bribe or threaten a middle-level official to take the rap for them, “and in that way we will never be able to clean our country of corruption.”

Santiago also branded the PNP fact-finding report on the issue as “a cover-up.”

She also cited inconsistencies in the testimonies of De la Paz and the other police officials during the Senate hearing last Saturday.

Santiago stressed the extent of guilt goes beyond De la Paz’s admission.

She said Puno and Verzosa must be investigated for violating the administrative orders of the Office of the President that only Malacañang could approve official travels.

Santiago said she did not even move to place De la Paz under house arrest as the retired police general almost cried during Saturday’s hearing when he admitted all liability.

“I don’t know if he is just afraid or he made a mistake. Maybe he thinks it’s an honorable thing to do,” Santiago said.

Pimentel added De la Paz’s story during the hearing lacked credibility.

He said De la Paz’s persistent claim that he requested finance and disbursement officers to release the P6.9 million to him “in preparation for any contingency” during the trip of the PNP delegation to the Interpol conference in Russia was contradicted by the circumstances surrounding the transaction as narrated by him and other police officers involved.

In the first place, Pimentel pointed out that only P2.3 million had been authorized by Puno to defray the expenses of the delegation as specified in their travel order.

De la Paz told the hearing that he received the P6.9 million from Senior Superintendent Tomas Rentoy III, budget division chief of the of the PNP directorate for comptrollership, whom he had earlier instructed to release the money.

Rentoy then testified that he sourced the money from the intelligence funds kept in the vault of Superintendent Samuel Rodriguez, the disbursing officer of the PNP directorate for intelligence. Pimentel noted that De la Paz had caused the release of the huge fund without the usual supporting papers, as if it was purposely done to remove any paper trail.

Rodriguez testified that while he followed the instruction to release the money, he decided to send a memo to his immediate supervisor, Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestano, head of PNP financial services, informing him of the “very unusual” cash release to De la Paz.

Pimentel said Rodriguez acted correctly by writing the memo to Pestano, knowing that he would be held accountable for any irregular disbursement of funds under his custody.

Pimentel said he was puzzled why De la Paz chose to clam up and invoked his right against self-incrimination when he was questioned by Sen. Loren Legarda how he was able to take the money out of the Philippines.

This led to suspicion that the money came from other sources and somebody carried and delivered the money to De la Paz, he said.

Other sectors, namely the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said De la Paz should not take the blame on himself over the fund mess.

Roxas and Pangilinan, on the other hand, said there were violations on the release of the contingency fund, if the money was indeed meant for such purpose, due to its non-declaration before it was taken out of the country.

Pangilinan also supported Santiago who proposed that retirable officials should no longer be allowed to travel and represent the country in trainings and conferences abroad.

Meantime, Malacañang is mulling a review of financial procedures at the PNP following the scandal.

De la Paz and his wife were held by immigration authorities in Moscow last month for carrying more than 105,000 euros, which is in excess allowed for a traveler. –With Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Helen Flores