Hajj funds about malversation, not religion, say senators

MANILA, Philippines — The reported illegal diversion of some P5 million in funds meant for the rehabilitation of Marawi City by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) is a criminal offense, senators warned yesterday.

Senators sided with the Commission on Audit (COA), which earlier issued a negative finding on the HUDCC’s move to transfer the funds to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) to finance the attendance of participants to the Hajj for internally-displaced persons of Marawi in 2018.

Responding to President Duterte’s call for the COA to let go of HUDCC as the solemn religious activity was more important to Muslims than the government’s housing program in the war-ravaged city, Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned that technical malversation was committed in the fund diversion.

“It is not a question of which is more important between religion and housing. It is about technical malversation... the public use for which the public funds or property were applied is different from the purpose for which they were originally appropriated by law or ordinance,” Lacson said in a Twitter post, quoting a provision of the Revised Penal Code.

Violation of the provision is punishable with fines and imprisonment from 20 years to 40 years.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon also agreed with Lacson and the COA findings, even as he warned against pressuring the independent audit agency.

He said the COA is an independent constitutional body that should not be dictated on regarding how its work is done.

“Whatever is mandated by the (national budget), that is where the funds must go. Now, there are ways to have realignments (of funds) and the President also has the power to realign funds,” Drilon told dwIZ.

“I don’t know exactly the situation here, but if there’s no realignment (from the President), I think the HUDCC has a problem,” Drilon said.