Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, the MNLF secretary-general, said the fund, raised by the government about six years ago as counterpart for a huge development package from the Asian Development Bank, was instead spent for the procurement of a "search and rescue seacraft" and other vital equipment of a certain line agency.
He bewailed that the ADB cancelled the loan, valid only from 1998 to May 2003, because the government failed to implement the project within the prescribed period.
"Even so, the P264-million counterpart funds should have remained intact," said Sema, chairman of the Regional Development Council in Central Mindanao.
Sema said local officials who have jurisdiction over the areas where the airports earlier targeted for expansion are located, learned about the "bad news" during last week’s committee meeting of the Third Airport Development Project (TADP) in Manila.
"During our discussions, we learned that the P264-million counterpart fund was used for a non-programmed purpose, despite its being covered by government accounting restrictions," said Sema, who chairs the Regional Development Council in Central Mindanao.
The TADP was supposed to cover the airports in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao and in the cities of Pagadian, Dipolog, Butuan and Puerto Princesa.
Sema said one of the key government officials present in what turned out to be an emotion-filled TADP meeting was Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza.
The 1996 peace pact is centered on the government and MNLF’s continuing cooperation in promoting programs that could accelerate the assimilation of impoverished Muslim communities in the South into the political and socio-economic mainstream.
Sema said local officials present in the TADP meeting unanimously agreed to urge President Arroyo to order a full-dressed investigation into the alleged fund misuse.
"This is a very serious concern because if left unchecked, this will create a bad impression on the part of international donors and humanitarian organizations willing to assist in the implementation of a peace agreement between the government and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front)," Sema said.
Antonio Santos, vice president for Mindanao of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the supposed expansion of the six airports with the help of the ADB would have improved Southern Mindanao’s economy.
"It was a pity that the government failed to implement the project within its supposed time-frame," he said.
Datu Haron Bandila, president of the ARMM’s Regional Business Council, said Malacañang should immediately conduct an inquiry into the alleged questionable spending of the P264-million government counterpart fund.
"The confidence of foreign donors in the government will surely erode if, indeed, there was an irregularity in the handling of the counterpart fund," Bandila said.