Durian, death squads, disappearing buildings

Readers are asking who the listed founders are of 1920 Business Inc., the holding company of poll automation suppliers Smartmatic-TIM.

The SEC general information sheet identifies the following directors and officers: Juan C. Villa, Filipino, of Kuala Lumpur, chairman; Nilo S. Cruz, Filipino, of Muntinlupa City; Alberto Castro, Spanish, of Caracas; Lamberto F.L. Lorenzo, Filipino, of Makati; Edgardo W. Valenzuela, Filipino, of Parañaque, members; Ruby Rose J. Yusi, Filipino, corporate secretary; Pablo de Borja, Filipino, assistant corporate secretary; and Ruliena Pinate, Venezuelan, treasurer.

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Davao is known for durian and death squads. Now the local press adds one more city marker: disappearing public buildings.

News is that City Hall needs to account for “missing” property and equipment worth, gasp, P2.9 billion. The figure was culled from Commission on Audit annual reports from 2003 to 2007. The father-daughter team of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice Mayor Sara Duterte are being asked to explain.

There seems to be a pattern in the mislaid P2.9 billion.

In its 2003 report the COA noted that “plant, property and equipment for buildings valued at P291,655,294.66 could not be accounted for.”

Further, the 2003 report said of the blurry financials: “P19,739,847.98 of it was understated... The account Construction in Progress for buildings was overstated by P7,906,643.18.” Records on the buildings were wanting. This prevented state auditors “from applying alternative audit procedures to determine the existence and correctness of presentation.”

The next year P280,629,114.87 worth of buildings and equipment also could not be justified. The COA 2004 report stated breathlessly: “Inadequate computation of accumulated depreciation for building properties of the City resulting to the overstatement of assets and equity in an approximate amount of P66,469,096.94 and the failure to determine details of office building totaling P280,629,114.87 of which existence is uncertain, presented an inaccurate financial condition of the City Government of Davao.”

Moreover, “out of the total cost of P462,113,868.40 as presented in the financial statement less the P174,416,154.37 which details were determined and less the double entry and erroneous classification made for office building costing P343,444,299.58, the remaining P280,629,114.87 is yet to be determined. As of the making of this report subsidiary ledgers were incomplete. Thus, certainty as to the existence of these assets cannot be ascertained.”

For 2005 the COA reported that P462,792,048.58 more worth of buildings and equipment could not be accounted for.

For 2006 the COA also reported that a colossal 82 percent of Davao’s declared assets — P2,933,909,784.17 — could not be ascertained. This was allegedly due to City Hall failure to conduct and certify physical counts.

The 2007 report broke down the staggering P2,933,909,784.17 into: P2,467,537,627.74 from General Fund, P209,991,058.24 from Special Education Fund, and P256,381,098.19 from Trust Fund Accounts.

Assets of the City amounting to P2,933,909,784.17 “could not be ascertained as to existence and accuracy due to incomplete physical count.” To think that Davao is ranked among Asia’s most livable cities.

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Rina Lopez-Bautista has swung Knowledge Channel to fight poverty. Believing that basic education can pull the poor out of the rut, she makes sure the television production teaches Math, Science and Language well. But instruction isn’t the only anti-poverty tool. There’s need as well for health, environment, peace, justice, shelter, utilities, and governance. So Lopez-Bautista is organizing a Manila conference on Feb. 17 to bring experts in such fields to “Lead the Change.”

Business, civil society and government leaders have signed up to join. Lopez-Bautista’s mentor and role model, philanthropist Dr. Peggy Dulany Rockefeller, is flying in from America as the guest of honor. Rockefeller is the daughter of American statesman and billionaire David Rockefeller. Through the Synergos Institute and the Global Philanthropists Circle, which she founded in 1987, she has dedicated her life to alleviate poverty worldwide.

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Remember Ellaganda, the controversial blogger in the aftermath of Storms Ondoy and Pepeng? Ella delos Santos in real life, she had signed up to help the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development distribute relief goods. But she stirred up a tempest in exposing, through photos on the Internet, undistributed, rotting relief at the DSWD warehouse. And now, handlers are egging the furious Sec. Esperanza Cabral to sue delos Santos for libel.

Cabral is ill advised. Taking a critic to court would make her look like a bully and scare future volunteers. Dialogue is better. After all, people know that Cabral wasn’t stealing choice donations. Her subs just couldn’t distribute at once because ordered to wait. Somebody in Malacañang was then still fixing her photo-ops schedule to send off a 100-truck caravan “to the rescue” of flood victims.

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 “People who lead empty lives will grasp at anything in search of fulfillment. After fulfilling their dreams, some find their lives emptier.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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