Morato admits two election breaches

From Camp Crame, Philippine National Police headquarters, comes this info: “Please keep my identity confidential. As follow-up to your column on PNP anomalies, alert Interior Sec. Jessie Robredo about a company that provides janitorial services to all regional and provincial camps. A general once assigned to the Comptrollership owns the firm. When he and his chief retired, the company was terminated. Does the Commission on Audit have a report on this matter, as well as the anomalous purchases of patrol and rescue boats, the acceptance of two used helicopters as brand new, and the repair of armored personnel carriers?”

* * *

“It’s not pornographic, it’s not indecent.” That’s how former sweepstakes chairman Manuel Morato justified the misuse of state funds to produce his Dial M television show.

But it was worse; it was illegal. Through that show, Morato had electioneered for the past administration’s 2010 presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro. And he even misspent state money for it, Sen. Franklin Drilon said.

Both are violations of the Omnibus Election Code. That law forbids appointive government officials from poll partisanship, like campaigning for or against any candidate. It also bars the use of government funds to gain votes for any candidate. Any breach of the Code fetches six years’ imprisonment, said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez and election lawyer Romy Macalintal.

The Blue-Ribbon committee is probing the illegal disbursements of previous board directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Morato’s admission of having openly rooted for Teodoro was another instance of fund misuse unearthed by the senators.

“Gibo (Teodoro’s nickname) was my candidate,” Morato proclaimed to Drilon and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. The latter had asked why the PCSO spent millions of pesos a year to produce Morato’s show even though it was not rating with viewers. Estrada said the money could have been better used for the poor and the sick.

Since he was not being paid any talent fee Morato said, “I could say anything I wanted,” including electioneering. A perennial candidate for president or senator, he has postured as Mr. Clean. In the Senate inquiry, he was accused of conflict of interest in prolonging the PCSO’s rental of equipment and software for lotto draws. Senators deemed the contract disadvantageous to the government. The agency could have bought the equipment earlier for $25,000, instead of renting for another eight years. It turned out that the Malaysian supplier, Berjaya Philippines Inc., had saved Morato’s Astor Hotel from bank confiscation for unpaid debt of P1.3 billion.

* * *

The National Food Authority earned P1.56 billion in the past 12 months and saved P1.3 billion in rice imports. This is one of the feats President Noynoy Aquino is expected to highlight in his State of the nation on Monday.

The agency was one of the past administration’s milking cows. Due to mismanagement it suffered huge losses. Overpriced, excessive rice importations swelled its debts from P28 billion in 2003 to P155 billion in 2010.

A systems audit, done by NFA chief Lito Banayo upon takeover in July 2010, revealed operational inefficiencies and rackets. Pinpointed was the true shortfall of rice harvests per year, and reformed was the bidding process.

The result: only 860,000 metric tons bought from abroad last December, instead of the previous 2.45 million per year. Price: $480 per ton, inclusive of freight and interest, from the previous $630.

The NFA used to make P25 per rice sack from import franchisees. With open bidding this time it collected P128 per bag. The old system enabled monopolists to rig the franchising process, with even fictitious farmers’ cooperatives getting import licenses.

With less imports to compete with, local palay farm-gate price rose 2.89 percent, translating into an increase in farmers’ income. Better grains distribution stabilized consumer prices, on the other hand.

* * *

Regulators cannot just say, “Buyer beware,” whenever condo builders renege on obligations. There are rules to follow. Just because the builders are rich does not mean they are above the law. They must comply with construction specifications, completion deadlines, and marketing licenses. Too many buyers are being conned by condo pre-sellers to invest, only to find out later that the advertised partners were cancelled and the commitments altered.

The latest victimizer is a build-your-own condo project at The Fort in Taguig, Metro Manila. Investors paid in advance, on the builder’s promise to finish last year and operate a hotel part from which they would earn income. The building remains unfinished, and the buyers, who have not been given a single centavo of dividend, can only weep.

Authorities usually take too long to act, if at all. Pressuring absconding builders to fulfill duties, fining them for discipline, and jailing them as lessons to others would improve the industry.

* * *

While we’re at it, we call on arbiters to speed up their work regarding the West Tower condo building in Bangkal, Makati. Indemnify at once the owners who were forced out a year ago because of the fuel pipeline leak. Calling them names, like “extortionists,” is cruel, given that they lost their homes, the single biggest purchase of their life.

* * *

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

E-mail: [email protected]