Time to abolish the Malampaya Fund
If Senate investigations are really in aid of legislation, there are now abundant justifications to enact a law abrogating the outmoded incongruity, which is Presidential Decree 910, which allows the President total and absolute discretion to decide on the use of the Malampaya Fund. Such presidential prerogative, without the need for a legislative action, allows the president to disburse such billions of money. There is no need to include the fund in the general appropriation act, or the national budget. The testimony of COA Chair Grace Pulido-Tan before the Blue Ribbon Committee has shown how Php 900 million were allegedly embezzled via some reported 12 NGOs with alleged 97 LGUs.
Because of this decree, it was made possible that from 2004 up to date, the following disbursements were allegedly made: DPWH - P8.03 billion; NPC - 6.62 billion; DND/PNP - 6.26 billion; DA - 5.84 billion; DILG - 2.33 billion; NHA - 1.4 billion; DND/AFP - 1.2 billion. The problem is that the decree itself specifies that the fund should be used to finance energy resource development and exploration projects and programs. The transfers of such funds therefore to the Departments of Public works, National Defense, Agriculture, Local Governments, housing and police agencies were entirely irrelevant to power and energy.
The so-called diversion of this fund started in 2009 after a series of typhoons battered the country. Then President GMA issued Executive Order 848 on 13 October 2009, to expand the use of the Special Fund (Fund 151) purportedly to finance rehabilitation and reconstruction projects after Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. The said EO was then used to justify syphoning almost a billion pesos to supposed twelve NGO's via Memorandum Of Agreements with alleged 97 local government units, 67 of which issued denials of their alleged involvement.
In other words, the mayors' signatures were forged, documents were falsified. And the money was diverted because there were no real projects.
On October 22, 2009, an Undersecretary of a line agency, acting upon the alleged instruction of the secretary who was then abroad, sent a formal follow up letter to DBM supposedly to provide support services to beneficiaries of government social programs so that they could recover from tremendous damages caused by the typhoons. On 19 November, the DBM issued a Special allotment Release Order to that line agency in the amount of P900 million. On November 26, that agency started issuing checks before the DBM could issue a Notice of Cash allotment on December 21, 2009. In just one day P200 million worth of checks were released.
In a matter of two days, December 22 and 23, 2009, 64 checks were issued amounting to P587.5 million. The conspirators must have a very merry Christmas that year. This Malampaya Fund Scam was carried out in 2009, just three years after the Fertilizer Fund Scam amounting to P728 million. This country must be very rich, squandering billions as if there is no more tomorrow. Until today, nobody has been convicted, much less penalized, for these grandmothers of all scams. What is happening to our country, in general? Why not remove this power from the executive and install a check and balance in the use of public funds? What is the use of all these investigations?
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