Legitimate inquiry

In his opinion published on 25 October 2010 at The Phil. STAR Opinion Page, a certain Mr. Wilfredo Mutya pounced on House Resolution No. 549 filed by Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of the Bagong Henerasyon Partylist which seeks to investigate the alleged billions of financial losses incurred by the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC) as a result of anomalous transactions entered into by HGC officials since 2002 that have put the National Government in a highly disadvantageous position. By stating that Rep. Herrera-Dy has a conflict of interest on the matter, it appears that Mr. Mutya’s opinion was published with all malicious intent to weaken the call of the Bagong Henerasyon Partylist itself — and most importantly, the sector it represents — for Congressional inquiry into HGC’s alleged past corruption, mismanagement and grave neglect which resulted in the loss of about P30 billion per recent report of the Commission on Audit upon investigation of HGC’s financial status. A loss in the government coffers amounting to P30 billion seriously jeopardizes the general welfare and therefore calls for investigation on the officials responsible for it.

It is worth noting that the Bagong Henerasyon Party has been around for almost a decade in the vanguard of issues concerning poverty, ignorance, poor health and disunity among the people. Hence, while new in the political arena, the Party is already a veteran in public service. As early as 2001, its platform already included people empowerment under which the issues of “Kalusugan, Edukasyon, Kabuhayan at Paninirahan” were actively championed. Home ownership for the poor thus has always been part of the agenda they have been working for all this time. On the other hand, the HGC is supposedly tasked to operate a credit guaranty program in support of the government’s efforts to promote home ownership especially of the low income sector. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Bagong Henerasyon Partylist, as champion for home ownership for the poor, now seeks to look into the alleged anomalous transactions and financial losses of the HGC.

Moreover, the national government is a guarantor to the HGC obligations. Instead of shouldering losses caused by corruption and mismanagement of HGC officials, the national government can well allocate more funds for the promotion and development of the nation’s education and health - also part of the partylist’s platform.

Due to the magnitude of alleged financial losses and the graft and corrupt practices allegedly committed by HGC officials, House Resolution No. 549 is clearly a legitimate call by the Partylist’s representative — Congresswoman Bernadette Herrera-Dy — considering that the financial economy of the country will be hardly hit by the HGC obligations plus its huge effect on budget deficits of the country in the near term and on essential social services such as education and health. Attacking the motive of the Congresswoman in calling for an inquiry is only tantamount to suppression of the truth behind the P30 billion loss in the HGC and denial of the people’s right to good governance.