CEBU CITY—Independent vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday expressed alarm over the Interior Department’s unliquidated cash advances totaling P7 billion that could have been set aside for the campaign kitty of administration bet Manuel Roxas II.
Roxas has put the blame on local government units, insisting the responsibility for liquidation was now with the LGUs after the funds were transferred to them.
“That was one of the concerns, that it was going to be used for the elections,” said Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local governments.
Marcos was here to mount campaign sorties sans his standard bearer and fellow Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who begged off from campaigning and attending the presidential debate on Sunday due to health reasons.
“Now we have the campaign and these lump sums that I have questioned in the previous budget are now coming to the fore,” Marcos said.
“We just hope that it is just the usual savings of government and not a fund that has been put aside for the use of Secretary Roxas for his campaign because we know that the use of public funds for any political purpose is not allowed.”
But the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan was convinced that President Benigno Aquino III and Roxas “shamelessly use government resources to promote the administration’s candidate.”
“What happened in San Fernando, Pampanga, [on Thursday] is another example of how the Aquino administration has used public funds to promote administration candidates,” group secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
“They give the impression that the funds used for projects are their own and that the people owe them for infrastructure, for the conditional cash transfer, and even PhilHealth.
“It’s the same story everywhere. Conditional cash transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries are being mobilized for the campaign rallies of the administration. The BUB [Bottom Up Budgeting] projects are being used to entice local politicians to support the administration.”
Reyes said Thursday’s campaign sortie in Pampanga was also an occasion “to hear testimonials for the 4P’s and PhilHealth beneficiaries.”
“Aquino likes to portray himself as the polar opposite of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, yet in the current campaign we see that he is no different,” Reyes said.
“His anointed one Roxas is also no different. All of them, once in power, will use the resources of the government for self-promotion and for partisan political activity.
“It is therefore also not surprising that Aquino and Roxas will find common ground with erstwhile Arroyo allies such as Governor Lilia Pineda. As the governor herself noted, the alliance was sealed because of billions of pesos worth of projects poured in by the administration to Pampanga, which has some 1.2 million voters.”
On Thursday, the opposition United Nationalist Alliance challenged Roxas to account for the P7 billion that included cash advances for foreign and local travels and “Yolanda” rehabilitation projects that remained unaccounted for.
UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan made the disclosure based on a 2014 Commission on Audit report showing that the DILG, under Roxas, failed to monitor the implementation of the projects and the liquidation of fund transfers and submission of financial reports.
LP campaign spokesman Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez insisted the entire P7 billion had been downloaded to individual LGUs, mainly as financial assistance for various Bottom-up-budget projects, and rehabilitation/reconstruction projects such as Bohol Earthquake Assistance and Recovery Assistance for Yolanda.
“The responsibility for liquidation is now with the LGUs. Many projects are still being implemented and have thus not been liquidated,” Gutierrez said.
Marcos said it was not Roxas’ job to provide livelihood projects or rehabilitation funds for victims of calamities because Roxas’ primary job was the monitoring and supervision of LGUs.