DESPITE the endorsements from politicians seeking financial, medical and health assistance, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office on Thursday maintained it is always fair and does not give preferential treatment to political accommodations.
In an interview, lawyer Mabel Mamba of the PCSO’s Office of the Board of Directors said patients, with the endorsement of mayors and other local officials, and representatives and even senators, seeking financial, medical and health assistance must not demand special treatment from the PCSO as the agency could not just “turn away people who ask for help because this is a charitable institution.”
Even Senator Grace Poe, a presidential bet, has always been endorsing patients for assistance, but the PCSO could not just give special treatment, she added.
She challenged Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga to prove his allegations that she and the other board members as well as general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas have approved guarantee letters without the patients going through the normal process.
“I really do not know where he got such information based on a memorandum,” she told The Standard.
“The document he is referring to is a memo he got from someone from the charity sector, which Chairman Erineo [Maliksi] asked to prepare. However, I don’t think the document states the number of people [whom we had] helped [with P100 million plus in assistance].”
She claimed she has never issued an endorsement letter for approval of a guarantee letter, but only a “handwritten note in a notepad, and not a marginal note” to extend any preferential treatment.
According to Mamba, the agency’s charity sector has consistently received an excellent rating of the Civil Service Commission’s anti-red tape program.
“The process [of approval for assistance] is thoroughly monitored. The Commission on Audit would have also raised a howl if we personally disbursed such amount,” she said.
In a recent congressional hearing, Barzaga noted Rojas’ approval of P364 million in outright medical assistance grants in 2015.
Barzaga cited a document he was able to obtain that Mamba gave out P156.7 million, while another board member, Betty Nantes, approved P64 million.
“People come to me for help. Although an endorsement from a member of the Board of directors is not necessary to be assisted, those that come to my office for help request for one,” Mamba said.
“Patients seeking the agency’s assistance must still undergo full compliance of the requirements, such as the submission of a medical abstract and hospital statement of billing, and must pass the scrutiny and evaluation of our social workers. Applicants will still have to queue the long lines at our PCSO office at the Lung Center of the Philippines.”
She said the board is not part of the tedious process of assessment and evaluation in the approval and issuance of medical assistance.
The P400-million assistance being questioned by Barzaga does not include those they have helped in the different branches of the PCSO nationwide.She, however, clarified any assistance ranging fromP5 million to P10 million is being decided upon by the board as a collegial body, while the Office of the President approves assistance beyond P10 million.