The Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the Malampaya Fund scam was held yesterday, with Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan as first resource person.
Pulido-Tan revealed several anomalies, especially with the P900 million released through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The COA audit showed that the P900-million DAR fund was released upon request of 97 mayors. Sixty-seven mayors denied they signed any request.
According to Pulido-Tan, the DAR funds were released actually through 12 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) linked to Janet Lim-Napoles, which cornered P900 million in royalties from the Malampaya gas fund.
Chairman Pulido-Tan revealed that P173 billion has been collected by the Malampaya, with only P42 billion actually released, including P6.8 billion to the Department of Agriculture.
There is supposed to be a balance of P130 billion in the National Treasury.
Janet-Lim Napoles will be invited to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee subsequent hearings of the Malampaya scam.
Big GDP drop
Following the surprise drop in the third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) due to weak public spending, economists and fund managers have downgraded their Philippine economic forecast this year to below 6 percent, putting at risk President Aquino’s goal of boosting the nation’s annual expansion to a record by 2016.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan reported a disappointing 5.3 percent economic growth in the third quarter of 2014.
The third-quarter expansion was well-below analysts’ expectations, with a Reuters poll of economists forecasting annual growth at 6.6 percent, the slowest since the 4.0 percent in the last quarter of 2011.
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corp. (HSBC) economist Trinh Nguyen said their GDP growth forecast for 2014 full year growth is 5.9 percent and 2015 expansion is 6.1 percent while ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said that they expect GDP to expand by 5.8 percent, despite a positive outlook on the fourth quarter this year.
Maybank Kim Eng chief economist Luz Lorenzo said government under-spending was one of the major drags this year.
This is true of the delayed release of rehabilitation and recovery funds for Yolanda-hit areas. It was only last week that shelter assistance of P30,000 for destroyed houses and P10,000 for damaged houses were released partly in Tacloban.
Also contributing to the underspending are the anomalies relating to Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds, which did not go to actual projects.
The government has consistently failed to meet its monthly spending target since Aquino administration took office in 2010, especially after the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
Another cause of the drop of GDP to 5.3 percent is the big drop in the agriculture sector which contracted by 2.7 percent. It is now doubly clear that Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has failed miserably at his job. It is time to appoint Francis Pangilinan full-time Secretary of Agriculture.
The 5.3 percent GDP result for the third quarter is a major setback for the government economic program and will increase unemployment.
Government spending expected to normalize only next year and more modest expectations for private consumption in 2016, owing to the national elections.
“Expect the private sector to maintain our robust performance. Government will have adjusted to the new protocols, and we see this in the most recent preliminary data coming from the Department of Budget and Management. The reconstruction assistance in Yolanda-affected areas is already gaining traction,” Socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, who remained optimistic despite the disappointing GDP, said.
The Philippines aims to increase its GDP by 8.5 percent when President Aquino’s term ends in 2016. Many economists disagree.
Unfair to ONA, public, Garin
Malacañang announced that Health Secretary Enrique Ona is on extended leave. This is unfair to Secretary Ona and the general public. It is also causing friction among pro-Ona health department employees and anti-Ona groups.
Even Acting Health Secretary Janette Garin is limited in her actions, because if and when Ona returns, Ona can revoke Garin’s decisions.
President Aquino should let Ona go.
Considering how badly Ona has been treated by the President, it is now appropriate for him to submit an irrevocable resignation.
More killings
A female Marine officer, 1st Lieutenant Shelina Calumay, was shot dead inside her car, which was parked in front of the Jurado hall inside the Bonifacio Naval Station.
Another ambush, Macario Perez, head teacher of the Gregorio Sison Memorial Elementary School in Ibaan, Batangas, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Rosario town.
A municipal councilor, Wilfredo Nuñez Jr., was found dead in Tanza, Cavite.
A male person was shot dead by a riding-in-tandem in Sampaloc, Manila.
Ma. Theresa Bernardita Locsin, a haciendera of sugarcane plantation, was shot dead by one of three men who robbed her at gunpoint in Negros Occidental.
Tidbits
Ousted Governor ER Ejercito expressed anger toward President Aquino for the unfair treatment that he and his relatives have been getting from him.
Some high-ranking officials at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City were helping convicted drug lords run the illegal-drugs trade from inside the national penitentiary, according to a source.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has submitted the final version of the P23-billion supplemental budget requested by Malacañang, with a reduction of P1.3 billion.
Congratulations to Ambassador Henrietta “Tita” de Villa on her conferment of the Degree Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa, by Colegio San Juan de Letran.
Ebola death toll has jumped to 6,928.
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