Source: GMA News
Speaker Sonny Belmonte
A fake Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) was traced to a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) insider identified only as “Supremo,” a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras” said Tuesday.
The fake SARO for a P161-million farm-to-market road in Cagayan was brought to the office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is investigating the issue, last Friday by a staff member of Cagayan Rep. Baby Alfonso Vargas.
The Commission on Audit defines a SARO as a “specific authority issued to one or more identified agencies to incur obligations not exceeding a given amount during a specified period for the purpose indicated.”
Based on an investigation conducted by the Office of House Speaker Sonny Belmonte, the fake SARO was given to Vargas’ chief of staff Bong Pelonio.
Web of personalities
Pelonio claimed that he got the SARO from one Jose Badong, a staffer of the House committee on appropriations.
Badong in turn said he got the SARO from Emmanuel Raza, a member of Zamboanga City Rep. Lilia Macrohon-Nuño’s staff.
The report quoted Nuño’s chief of staff as saying Raza admitted being the source of the fake SARO and that he has an accomplice in the DBM. He did not identify the DBM insider, saying he is known only as “Supremo.”
Nuño, meanwhile, said she was unaware of Raza’s actions.
“I’m shocked considering that I am very strict, honestly,” Nuño said in the report. “I do not know that.”
GMA News went to the office of Vargas, but the lawmaker was not available for interview. Badong, meanwhile, was not in his office.
The report said Raza informed his office that he will be taking a one-month leave of absence.
Belmonte, meantime, said that Vargas had denied knowledge of the fake SARO.
Extortion syndicates
Budget Secretary Butch Abad, meanwhile, believes extortion syndicates were behind the circulation of fake SAROs as a part of a large-scale fixing racket.
“Nilalako nila ang fake SARO sa mga mayor na desperate na magka-project. Tapos sinasabi nila na mapapabilis nila ang proseso ng release kung bibigyan sila ng pera. Parang fixer,” said Abad in a separate “24 Oras” report.
The report said original copies of SAROs released by the DBM have to be handed to agencies or local government units (LGUs) implementing the project. After a memorandum of agreement is created, contractors are asked to bid on the project.
The results of the bidding are posted on both the DBM and the Philippine Government Electronic Procurment System’s (PhilGEPS) websites.
Every document resulting from this process, including the original SARO, needs to be submitted to the DBM before a notice of cash availability is released.
It is only in this point that LGUs or implementing agencies can take the needed funds from the Landbank, though these funds are released on an installment basis.
Abad speculated that this lengthy process may prompted several government officials to take up unscrupulous offers by syndicates to furnish them with signed papers.
Despite fake SAROs passing through the DBM’s hands, Abad insisted they have never released money for the projects listed in them. — Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News
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