PIMENTEL DENOUNCES DIVERSION OF
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE FUNDS FOR POLL CAMPAIGN

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today denounced a reported order of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno authorizing provincial governors and city/municipal mayors to release and utilize intelligence funds from their respective local budgets in excess of the limit prescribed under the Local Government Code.

Noting that the order came while the election campaign is coming to the homestretch, Pimentel said he could see no other purpose behind the patently illegal order except to put available public funds at the disposal of the local government executives that they can use for electioneering or vote-buying purposes.

He urged Secretary Puno to revoke the order and spare himself from the risk of being held criminally liable for a funding irregularity.

Puno should recall the order that would allow local chief executives to disburse intelligence funds beyond what the law allows, because he does not have the authority to do so. Only Congress cam change and increase the limit prescribed by law. And if he persists in doing so, he runs the risk of being sued for plunder, the minority leader said.

Identifying Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas as the source of this information, Pimentel said the administration, which boasts that about 90 percent of incumbent local officials are its allies, is apparently hell-bent on working for the victory of the Team Unity senatorial and congressional and local candidates at all costs.

They are tapping all available sources of funds that can be diverted to the election campaign. And the objective is clear: to ensure the victory of the candidates of Team Unity in the national and local levels, he said.

Pimentel said the administrations formula for victory is based on the belief that if they give money to voters, they will repay it back with their votes, which is supposedly part of the deeply-ingrained political culture of the Filipinos.

However, he strongly doubted whether local political allies can be relied upon to deliver the so-called command votes by persuading their constituents to vote for administration senatorial and congressional candidates.

Pimentel cited a recent Social Weather Stations survey showing that most of the voters would cast their votes based on their own choices, rather than follow the dictation of their local political leaders. The SWS survey also found out the strong preference of voters for opposition, rather than administration candidates.

He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as she did in past elections, is expected to raid the funds of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), as well as Philhealth, the road users tax, agriculture modernization funds, Presidents Social Fund and discretionary and confidential funds at her disposal to promote her candidates.