MikeLigalig.com

By June Blanco

“If I were Gen. [Hermogenes] Esperon, I will fire him.”

Thus Gov. Erico Aumentado said of a Malacañang official who “turned down” the checks he brought to the Palace last week. The checks and cash worth P1.217,109 were donations from 22 of Bohol ’s towns whose mayors had to rush to beat a Monday deadline as the governor was to leave for Manila the following day.

During their last League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Bohol chapter meeting, the mayors had agreed to donate to the victims of Tropical Storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng in the amount depending on the classifications of their respective towns.

They heaved a collective sigh when the Commission on Audit (COA) waived the pre-audit requirement on the donations considering the urgency that the cash must be released to help the typhoon and the flood victims, especially the survivors who have no home to return to as their houses were inundated, swept away or buried in landslides.

Much to Aumentado’s chagrin, however, the mayors’ efforts apparently went to waste as this unidentified Malacañang official on duty that day “refused” the checks, saying that they should be reissued in the name of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

In the effort to speedily turnover the checks, these were made payable to the Malacañang Disaster Relief Operations Center, the core of government help for the victims, transmitted by Provincial Treasurer Eustaquio Socorin and hand carried by Aumentado.

The governor returned home with only an acknowledgment receipt from the DSWD for the cash donation of Sevilla, a 5th class municipality, and its barangays, amounting to P12,109.

He had to bring home the checks, distributing them to the mayors again for the necessary change in the payee’s name, only to be called later by PMS Director Marietta Tamondong who said the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) that Esperon heads is now ready to receive the checks as is.

The governor had no choice but to ask her to wait because the checks were now in the field for the necessary change.

He told Tamondong that the Office of the President, or at least the PMS should have established a trust account for the donations. This way, the checks can be easily deposited or withdrawn without having to go through the usual tedious process when the donations are mixed with the general fund.

If the provinces and municipalities can create trust accounts for donations with their depository banks, there is no reason why Malacañang cannot do so, he said.

Esperon’s staff should be sensitive to the situation of constituents especially those coming all the way from the provinces. To note, the checks brouhaha had caused him to come late to a meeting with the general manager of a government owned and controlled corporation with whom he followed up the status of Bohol projects.

It is fortunate that he goes to Manila on multi self-imposed assignments in order to cut on travel cost that will burden the local government unit if he were to go to central offices one at a time, he observed, hence his dismay when this undersecretary or assistant secretary returned the checks.

He said Omar Dumdum of the PMS-Social Policy Office had initially received the checks but on consulting his supervisor, the latter told him to return the checks in order to change the payee’s name.

The provincial government has so far donated P400,000 worth of NFA rice paid through its local office here and withdrawn from the National Capital Region office. Region 7 Director Bernardo Calibo of the National Police Commission who is also the chair of the Bohol Association in Metro Manila, Inc. (BAMMI) personally delivered the rice to Malacañang aboard government six-by-six trucks.

Malacañang later "borrowed" the trucks for the rest of the day to augment its logistics for its continued relief operations.

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