MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 1, 2013) – Half of Palawan province’s P15 billion royalties from the Malampaya gas project could no longer be accounted for years after the national government under former president and now Representative Gloria Arroyo and the local government agreed to split the fund equally, according to a report by The Manila Times.
The report, it said, was disclosed by Mayor Edward Hagedorn, of Puerto Princesa City, during the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s investigation on the Malampaya fund anomalies on Thursday.
Hagedorn said that the province’s royalty shares were not the same funds allegedly used in anomalous infrastructure projects implemented by the provincial government.
According to Hagedorn, the former president and the then Palawan Governor Joel Reyes, had in 2004 agreed to divide the P15-billion Malampaya share.It said half of the money will go to the province, while the other half to the national government, with a promise that the former would give it back to the latter once all legal impediments were hurdled by the province.
An interim agreement was crafted but then Representive and now Palawan Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra refused to sign it because he wanted the fund intended for his district to be directly released to his congressional office.
After the 2007 elections, Hagedorn said that discussions about the Malampaya shares were resumed and this time, Reyes and Mitra agreed on how to share the amount, paving the way for the issuance of an executive order by Arroyo authorizing the release of the funds.
However, instead of the over P7 billion agreed upon in 2004, Palawan only got P3.9 billion, which was split between the two congressional districts and the provincial government.
Presumably, the national government’s share was also P3.9 billion. The national and local government’s shares would add up to just about P8 billion. This leaves a balance of over P7 billion from the total royalties of P15-billion, Hagedorn explained.
During the first hearing, the Commission on Audit said that at least 255 projects implemented in the province using the Malampaya royalties have been disallowed because of the failure of the projects’ proponents to submit the required documents.
Senagor Teofisto Guingona III, the committee chairman, said that he is convinced that the Malampaya funds were misused and that government officials responsible for it should be held liable. (Jefferson Antiporda)
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