Give the nation a break, spend the last two years of your administration redeeming yourself with the transparent dispersal of funds to address the rice crisis.

This was the call of  Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson    to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Saturday night, while in Bacolod CIty for the induction of the Negros Press Club officers.

On Friday, the president announced a P48.7 billion package  to stimulate  agriculture in the face of a looming food crisis.

Lacson stressed the need to closely watch that such funds are used for what they are really intended for, and do not go into the pockets of a few again.

He said the looming rice crisis is the result of long years of neglect, because the people in Malacañang, instead of  boosting local farm production, resorted to importation, and there has also been smuggling, where they could make money.

Money intended for fertilizer for farmers also went to political allies of the president,  he pointed out, “so it all boils down to corruption.”

 “The single most telling indicator of poor governance over the past seven years has been the high incidence of pervasive corruption,” Lacson told the NPC members.

And the problem of political governance in our country is mainly due to limited accountability and transparency,  he said.

                               ‘SWINEDLING SCAM’

Lacson said that on Monday, he is filing a resolution in the Senate for an investigation into the so called “swinedling scam”.

To be investigated is the  Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. release of P2.2  billion  in loans to alleged swine growers before the 2004 polls, he said.

This occurred together with the fertilizer scam but this is much bigger because it involves P2.2  billion in government funds and the Commission on Audit itself  said there were ghosts deliveries, Lacson said.

 Lacson said the  investigation will determine where the funds for the ghost deliveries went.

“The fertilizer fund project was originally earmarked to help small farmers increase their efficiency. However, every centavo of its P728 million allocation went to known political allies of Arroyo,” he said.

The cases on the fertilizer and swine scams are pending before the Ombudsman but the problem is they are not moving so there needs to be pressure from different sectors, especially media, otherwise people tend to forget about them, he said.

Lacson said that since QUEDANCOR was transferred under the Office of the President, the president may have had a direct hand in the disbursement and in the anomaly itself.

“It was close to election time and then candidate Gloria Arroyo needed funds to bankroll her campaign so government funds were used. That is the way we see the direction the investigation may go,” Lacson said.

                                         ANOMALIES

Lacson said that while paid advertisements by the Arroyo administration claim that it has singlehandedly staged a so-called economic comeback for the country, her seven years in power has, in fact, been plagued by one anomaly after the other.

Barely days after her proclamation as president, he said Arroyo fast-tracked the signing of an anomalous power plant contract.  This was the P$470 million power contract granted to the Argentinian company IMPSA, which earned the President and her associates, among them her former Secretary Hernando Perez, a collective payoff to the tune off $14 billion, Lacson claimed.

However, only $2 million “commission” awarded to Perez has been traced, the rest of the money seems to have vanished as if the transaction never existed, he said.

Lacson also cited the 2.2 kilometer Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, built at a cost of half a billion pesos per kilometer, and the  Jose Pidal “money laundering scheme”.

While Pidal’s strokes on the checks he issued  bear an uncanny resemblance to the signature of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Lacson said someone else stood  up to claim he was the real Jose Pidal.

He is now a Negros Occidental congressman, Lacson said, in apparent reference to Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr., younger brother of the first gentleman.

“For all his so-called wealth, this man is only paying P8,000 in taxes,” Lacson claimed.

                   ‘HE’S SO DUMB’ - IGGY

“He (Lacson) is so dumb, why doesn’t he check the BIR records? He should apply with the Meralco. Palagi siya nakokoryente,” Rep. Arroyo said in a text message from the United States.

Lacson, however also said that, as the greed became greater and more insatiable, it has become harder to hide corruption at its finest,  citing the P329 million ZTE deal.

And, despite all this, “Mrs. Arroyo scoffs at all calls for change as merely the machinations of media-hungry presidential aspirants”, Lacson said.

She insists that it is  possible to feed a family of five at a salary  of P8,000, and that people can eat noodles and rice with dignity, he also said.

Lacson said 2010 is merely two years away and ”this current evil regime is grabbing the most they can for themselves by selling this country piece by piece.”

“Instead of ensuring that its leaves a progressive legacy, Mrs. Arroyo’s  government is letting this country come apart at the seams with scandals, corruption and crisis, like the current rice crisis,” Lacson said.

And yet the president still insists our house is in order since she  won’t be here to pick up pieces when this country implodes because of her undoing, Lacson said.

                               ‘SIN BY SILENCE’

 “This is the most compelling reason why we need to overcome and fight corruption and change this government so it can start serving the people and not only the few,” he said.

This is our shared responsibility as citizens of this country, he said.

“Sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of men,” Lacson said.

“We welcome  statements coming from Sen. Lacson because the people are assured that democracy in the country is lively,” Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said yesterday.

But the senator is a known pervasive critic of the administration and he is known to indiscriminately shoot hearsays and allegations that lack solid evidence necessary for any case to prosper, Golez said.

                                      INDUCTION

NPC officers inducted into  office by Lacson Saturday  were Cyrus Garde – president, Henceboy Cestina – vice president, Edgar Cadagat – secretary, Chrysee Samillano – treasurer, and  Arnold Diaz  - auditor.

Members of the board of directors are Julius Mariveles, Edith Colmo, Alladin Salas, Mae Singuay, Manny Canto and Angelino Julita Jr.

Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson represented Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia and  Board Member Patrick Lacson represented  Gov. Isidro Zayco at the induction rites.*CPG

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