Senate calls for full accounting of Palace rehab funds

July 2, 2008

Senators yesterday called for Malacañang to make a full accounting of all the rehabilitation funds disbursed so far for the relief operations in provinces hit by Typhoon “Frank.”

The minority bloc in the Senate yesterday made the call as various government agencies at the forefront of the disaster relief and reconstruction missions were noted to be giving conflicting figures on the estimated damage to properties, crops and infrastructure brought by the typhoon.

Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. expressed concern over the proper disbursement of funds following widespread complaints among local government officials and displaced residents in the affected provinces on the undue delay in the delivery of relief goods, medical aid and other assistance from the national government.

“We just want to ensure these funds intended for families displaced by the typhoon and provinces in dire need of rehabilitation will reach them,” he said adding that every centavo of the billions of pesos released so far by the Executive will not be put to waste.

Pimentel earlier urged Malacañang to speed up the release of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) covering the months of July, August and September to provinces severely hit by Typhoon Frank so that they can have the much-needed funds for emergency relief to disaster victims.

At the same same, an investigation has been ordered by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on reports that relatives of the victims of the ill-fated M/V Process of the Stars are being lured into signing a “blank” Special Power of Attorney (SPA) which could be used in quit claim purposes.

Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chair Persida Rueda-Acosta earlier said the SPA form is questionable since the name of the attorney-in-fact is missing.

The SPA supposedly authorizes the lawyer-in-fact to negotiate, sign and receive monetary compensation for the relatives of the victims of the recent sea tragedy.

“How can that be, who will be the attorney-in-fact? That is foolishness. Whoever is making the rounds, making people sign that kind of document can himself be investigated for malpractice, assuming that he is really a lawyer. He is usurping if he is not a lawyer,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez cautioned families of the victims against signing any document without the assistance of a PAO lawyer.

The DOJ chief said if it is established that SLI is behind the release of the SPA forms, then it only shows that they are dealing with the claimants “in bad faith.”

“But first we should take hold of these people who are pretending to be representing the families of the victims. Then we should find out why are they doing this. If they are lawyers that is already violation of legal ethics,” Gonzalez added.

Acosta claimed that around 100 families have been convinced to sign the SPA during the past two days.

She said the SLI management prevented them from entering its office in North Harbor where the said distribution of the SPA forms were distributed. She, however, refused to directly link officials of the SLI in the release of the SPA forms.

She added the incident resembles a fixers’ racket as the forms does not have any names of the supposed lawyers whom are being authorized to act in behalf of the victims families.

“The amount (compensation) could still go up,” the DoJ secretary added.

Meanwhile, businessmen criticized government’s failure to provide an alternative means in transporting goods while vessels of SLI are grounded as a result of a recent tragedy involving one of the company’s ferry that claimed an estimated 800 lives.

Trade groups and local government officials in the cities of Zamboanga, Davao and Cebu said freight delays caused by the suspension of the operations of SLI vessels are “greatly and seriously hampering trade and commerce activities” in the region.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Edward Gaisano said to ground all vessels of the company without regard to the effects to the shipping and movement of goods and commodities is going beyond reason.

“The rationale for the grounding of the Sulpicio vessels is well understood by all. But it is also in everybody’s interest that the issue of shipping capacity for cargo is addressed posthaste,” Gaisano said.

Zamboanga Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce Inc. president Wee Sion Ben said if the deficiency of shipping capacity for cargo is prolonged, shortage of supplies needed in Cebu will be felt by the various sectors concerned. The consequence of such shortages may result in higher inflation, and possibly temporary layoff of workers for lack of materials and commodities.

SLI has at least thirty percent of the market share of cargoes being shipped from Manila to the Southern ports.

He said the prolonged grounding of the vessels, passengers and cargo, may bring unnecessary difficulties in the supply of goods from Manila to Zamboanga as well as from Zamboanga to Manila.

George Ledesma, vice president Industial Group of Zamboanga Inc., stated that to allow the SLI ships found to be seaworthy to ply their respective routes will certainly ensure a steady and constant supply of essential commodities.

Ledesma said any disruption in the delivery basic supplies needed by their inductry would cause undue economic handicaps on the people.

The Davao Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. said there are very few shipping lines servicing the needs of the city and the industries. There are exports shipment to meet and delays would be disastrous to our member-companies operations-ultimately to the economy, something that we can ill afford at this time.

Edison Lu, Metro Davao Grain Traders Confederation Inc. president, stressed that most of the business firms worry over their export shipment deadlines. He said businesses in this area depend so much on this shipping company due to its schedule reliability, service oriented accommodation and wide area coverage.

Celso Lobregat, Zamboanga City mayor, also voiced his support to the declaration of the business community saying any prolonged grounding of the Sulpicio’s vessels would undoubtedly result in adverse economic condition but a quick and uncompromised examination of the ships and the lifting of the ban to sail will prevent cargoes coming in and going out of Cebu to pile up in different ports.

As this developed, reports showed that as of today eight of Sulpicio’s ships had been inspected and would be re-audited after the company rectified “minor deficiencies” found on them.

Marina confirmed that they had inspected 7 ships in Cebu.

In Manila North Harbor, the Cotabato Princess has been inspected as of Tuesday afternoon.

According to a Sulpicio official Marina found no major deficiencies such as broken engines in the ships that were inspected.

“Our ships are working. They just cannot sail because they are being inspected. And the company will complete the rectifications immediately,” the official said. With Benjamin Pulta and Tribune wires

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