i Report Issue No. 3 2005 - Philippine Center for Investigative ...

C A M P A I G N F U N D S
Buying votes. In
the 2004 elections,
President Arroyo used
government funds
to win the loyalty of
local officials and the
affection of voters.
NEY
tion of free rice and fertilizers, the
emergency employment of thousands
of street sweepers, and the
nationwide display of road signs
bearing the president’s name.
Today the public is being
treated to the spectacle of witness
after witness spewing out
exposés about the president and
her family using jueteng money
to fund the election. In reality,
the state funds used for Arroyo’s
election campaign dwarf the alleged
jueteng contributions. By
our estimates, at least P5 billion
could have been pooled from
various government agencies to
oil Arroyo’s campaign machinery.
Farmers’ groups allege that even
part of the confiscated Marcos
wealth was used for projects to
advance the president’s re-election.
In comparison, the most
sensational claims so far have
been that jueteng lord Rodolfo
‘Bong’ Pineda contributed P300
million to the Arroyo campaign.
It took years to lay the
groundwork for mobilizing government
resources for the president’s
re-election. It entailed,
first of all, the appointment of
allies to government agencies
with pots of funds that could
be tapped for the campaign. It
also entailed the identification
of those funds and their release
at the right time. Such strategic
planning, in the words of Senator
Sergio Osmeña III, “was so
systematic, it’s mind boggling.”
WHERE THE MONEY
CAME FROM
Most of the fund releases began
in early February, just before the
start of the 90-day campaign for
the presidency, and continued
till April. But huge chunks of
money were already released
to local officials even in late
2003. The amounts involved
are huge, and they included the
following:
● On February 2, 2004, Labor
Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas,
in her capacity as chairperson
of the Overseas Workers’
Welfare Administration
(OWWA), along with then
OWWA Administrator Virgilio
Angelo signed a resolution
transferring P530 million
from the OWWA medicare
fund to the Philippine Health
Insurance Corporation. This
amount was used to subsidize
the Philhealth cards
given away in places where
Arroyo campaigned.
● On February 3, 2004, Budget
Secretary Emilia Boncodin
signed a Special Allotment Release
Order or SARO addressed
to the Office of the Secretary of
the Department of Agriculture
(DA) for P728 million. The
amount was “to cover the
purchase of farm inputs,” and
was classified as an additional
program. The amount was distributed
to mayors, governors,
and congressmen.
● On February 11, 2004, Boncodin
signed another SARO
for the DA, making available
P1.1 billion “to cover the GMA
Rice and Corn and Livestock
Program.” Again, the amount
was disbursed to mayors, governors,
and congressmen.
● On March 23, 2004, the Department
of Budget and Management
(DBM) released to
the National Irrigation Authority
(NIA) P541 million from the
Marcos wealth supposedly for
activities in connection with
the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program. That fund,
which was allegedly used for
the campaign, has yet to be
accounted for.
● On April 10, 2004, the
president issued an executive
order instructing that the
poorest families be identified
and that those with college-age
children be given
P10,000-vouchers each that
they can use for technical or
college education.
● On April 28, 2004, the DBM
also informed the Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR), of
the release of P544 million
“to cover funding requirements
for the Ginintuang
Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice
Program.” This amount, too,
came from the Marcos wealth.
This fund was more than what
was actually needed for the
purpose. The program has yet
to be completed, and farmers’
groups suspect that a large
portion of the funds was diverted
for election purposes.
● As early as November 2003,
Arroyo and then Public Works
Secretary Florante Soriquez
began what is known as the
“Kalsada Natin, Alagaan Natin”
program, from which numerous
posters, billboards and
road signs bearing Arroyo’s
In aid of re-election.
Philhealth cards (above) were
given out during elections so
poor voters can get medical
services for free.
name and face were funded.
Opposition leaders are saying
P1.4 billion from the Motor
Vehicles’ Users Charge was
used for election purposes.
(An interesting aside: on January
14, 2004, Secretary of
the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo
issued a memo instructing
cabinet secretaries “to change
the word PGMA to ‘President
Gloria’ in all billboards and
notices of the president’s
programs and projects.” Apparently,
many people didn’t
know what PGMA stood for.
Saludo warned, “The PNP
shall monitor and validate the
change within the next two
weeks.”)
● In mid-2003, the Department
of Agriculture headed at that
time by Luis Lorenzo transferred
P423 million in funds
to the National Food Authority
then headed by Arthur Yap to
buy fertilizers under the Ginintuang
Masaganang Ani (GMA)
Rice Program. Some of the
disbursements from this fund
were given in cash to congressmen
and local officials.
It is hard to make an exact
accounting of other government
funds used to finance Arroyo’s
campaign. For one, it is difficult to
tell which expenditures were incurred
in the natural course of her
work as president and which went
to promoting her candidacy.
For instance, cabinet secretaries
were actively involved in
the Arroyo campaign. Former
Social Welfare and Development
Secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Soliman
herself admits the town hall
meetings dubbed “Pulong Bayan”
that Arroyo conducted during the
campaign were organized by the
DSWD from funds provided by
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
I REPORT
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