ANGELES CITY- A militant group challenged yesterday National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) chairman Jose Eliseo Racamora to provide details on some P27.97 million he allegedly used for the services of 81 contractual personnel and 19 consultants last year.
The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) vice chair Fernando Hicap said Racamora should render a detailed report, particularly names of hired personnel, to the Commission on Audit (COA).
“The names of consultants and other contractual personnel commissioned by Akbayan should also be revealed. How many of them are Akbayan officials and personnel? How many of them are not from Akbayan?” asked Hicap.
Hicap said NAPC, which is an attached agency of the Office of the President, “was only allowed to maintain 50 personnel and staff based on its approved budget and had filled up only 24 positions.”
Hicap noted that the COA reported that NAPC hired 81 employees under Contract of Service (COS), 19 consultants and 49 others to augment its personnel complement, thus incurring expenses for “other professional services totaling P27, 972,756.17.”
Hicap said further scrutiny of the expenditures could lead to “big crimes of corruption in the anti-poverty agency.”
He said NAPC’s “expenses for contractual workers and consultants were double compared to salary allocations for regular personnel, which was only P13.69 million including salaries and allowances, bonuses and benefits contributions like insurance and Philhealth.”
“The discrepancy speaks of something illegal and immoral. This P27.97 million bonanza is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg. There’s more to explore in the NAPC,” said Hicap.
Pamalakaya has called for the resignation of Rocamora as NAPC chief, along with other Akbayan officials holding different posts in the Aquino government.
Aside from Rocamora, the group had also asked the resignations of Ronald Llamas, political affairs adviser, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Etta Rosales, former Akbayan Rep. Mario Agujo, now member of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Board of Trustees and former Akbayan chair Percival Cendena, now commissioner at large of the National Youth Commission.
The group also urged Akbayan’s second nominee Barry Gutierrez to resign as Palace undersecretary for political affairs, and Akbayan’s third nominee Angelina Ludovice-Katoh, who serves as commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.
