Days of reckoning

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The case of former chairman Prospero Pichay of the Local Water Utilities Administration, as decided on by the Court of Appeals, should give a strong warning to government officials that they should never forget that the funds of the agencies or units they head are not theirs to dispense as if they were their own.

Pichay, who used to be linked closely to the past administration, had been appointed to head the LWUA. While in that position, he and his fellow officials then decided to invest P480 million of the agency’s money in the Express Savings Bank, Inc., despite the fact that it was then under rehabilitation by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In other words, the bank was already sinking when Pichay et al used LWUA funds in an attempt to revive it.

Nothing has been mentioned of the motivation that led Pichay to try and rescue the ESBI, and suspicious that he may have had an interest in it, or that he did so upon orders from a higher authority, are, so far, not validated. And so, some concerned officials of the LWUA had filed charges against Pichay with the Ombudsman, who forthwith, ordered his suspension. It is interesting to note, too, that the suspension had never been approved by then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

After Gutierrez’s resignation, the Acting Ombudsman placed Pichay under preventive suspension, and Malacañang later ordered his dismissal, which he appealed to the higher court.

It could be a foregone conclusion that Pichay and the rest who have been charged, will still bring the matter up with the Supreme Court, but, as matters stand, he may have a long way to go. In the meantime, all other government functionaries under the former administration, who may have some skeletons in their closets, should now brace themselves for the consequences of their “sins”. The fact that President Aquino’s ratings have gone up, supposedly because of his position on those involved in graft and corruption, should tell them that their days of reckoning may be coming, too.*