By BEN R. ROSARIO
The House of Representatives Committee on Good Government yesterday asked heads of at least four government agencies to explain the disappearance of at least R1 billion representing the government pension contribution of some 15,000 teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Iloilo Representative Arthur Defensor, committee chairman, vowed to dig deep into the anomaly as Akbayan Representative Mario Aguja sought government assurance that heads will roll once the identities of those behind the irregularity are uncovered.
Defensor’s committee has issued invitations for heads of the four agencies to appear in the initial hearing of the case scheduled tomorrow. Asked to attend the public hearing were Secretary Florencio Abad of the Department of Education; ARMM Governor Parouk Hussin; Secretary Emilia Boncodin of the Department of Budget and Management; and Winston Garcia, president of the anomaly-plagued Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Aguja revealed that officials will be asked where some R1 billion in GSIS contributions of the teachers went.
In a press conference, representatives of ARMM teachers led by Udtog Kawit revealed that the non-remittance of GSIS contributions deducted from teachers salaries started in 1997.
"This is criminal. These contributions were already deducted from the salaries of the teachers. Why were these deductions not remitted to the concerned agencies," Aguja said.
Aside from the GSIS contributions, also missing were remittances for the Philippine Public School Teachers Association and other insurance firms.
Aguja revealed that blame may have to be pinned on some officials of the DepEd-ARMM who "made irregular cash advances and payments to fictitious creditors."
"For instance, the advice of checks issued and canceled dated March 19, 2002 issued by DepEd-ARMM against their commercial accounts will show the irregularity of the disbursement which were contrary to the purpose of the DBM allocation and the list of creditors," he said.
