Palace hands off on P500-M Esperon rebel rehab scam Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/28/2010

Palace hands off on P500-M Esperon rebel rehab scam

Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/28/2010 Malacañang assumed a hands off policy on allegations of endemic corrupt practices involving some senior and mid-level officials at the Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) that the head of the agency itself, Annabel Abaya, owned up to the other day. Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said they would rather leave the matter to the Commission on Audit (CoA) and the Office of the Ombudsman which Abaya had asked to investigate the case. Saludo also mentioned that Malacañang is not inclined to demand an explanation from the previous or the current officials of the OPAPP who could have been the subject of Abaya’s charges. “As I understand it, she did not specifically name any official. What she was talking about were certain practices that she discovered,” Saludo said. Abaya told a circle of reporters she invited at her office that a P500-million project for rebel returnees that was initiated by her predecessor and President Arroyo’s trusted ally, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, has been infested by graft with P170-million worth for funds unaccounted for. She also mentioned that the previous OPAPP administration made some unauthorized purchases of vehicles and other unnecessary expenditures that have not been explained by the agency’s officials.... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100528hed5.html

HEADLINES Questions raised on authenticity on authenticity No closure yet on GMA, FG hands in ZTE scam — Aquino AFP optimistic rightful winners to be proclaimed Amnesty Int’l report: Impunity continues under Gloria Palace hands off on P500-M Esperon rebel rehab scam Melo to charge Comelec whistleblower in court