‘ARMM experiment wasted taxpayer’s money’

nShaPublished : Tuesday, September 27, 2011 00:00 Written by : JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA REPORTER THE current Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) leadership is incapable of instituting reforms in the region because of its failure to act against its former officials responsible for various irregular transactions amounting to billions of taxpayers' money. At the same time Senator Franklin Drilon believes that the ARMM experiment, based on its performance for the past 20 years, can be considered a failure because the region remains one of the poorest in the country. Drilon, during the deliberation of the proposed 2012 ARMM budget conducted by the Senate Committee for Finance, asked officials of the region headed by acting Governor Ansaruddin Adiong, if they knew about the irregular transactions of the former officials of the region who are mostly members of the Ampatuan political clan and what did they do about it. Adiong for his part admitted that he did not do anything about it because he knows how powerful the Ampatuans are and that he believes that all actions made by the clan have the blessing of national government headed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "They (incumbent ARMM officilas) are afraid then, but instead of acting on the problem now they passed it on to the Department of Interior and Local Government DILG," Drilon said. The anomalous transactions, the Senator was referring to are various projects the ARMM implemented in 2008 to 2009 including the P1.4-billion spurious projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-ARMM). Too, there were questionable cash advances, fuel purchase and other questionable transactions. There was even a time when the regional government was able to release more than P100 million cash advances in a single day and approval of several projects that did not undergo proper bidding. Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier announced the planned filing of cases against former ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan for alleged misuse of funds amounting to P1 billion. P1B missing It was based on the Commission on Audit (COA) report indicating that of the P2.5 billion released to ARMM during Zaldy's term, about P1 billion was unaccounted for. The Senator also believes that the former administration knew about the irregularities and tolerated the Ampatuans. ARMM is asking P12.4 budget for next year but Drilon said the total allocation for the region for 2012 is P38.7 billion including the internal revenue (IRA) allotment, funding from other government agencies and the priority development assistance fund (PDAF). Since the establishment of ARMM 20 years ago, the national government has allotted P126.6 billion to ARMM and the biggest so far was during the time of the Ampatuans. The region remains the poorest in the country, and has the highest incidence of poverty, which also made Drilon conclude that the ARMM experiment in local autonomy and devolution of power is a failure. "If you look at the ARMM is today and the amount of money the government has allotted, it is the failure, because of the kind of leaders which have been selected in the region," he added. This is also the reason why the government is pushing for the postponement of the election in order to have an opportunity, space to institute reforms in the ARMM. The situation, according to the Senator is also frustrating on the part of the present administration because of the legal obstacle it is facing including the issuance of the temporary restraining order (TRO ) recently issued by the Supreme Court (SC) on the suspension of ARMM polls.