WORRIED it would open the door to further “tinkering of similar money and other funds,” Anakpawis party-list Reps. Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano have called for an investigation into the plan of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to use the P1.9-billion dividend of Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) for undisclosed projects.

“The plan to use the estimated P1.9-billion dividends of the CIIF from its 27-percent stake in San Miguel Corporation for undisclosed purpose raises suspicion that if the same will be allowed, the next that will be used is the [P130-billion] coconut levy funds, which is rightfully owned by small coconut farmers,” they said.

Beltran and Mariano introduced House Resolution 1491 asking the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to investigate. They added that allowing its use without even knowing for what purpose could lead to another money scandal that may even be related to underhanded use of state funds in the coming elections.

The PCGG, through Commissioner Narciso Nario, disclosed that the agency’s “sequestration” of the money has been approved through a resolution and that this has also been approved by the Office of the Solicitor General.

Nario said the funds, earnings of the 27-percent shareholding in San Miguel, whose ownership is the subject of an ongoing forfeiture case by government against businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., will be used in accordance with the various presidential decrees that created the CIIF; However, he did not go into detail or specify which decrees he was referring.

Beltran suspected the dividends might be used by the administration to fund its election-related activities, noting that the Arroyo administration has been taking over and consolidating funds and other earnings from various government assets and entities. 

CENTRAL bank officials believe that now or anytime soon is the opportune time to come out with a new retail treasury bond sale program for overseas Filipino workers, when interest rates are low and investor sentiment still sharp.

FILIPINOS may be tremendously benefiting from $12 billion worth of annual remittances sent by relatives working abroad, but seen from a broader scale there could be blips that might weigh down on income equality, local employment and country competitiveness, a labor economist said Friday.

IF done in a clean and honest manner, the coming midterm election could be a good barometer of the real pulse of the people on such issues as Charter change and the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration, the vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said on Sunday. 

THE high cost of raw materials and the high demand for services have prompted Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s mother company to hold off any major investments in the country for the meantime, Edgar Chua, the company country chairman, told reporters on Saturday.

LUZON and the Visayas appear to be attractive sites for companies planning to put up ethanol distilleries following the enactment of the alternative fuels law, according to the Department of Agriculture.

THE almost traditionally debt-laden National Power Corporation always needs money, so why is Malacañang demanding that it hand over its 2005 dividends of P2.6 billion, especially at this time when the Palace continues to claim government has so much funds it is running out its ears?

WORRIED it would open the door to further “tinkering of similar money and other funds,” Anakpawis party-list Reps. Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano have called for an investigation into the plan of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to use the P1.9-billion dividend of Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) for undisclosed projects.