The transfer of fund from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) reminds Sen. Panfilo Lacson of the case of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

In a television interview, Lacson questioned the transfer of P1.5 billion fund to Phisgoc, saying that it has some similarities to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that some government agencies transferred to the non-government organizations of Napoles.

Phisgoc wasn't supposed to be a foundation.

In fact, it was supposed to be a mere ad hoc committee under the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), which is the franchise holder of the SEA Games in the country.

But when Jose "Peping" Cojuangco stepped down following a court-ordered election in 2018, his successor in Ricky Vargas and seven other personalities broke away from the POC by assembling a foundation.

Members of the POC executive council questioned the formation of the foundation. They demanded explanation from Vargas, who stepped down and was succeeded by Abraham Tolentino.

"That is questionable," Lacson said.

"Remember, cases were already filed against some personalities while others were already convicted after being found out that they used a foundation as a repository of public fund."

"That's like the Napoles case. They are using private foundations and used them as a parking lot of funds coming from the expenditure program of the government."

Lacson stressed that Phisgoc chairman in House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has yet to clarify why fund has to go through the foundation.

"We have to see that because there are justifications put forward by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano when he appeared as a resource person during budget deliberations of the PSC and BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority)," he said.

"He said every step of the way, they were in consultation with the COA (Commission on Audit)."

During the budget deliberations of the PSC budget, Cayetano admitted that Phisgoc was forced to receive around P1.5 billion as "financial assistance" from the PSC as the latter could no longer disburse the fund for procurement.

After Malacañang pronounced that President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to probe the preparations spearheaded by Phisgoc, Lacson said that a Senate inquiry should start from the filing of a resolution or a privilege speech.

"Once a resolution is filed calling for an investigation, then we will investigate. If a senator would deliver a privilege speech, we have to investigate because necessarily it will be referred to a committee, in this case, either Blue Ribbon Committee under Dick Gordon, who's a no-nonsense chairperson; and or the committee on sports. I think chaired by Sen. Bong Go," he said.

*— Hananeel Bordey*