Galvez dives into cash grant scandal

Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., has vowed to investigate an alleged anomaly in the distribution of P100,000 cash grants to rebel returnees.

“This government shall not tolerate any act of corruption or irregular transactions, more so those that undermine the well-being of our MILF brothers and sisters,” Galvez said in a statement.

The alleged corruption was revealed during last Tuesday’s Senate hearing of the Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who chairs the panel, said he received complaints from former Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who claimed their commanders took a 50-percent cut from the P100,000 cash aid given to them by the government.

“That was one of their concerns. If you had 26,000 combatants who surrendered, then P1.3 billion did not go to them but to their commanders,” Estrada said.

Galvez said such “isolated incidents will be thoroughly investigated and will be brought to the attention of the MILF leadership.”

During the hearing, MILF Peace Implementing Panel Secretariat member Mahajirin Ali said they were still validating the report.

Ali said the MILF leadership does not tolerate such illegal practices and assured that disciplinary action would be meted out to anyone found guilty of the allegation.

“I don’t know the extent of the practice, but again, we’ll be very happy to receive the report. And we could also validate it internally within the MILF hierarchy,” he added.

Cesar Yano, Government of the Philippines’ peace implementing panel chair, said he had brought up the concern to his MILF counterpart for immediate action.