DFA P5B fund spent on useless projects

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves…” (Isaiah 1:23, the Holy Bible).

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AMAZING FAITH IN GOD AMIDST MISFORTUNE: Top-notch Metro Manila businessman Alvin Lacambacal, a fellow Leader President who served Rotary International District 3810 in Rotary Year 2006-2007 under the inspiration of then Gov. Lyne Abanilla of the Manila Bulletin, wrote a short but powerful acclamation of a Pateros resident’s amazing faith in God.

Read on, it might move you to tears, as Alvin’s story did to me: “June 22, 5:43 PM: A few minutes ago, we were in the middle of his completely burnt-down house. At the side of the Pateros Municipal Hall, we stood there talking. Our company driver was covered from head to toe with soot, but a father's pride was evident in his voice as he told me that the two girls we saw a moment ago shoveling ash were his daughters.

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SIMPLE PEOPLE, SIMPLE FAITH: “Lucky they look like their mother, I said. I wanted to test his disposition. He laughed. Heartily. All of his family's belongings, save for the clothes on their backs, have been reduced to ashes. Yet his laugh was sincere. I stayed a little longer, sensing he needed to voice out his emotions.

“He became a bit somber and said "Sir, kanina nga po umiiyak ang asawa at mga anak ko. Sabi ko huwag na silang umiyak kasi ito ang ipinagkaloob ng Diyos sa atin" (Sir, a while ago, my wife and my children were crying. I told them not to cry anymore because this is God’s will for us). Simple faith of simple people in the face of overwhelming tragedy. Sometimes they inspire me more than the most learned people.

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“P5 B DFA FUND SPENT ON NON-OPERATIONAL PROJECTS”: Today, please read the other parts of the Complaint for plunder and graft which was filed with Office of the Ombudsman by Reynaldo Joson, the chief of the Hygiene and Sanitary Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), against other top DFA officials and ambassadors, involving some P5 billion in repair and renovation funds for the agency. Read on:

“7. On my own reading, a big chunk out of the DFA annual maintenance budget of P5 billion for non-operational but paid projects is too heavy a burden for Juan De la Cruz (or the Filipino people) to shoulder.

“8. These failures are attributed to the nonfeasance or malfeasance of the responsible officers of DFA, who are the respondents in the above-entitled case, tasked to oversee the projects, programmed and budgeted by the National Government.

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DFA WHISTLEBLOWER EASED OUT OF JOB: “9. The said findings of anomalies were properly reported to U/Sec Franklin Ebdalin and to the other officials, now respondents here. As a result, complainant was inexplicably berated and instructed to keep his silence, and threatened, either to be killed or be dismissed from office.

“10. Because of complainant’s reports, he was taken out of his position as head of Sanitary and Hygiene Unit of the DFA, and assigned as a consular employee at the Philippine Embassy in Japan, the clear purpose of which is to purge him from the doing of the powerful respondents within the DFA…” More next issue!

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PLEASE LISTEN: “Ang Tanging Daan” (The Sole Way), a Bible study and prayer session on radio, airs Mondays to Fridays, 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at DWAD 1098 kHz on the AM band. For replays, go to www.facebook.com/angtangingdaan or www.facebook.com/ANDKNK and scroll for “Ang Tanging Daan” broadcasts. Phone: 0922 833 43 96, 0918 574 0193, 0917 984 24 68. Email: batasmauricio@yahoo.com.

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