Apology, amends needed for SEAG fund diversionBy The Manila Timeshome/Opinion/Editorial/Apology, amends needed for SEAG fund diversionA FULL apology and appropriate rectification are needed with respect to the unconscionable diversion of the P7.5 billion budget for the Philippines hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The officials in the executive branch and the legislature who collaborated in the fund diversion should apologize to the nation and the country’s sporting community for this frustrated anomaly. It is a good thing that Sen. Franklin Drilon, the Senate minority leader, was alert in exposing the fund diversion during the Senate’s deliberations on the 2019 budget. It is, of course, a fact that he used to be the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a post which he occupied at the time when the fund diversion occurred. These past distinctions cannot be adduced as a sound or legal rationale for either the fund diversion, or Cayetano’s mysterious designation as chairman of the SEAG organizing committee.

Source: Manila Times December 09, 2018 16:18 UTC