Christmas Grifts

Last Thursday, at a breakfast meeting between GMA and around 190 of her congressional allies, it was reported that envelopes containing amounts between P200,000 to P500,000 were distributed. At another meeting held a few hours later, this time between the President and local government officials, more of the money-filled envelopes were given out.

So far, two people have publicly confirmed the cash distribution. The first, Cebu congressman Antonio Cuenco, in a radio interview, stated that the P200,000 was a “Christmas gift.” Later, perhaps realizing that this admission may have been a bit too honest, Cuenco backtracked and said he was merely “joking.” The second was Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, who claimed that while he was walking toward his car, he was given P500,000 in a brown paper gift bag by a Malacañang staffer for “barangay projects.”

Even going solely by appearances, there is something extremely suspicious about putting huge sums of cash in envelopes and paper bags and handing them out to public officials. In a government bureaucracy that has created an entire culture out of paperwork and red tape, where money disbursements are made though checks and supported by countless written approvals and endorsements, it is strange to see cash handed out in such a fashion – casually and seemingly without a paper trail. It is a practice you would expect from drug dealers or jueteng operators, but certainly not from upright members of the public service.

However, going by the explanations given by Cuenco and Father Ed, the whole matter crosses over from merely “looking suspicious” to becoming “outrightly illegal.”

The Revised Penal Code states that the crime of indirect bribery is committed by a “public officer who shall accept gifts offered to him by reason of his office.” Similarly, PD 46 makes it crime for “any public official and employee… to receive, directly or indirectly… any gift, present or other valuable things on any occasion, including Christmas, when such gift, present or other valuable thing is given by reason of his official position.”

Clearly therefore, attempting to justify the receipt of P200,000 in cash by calling it a “Christmas gift” only makes it more obviously illegal under the law.

Packaging the distribution as disbursements for “barangay projects” or some other public purpose, on the other hand, will not automatically make it valid. All disbursements of public funds have to be supported by an allocation under the Congress-approved budget, and must follow the proper administrative and accounting procedures. It is highly doubtful that handing over a paper bag with P500,000 cash in a parking lot to a provincial governor constitutes sufficient compliance.

Laws and regulations concerning the giving of money and other assets to public officials have one basic, common purpose – to ensure accountability and integrity in the public service. It should be crystal clear that handing out bundles of cash at breakfast meetings and in parking lots does nothing to further either of these interests.