REP. Erico Aumentado (2 nd District. Bohol) has developed a scheme to facilitate transfers of Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) for his pet projects from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the provincial government, and to ensure that the funds will be used only as intended. Aumentado signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto outlining their responsibilities in the scheme in a ceremony witnessed by the heads of the beneficiary-agencies. Even as they signed the MOU, the solon already had two Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) covering eight projects for the 2 nd District with an aggregate amount of P4.95 million that he had requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to issue.

Enumerated in SARO No. G-10-09086 are the assistance to indigent patients from his district undergoing diagnostic and laboratory examinations at the Bohol Medical Care Institute (BMCI) in Tagbilaran City, P250,000; purchase of a hyperbaric equipment for BMCI, P1 million; assistance for medican, dental and surgical missions through the Philippine Gift of Life (GOL) Foundation, P500,000; Holistic Enterprise and Livestock-based Livelihood Opportunities (HELLO), P2 million; Skills Training Advocating Reliance on Self-employment (STARS) projects, P300,000 and Assistance to the Central Visayas Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet through the Bohol Division Office of the Department of Education, P500,000.

The hyperbaric equipment or decompression chamber treats the potentially fatal “the bends” – an illness that scuba divers suffer if they ascend too fast from the deep. The solon saw the need for one as several divers, including foreign nationals, have met accidents off Balicasag Island in Panglao and other dive sites in Bohol and had to be brought to Cebu. Time is of the essence, the solon had always emphasized, as some of these divers have met their untimely deaths. HELLO is an expanded livestock dispersal program while STARS is a series of livelihood trainings on 12 fields aimed at increasing the employability or pushing entrepreneurship potentials of people from the barangays. At the same time, Aumentado also transmitted SARO No. G-10-07366 covering financial assistance for indigent patients admitted to the Garcia Memorial provincial Hospital in Talibon, P200,000 and to the Francisco Dagohoy memorial hospital in Inabanga town, P100,000.

The SARO had included P100,000 originally for the rural health units of the barangays in his district for their anti-rabies campaign but he sought realignment for the same to the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV) and the Provincial Health Office (PHO) – the lead offices in implementing the program. Under the scheme, the provincial government opens a trust account with its depository bank where the solon will deposit funding checks, with the amounts itemized as indicated in the SAROs. The provincial government then immediately releases the respective corresponding amounts to the intended implementing end-user or office concerned. The scheme, however, will not be limited to the already named projects and programs, but will include more for which the solon will alert the governor.

For the indigent patients, the provincial government, through its province-owned hospitals, shall debit the amount from the fund established by the solon for the purpose and credit the same to the account of the patients as he or his representative authorizes in writing. The province, through the Provincial Budget Office, shall then furnish Aumentado on a monthly basis the list of patients who have availed of the program with the corresponding amount of assistance extended, for his monitoring and recording purposes. All transactions shall be made in accordance with existing government accounting and auditing rules and regulations. Witnesses to the signing included Francisca Baluyot, president of the Philippine GOL, Provincial Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez, chair of the Committee on Health, BMCI Administrator David Maulas Jr. and BMCI Directors Peter Dejaresco and Richard Uy. By JUNE S. BLANCO