Anomalous Marathon..?

"The governor has reportedly been asked to explain where the registration fees paid by 5,147 participants in the 2010 CamSur Marathon had gone and why P5,660,160 in registration fees for 12,671 other registrants were not collected. The findings are part of an investigation that is based on reports that the provincial administration has not been issuing receipts for users of the tourism and sports facilities that it runs."

Corruption has taken a new form... MARATHONS?!

Taken from the article of Jojo Robles

We have been informed that Camarines Sur Gov. LRay Villafuerte has said that the adverse findings reported by the Commission on Audit against him and his administration for the years 2007-2009 have already been completely and satisfactorily answered. But we’ve also been told that COA has documents to show that the provincial government mismanaged Camarines Sur’s funds until last year.

The governor has reportedly been asked to explain where the registration fees paid by 5,147 participants in the 2010 CamSur Marathon had gone and why P5,660,160 in registration fees for 12,671 other registrants were not collected. The findings are part of an investigation that is based on reports that the provincial administration has not been issuing receipts for users of the tourism and sports facilities that it runs.

Furthermore, COA alleged that Villafuerte’s administration violated the Local Government Code when it entrusted to a private corporation called CamSur Events Inc. the collection of various fees from these events. Villafuerte, we’ve been told, is being asked to explain who owns the private outfit and if any of them are related to him or his fellow local officials.

There are also reports that government auditors are also looking into the Ironman and water-boarding events hosted by Camarines Sur this year. Villafuerte is also being linked to the purchase of P20 million in fuel from what seems to be a favored Petron dealership which COA said it did not pass through a bidding and which was improperly documented.

Of the P20 million in fuel, P4.9 million was reportedly used by MV LRay, a catamaran, for the period June to October 2010 to ferry passengers from Port Bongalon to various areas of Caramoan, Camarines. COA said that the vessel’s records revealed that the boat was on “standby” almost every day during the period when it was supposed to be ferrying people.

Of course, even the millions involved in these transactions are small compared to the P4.3 billion worth of property and equipment which COA said Villafuerte’s administration cannot account for. Now that the governor has decided to go after his supposed nemesis, Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, with graft charges after being charged himself before the Ombudsman, we expect more allegations to surface.

Small wonder, then, that most local officials in the province and nearly all members of Congress want to carve out the new province of Nueva Camarines from CamSur. Perhaps they can no longer stand Villafuerte?