The guy who now packages himself as every girl’s BF is staring graft charges in the face.
Yes, Mr. Bayani Fernando, Malacanang’s poster boy at the Metro Manila Development Authority admitted that he unblinkingly accepted a cash ‘birthday gift’ in four instalments from amusement tax earnings.
The tax collected from moviegoers is intended by law to be used for movie industry workers, among others.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/170792/mmda-chief-admits-p16m-cash-gift-came-from-mmff-funds
BF, who says he is a cinch to win the presidency (based on his current survey score of 1%), even told Sen. Jinggoy Estrada he does not intent to donate the gift to charity, nor reject such cash gift in the future.
The voluble Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago was aghast at BF’s admission, describing it as a confession of taking public money for personal benefit.
No-brainer conclusion that BF can’t be your BF, or BFF even.
BTW, Mr. Fernando says in the PaLaka presidential bet derby he’s ahead of Gilbert Teodoro who has a .2 survey rating since he has all on 1 %.
Sure.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Well, you have to give him credit for being more honest than his boss.
Depends on what honesty for him is.
Is their honesty in pocket public money?
you are an idiot if you give BF a credit for “admitting he pocketed public money”
For being more honest than his boss is one thing and pocketing the money is another… truth hurts and you gotta admit sometimes you can’t help but think everything’s a lie until somebody finally steps out and say what everybody wants to hear. in that context, that’s the “credit” he’s talking about.
Maybe it’s being honest. Or maybe he doesn’t know the law.
Dean
Surprise, surprise. Ombudsbabe Merciditas Gutierrez suspends Romulo Neri and included in the charges of corruption Burgher Abalos on NBN scandal but absolves the Pidal couple of any wrongdoing. How cute. Iba talaga si classmate.
The Ombudsbabe knows that with the term of her patron about to end she, the Ombudsbabe, is vulnerable to being impeached by a congress not anymore controlled by the Pidals. Panic and deceitful manueverings.
Same shame and sham.
Gutierrez inhibited herself from the resolution indicting Neri, FYI po…
Yes, like some mafiosi delegating the kill to a hitman.
Ding,
You dissing my man Teodoro? ahahahahahahahahahaha
He only needs 40% to win. Ummm, 39.8% to go . . .
Joe
BF should sing more tunes….nandyan na yan eh…tutal di naman siya piniling standard bearer ng partido niya…uhmmm…yan kaya ang nasa isip niya ngayon?. abangan na lang natin.
There are a lot more facts to take into account and therefore it cannot be prejudged. To do so betrays the decency, intelligence, and fairness that the live issue requires.
Officials who are accepting a million peso gift. And does not know
where it came from; must have their heads examined by a competent
psychiatrist. If they give you that huge money as a gift. Would
you just grab it and pocket it ?
I may be dumb as Bayani Fernando. But, even for an ordinary thinking
Filipino would ask: who gave the money? Where did it came from ?
Maybe, it was a MANNA from heaven, I guess…
Ding,
I am personally finding real difficulty having to reconcile your very short blog with that link cited – they don’t have the same reading sense at all.
It would appear that you are trying to impute on BF something that is yet to be proved, reason for the Senate inquiry.
Until then, we should just wait for the the final Senate report and then begin to sift truth through the maze, as if it were.
There is a lot more time to reflect than rather irresponsibly put it as if BF really pocketed some public money not otherwise intended for what it has been expended for.
“irresponsibly”?
I was at the hearing. Were you?
Sabit na, hindi po ma makita?
Anyway Prime, you can shift to campaigning for him as senator, just maybe lumusot siya.
Have a great day.
By the way, I also saw the 4 voucher payments made out to him.
the sad thing is that he doesnt understand that accepting gifts of any kind is illegal under current law.
Also Prime you can review the provisions of the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees.
As the plot thickens, let us see how the subsequent report from the same link reads this time. Of course, you will post it accordingly as your next jumping board for anything else you wish to say against BF.
As things can be magnified, they too can be oversimplified. That said, let us await the final Senate committee report on the matter before drawing seemingly absolute conclusions.
BF is just being honest in a way and it is a proven character of a man of great character. We need to realise that Honesty as a virtue simply means ‘being true to yourself and to others.’ James Allen aptly stated in one of his writings that, “Honesty means not cheating or overcharging (not necessarily in terms of money) another. It involves the absence of all trickery, lying, and deception by word, look, or gesture. It includes sincerity, the saying what you mean, and the meaning what you say.”
BF is just being straightforward and candid in that sense. People should know that the Metro Manila Film Festival, as an organization, is supported and funded majority, by the film producers, actors and people in the film industry. It is run as an independent organization and it has all the rights to grant rewards to whoever it thinks deserves the reward. It has all the right reasons to give the man the gift for the MMFF knew that it will indirectly benefit more people in the end because it is supporting the just cause of the man…the cause of delivering this country from moral decline through his candidacy in 2010. The people behind the MMFF believes in the man.
Please note also that MMFF is not an illegal ‘weteng’ or underground lottery organization that anyhow rewards people with gifts.
Those few people who are ‘con-BF’ are mostly ‘shortsighted’ and ‘bakyamedia-informed’ individuals who gather their perceived ‘wisdom’ from hearsay and don’t really think for themselves, I think.
They think what other people thought or have said. They have the tendency to continually instruct others, gratis, how to manage their affairs while they are the ones who most mismanages their own affairs.
“One of the distinguishing differences between a wise man and a foolish is, that the wise man pays careful attention to the smallest things, while the foolish man slurs over them, or neglects them altogether. Wisdom consists in maintaining things on their right relations, in keeping all things, the smallest as well as the greatest, in their proper places and times. To violate order is to produce confusion and discord, and unhappiness is but another name for discord.” – James Allen.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090828-222389/MMDA-chief-told-to-explain-cash-gifts
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/aug/27/yehey/top_stories/20090827top8.html
The only questions, and one fact:
Did he take public money as ‘birthday gift’?
Is that allowed under the Law?
C’mon Prime, gisingin mo sarili mo.
Being ‘honest’ about doing something illewgal doesn’t cut it.
To recap:”BF, who says he is a cinch to win the presidency (based on his current survey score of 1%), even told Sen. Jinggoy Estrada he does not intent to donate the gift to charity, nor reject such cash gift in the future.”
Claro na po ba?
wait, according to BF and commenter sophie, its NOT public money.
ano ba ang katotohanan?
Gabby,
At the hearing vouchers from the MMFF were presented – 4 vouchers reflecting the fund releases to Mr. Fernando.
The MMFF funds come from the collection of amusement taxes…the taxes paid my moviegoers, which by law are partly allocated for benefit prOgrams for Movie industry workers, administered by MOWELFUND.
from BF:
““The MMFF is not a charity,” he said. “It is business. Almost P200 million more went to producers so the industry actually benefited more. If the beneficiaries feel they need money, then they should go to the producers because they are making enough “money.””
its either a public enterprise, OR its a business.
ano ba tlga?
If this mistaken perception be later proved false, shouldn’t it be time to qualify Ding as your ordinary ‘rumor-mongers’ in the Old Media? I cannot help but think aloud given the serious impact that such a rather irresponsible viewpoint could wreak havoc on.
Ding is a friend but I think he might have been just too prejudgmental or it becomes inherent in his all too reportorial style of too muchly ‘editorialized’ if not biased discourses.
Alam mo Prime…
Your assertion falls flat on your BF’s own admissions in an open Senate hearing.
Check the public record of the minutes.
This is not about reportage by media but proceedings in a hearing.
Is this hard to understand. I was at the hearing.
Ulitin ko… the 4 vouchers were in his name. This is not perception.
It isa fact.
Further reference:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090828-222389/MMDA-chief-told-to-explain-cash-gifts
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/aug/27/yehey/top_stories/20090827top8.html
Ding G. G., check out this one:
http://www.bloggen.be/philippinenews/archief.php?ID=440597
to open your mind’s eye.
Ding,
In that hearing, did you hear BF really utter in admission those words – “Yes, I pocketed public money”?
If not, reserve your judgment.
Are you in a position to classify as violation of law mere perceptual appearance of BF’s name in four vouchers? Do you classify as illegal if one accepts a birthday gift made out from vouchers?
Are you 100% sure that the ‘birthday gifts’ in cash are really public money that may have been misappropriated?
Waiting game, ding, until the official appreciation of the Senate committee is issued out.
This is my last missive on this thread given your refusal Prime to understand. We can argue till hell freezes over about your BF explicitly say he got public money and Sophie linking to the assertion that the MMFF has private money.
But if you read the law along with decided graft cases you will lesarn that public officials are prohibited by law from accepting/receiving any gift/s of excessive value (P3,000 being the threshold).
Erap himself was found guilty of plunder for his admission of the jueteng monies despite his claim that it did not come from public coffers.
You are free to believe what you want, hey even vote for BF.
Let’s see each other as HIS inauguration. :D
Be well…..
Ding Gagelonia please read:
MMDA chief cleared in filmfest fund misuse
Wed., 3Jun09
THE executive committee of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) has cleared Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando of any wrongdoing in the alleged mismanagement of the filmfest funds.
Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) chairman Esperidion Laxa, Solar Entertainment president Wilson Tieng, and National Cinema Association of the Philippines (NCAP) president Ric Camaligan said the cash gifts given to Fernando were private funds such as the P2 million given by the NBN Television Network.
“It was not taken from the MMFF revenues. It came from beneficiaries,” Laxa said adding that the cash gifts were in recognition of Fernando’s able statesmanship of the MMFF which resulted in increased income for the annual filmfest.
For his part, Camaligan pointed out that the approval of the cash gifts was deliberated and discussed upon prior to approval by the executive committee.
As to the reported decreasing share of various MMFF beneficiaries, Camaligan said this was due to the continuous reduction of amusement taxes by the local government units as the filmfest gets its income from the taxes.
He also pointed to the increase in the MMFF beneficiaries and the problem of piracy as another factor.
The MMDA is managing the yearly MMFF by virtue of a law passed during the Marcos administration.
The festival, which runs from the 25th of December to the first week of January, focuses on locally-produced films.
The MMFF earnings is divided into: Mowelfund (35 percent), Film Academy of the Philippines (10 percent), Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council (five percent), Optical Media Board (five percent), Film Development Council of the Philippines (five percent), and the President Social Fund (35 percent).
Last year, movie director Leo Martinez told a Senate hearing spearheaded by the committee on mass media chaired by Ramon Revilla Jr. that the gross income of the festival has been increasing but that the share of beneficiaries has been decreasing.
Martinez said that from 1986 to 2000, the MMDA gave beneficiaries from nine to 11 percent of the gross income but in 2005, the beneficiaries got only four percent and three percent in 2006.
Boots Anson Roa, also a member of the filmfest executive committee, said Mowelfund has recognized the “invaluable contribution” of Fernando to the dying local movie industry.
Other members of the executive committee also said they find the allegations against the MMDA chief “unfair, unfounded, and without any legal basis.”
“The truth of the matter is that in the calendar year 2002-2003, there was a remarkable increase in income derived from the MMFF, more than double the amount of the recorded gross revenue in the previous years,” they said.
In that period, the filmfest income increased from P147 million to P315 million.
According to the executive committee, “this notable success of the festival came under the leadership of Chairman Bayani F. Fernando.”
It further explained that the decision to grant such amounts to Fernando’s favorite charities in relation to his contributions to the MMFF was arrived at after a consensus of the executive committee and done in his absence and without his knowledge. (AH/Sunnex)
What mismanagement of MMFF funds? – Bayani
05/12/2009 | 09:39 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando belied Tuesday claims by Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada that he had misused funds of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
In a radio interview, Fernando also said Estrada may have raised the issue because he wanted management of MMFF funds to go to his Movie Workers Welfare Fund (Mowelfund).
“Wala akong nalalamang mismanagement diyan. Taun-taon lumalaki pa ang kinikita ng film festival sa kabila ng lumiliit ang taxes. Napakalaking oras inuubos ko sa film fest [I cannot recall any mismanagement of MMFF funds. Every year, the Film Festival sees a rise in earnings, despite lower taxes],” he said in an interview on dzXL radio.
He also voiced suspicions Estrada raised the issue because he wants Mowelfund, which his father former President Joseph Estrada helped found, to handle the MMFF and its funds.
But he said the MMFF funds are under the management of the MMDA by virtue of the law as early as the Marcos administration.
“Baka yan ang motibo niya, gusto niya hawakan ang pamamahala nito. Ang problema, sa batas yan. Ang MMFF may EO yan noon pa panahon ng Pangulong Marcos, tinatadhana ang mangangasiwa ang chairman ng MMDA [Perhaps that is his motive for seeking the investigation. He wants to get his hands on the MMFF funds. But the problem is, a Marcos executive order already puts the management of MMFF funds in the MMDA chairman’s hands],” he said.
“Ngayon palagay ko, kaya niya sinisilip gusto niyang sila mamahala sa festival na yan [I think he is bringing up the issue now because he wants to handle that festival],” he added.
Fernando said he will let go of the MMFF in his capacity as MMDA chairman only when he resigns to run for President in 2010.
“Automatic yan. Pag ako nag-file ng candidacy for president bibitiwan ko yan automatically [It’s automatic. Once I file my candidacy for president I’ll let go of that post],” he said.
Estrada cited reports reaching the office that Fernando “gifted” himself during his birthdays with “cash,” at least on three occasions, which amounted to an estimated P1.1 million.
There were also purported questionable expenses by the MMDA chairman, where MMFF funds were used in the amounts of P1.9 million and P3.5 million sometime in 2003, the senator said. – GMANews.TV
Oh, btw, don’t worry, it’s not plunder charges that BF has courted, but graft just the same.
Hi Ms. Sophie…
Your ‘new’ researches have all been previously linked to in a thread where your ‘colleague’ Primer discussed his glowing endorsement of his BF for President.
Your defense is most admirable. But you continue to refuse to see that Fernando’s admission of receiving the cash ‘gifts’ is part and parcel of the culbability being looked into and not simply the nature of the funds.
Hey are you guys not interested in BF HIMSELF BEING CLEARED BY THE RIGHT AGENCIES NOT THE GROUP THAT GAVE HIM THE ‘GIFT’?
For the absolute last time… check the law/s.
The MMFF executive committee ‘clearing him’ is likewise being probed.
Still and all…. look into the provisions of the two loaws covering this.
Best regards po.
The laws are here:
http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1989/ra_6713_1989.html
http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno3019.htm#REPUBLIC%20ACT%20NO.%203019
sa aking pagkakaalam…ang lagay, suhol, o pagtanggap ng mga regalo…ay pinagbabawal sa batas lalo na sa mga kawani ng gobyerno…ang kwento ay patungkol sa tinanggap na bonus ni Bayani Fernando mula sa MMFF…si Bayani Fernando ay tinalaga lamang sa MMDA, na ang MMDA ay tinatag pa noong panahon ni Marcos (ayon kay Sophie)…maliwanag na si Bayani Fernando ay hindi pag-aari ang MMDA at lalong hindi siya ang MMDA…siya ang tagapamahala lamang ng MMDA…at ang titulo niya ay Chairman at hindi naman Commissioner…bakit siya lamang ang tumanggap at nakinabang ng insentibo mula sa MMFF? dahil ba sa siya ang Chairman?…tanong lamang po yan ginoong ding.
at kung yan ay dahil sa partisipasyon ni Bayani Fernando bilang isang MMDA chairman…hindi dahil sa bilang isang indibidwal na tao…bakit siya lamang ang makikinabang?