Vice Mayor Asentista’s abuse of 4Ps beneficiaries

BAÑOC

A disadvantaged sector of the Philippine society that is supposed to be aided and protected is once again subjected to alleged abuse by an official who was sworn into office to serve the people.

One of the 4Ps’ (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) beneficiaries of Dumanjug, Cebu, sent me a letter to air his grievance about the actuations of the vice mayor of the said town, Reniero Asentista, who, by accident, served as acting mayor for one month when elected Mayor Efren “Gungun” Gica was suspended by the Ombudsman Visayas for an alleged anomaly.

Let me invoke privileged communication in not mentioning the name of the letter sender as he pleaded to me to keep his identity. I will just use Juan de la Cruz in lieu of his true name. The said letter is written in Cebuano, so let me just narrate its content.

Juan de la Cruz alleged that during the distribution of the cash assistance of 4Ps for the month of March this year held in the covered court of Dumanjug, Cebu, he noticed some irregularities. He and his fellow beneficiaries were given by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) an additional P600 cash intended for rice subsidy.

He observed that for the first time in the distribution of 4Ps’ cash assistance, a project of the national government, of which politicians have been warned not to dip their fingers into, is being attended to by a local politician, Acting Mayor Asentista. The acting mayor was with his wife, Valen Asentista, a businesswoman. She manages the couple’s store bearing their names Reniero-Valen Store, or RV Store, at the market of the said town. At that time, the couple brought with them a truckload of rice being parked inside the covered court.

When the P600 rice subsidy was handed over to the 4Ps beneficiaries, they were collected by the wife of the acting mayor and the beneficiaries were given coupons in exchange of the cash. They were instructed to present the coupons to the person in charge of RV Store so that they can claim the alleged 15 kilos of Ganador rice.

Juan complained that the scenario deprived them of their freedom to choose where to buy and what kind of rice they want to purchase. He also said that if they were only given the liberty to spend the P600 rice subsidy, most of them would prefer to buy corn because it is cheaper and they are used to eating such kind of food.

He further alleges that the number of kilos is questionable as they were not able to see how it was weighed. They were just given a prepared packed rice allegedly weighing 15 kilos. He also doubted that it was Ganador rice as it looked like ordinary rice. He also suspected that it was being mixed with NFA rice. He said that they were forced to follow the instruction because of fear of getting the ire of powerful politicians. He opted to write a letter and ask for my assistance.

I already forwarded the letter to DSWD, and the agency investigated the complaint. Vice Mayor Asentista denied the allegations during the on-air interview over “Straight to the Point” radio program of dyHP. He said that somebody allegedly introduced himself as a representative of 4Ps and inquired in the public market which among the stores is selling the cheapest rice. He responded that his store sold rice at the cheapest price. I don’t know if he wants to be funny, but Asentista wants us to believe that the 4Ps representative met him by accident. That does not happen in the real world. We don’t even know if such encounter ever occurred.

Vice Mayor Asentista’s claim that his store sells the cheapest rice is self-serving. Tell me if there is a store owner who will say something negative against his own store! If there is any, maybe only Asentista knows. Let us say they sell the cheapest rice, there are beneficiaries who want corn. Very frankly, Asentista’s act cannot pass the test of delicadeza and law. I wish him well.

There is an apparent conflict of interest here. He should have considered the 4Ps beneficiaries as customers who have the full liberty as to how to spend their money. He should not use his power and influence as a politician to advance his business interest. He should observe fair play towards his fellow businessmen.

Asentista had only one month as acting mayor. Imagine if he had a full three terms as chief executive. He would enrich himself countless times at the expense of the poor. That’s horrible.

When I interviewed Mrs. Raquel Enriquez, regional coordinator of 4Ps program of DSWD, she said that the 4Ps beneficiaries are given all the freedom where to buy rice and what kind of rice they are going to buy. She said that they are still investigating the incident in Dumanjug.

I hope the DSWD can come up with an honest result of its investigation and prevent such scenario from happening again. Heaven knows there are similar incidents all over the country.