Better late than never.

Palace staff pocketed P455,000 from PCSO?

MANILA, Philippines — She received a check for P460,000 as donation but received only P5,000. Where did the rest of the money go?

Malacañang wanted to know as well, and on Friday it ordered an investigation into a complaint of a woman who claimed that the liaison officer in the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Religious Affairs had given her P5,000 to help her ailing daughter out of a check that amounted to P460,000.

Normita Bernadez said a P460,000-check had been issued in her name but she received only P5,000.

Bernadez said Gladys Bayuga, a liaison officer of the Palace’s religious affairs office, had asked her to cash the check.

She said that from the start, Bayuga had told her that through the presidential office she would get P5,000 in medical assistance for her adopted daughter, 19-year-old Marisol Igme, who was suffering from a tumor in her nose.

When Bernadez cashed the check at a branch of government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines on Solano Street near Malacañang, she was surprised to find out that it amounted to P460,000 and it was made out to her name.

“Hindi ako naghahabol na maging akin ‘yong pera” [“I did not try to get the money”], Bernadez said after a meeting with Undersecretary Fatima Valdez, presidential adviser for religious affairs.

She said she just wanted to find out what happened to the rest of the P455,000.

In a statement, Valdez said she had ordered an investigation and summoned Bayuga “to appear before this office to answer the complaint.”

“This is to give both parties a chance to tell their side of the story,” she said. “After the investigation, we will submit our findings to the Office of the Executive Secretary.”

Bernadez had aired her complaint in a television news program.

On Friday, she went to the Palace to see Valdez and to tell her story. She was accompanied by her adopted daughter Marisol, who wore a cap and sat quietly while her surrogate mother spoke to reporters.

The 48-year-old Bernadez, who is from the Pansol area of Quezon City, explained that she had adopted Marisol, her husband’s niece who was orphaned when she was 2 years old.

‘Good and helpful’

Bernadez, who has four other children, said she had been going around seeking financial help after Marisol was diagnosed with cancer in April.

She said she heard about Bayuga from the mother of another cancer patient. She that that sometime in May or June she was finally able to contact Bayuga, whom she described as a good and helpful person.

She said Bayuga informed her that she would be getting P5,000 in medical assistance.

“I was happy because that money would help in the radiation treatment for Marisol,” Bernadez told reporters.

She said that when she was asked to accompany Bayuga to cash the check, she signed the voucher and was surprised to discover that the check was made out to her name and that it was for P460,000.

She said Bayuga told her that the rest of the money would be given to other patients in need.

Bernadez recalled that another woman was with them and that she was made to cash a check for P200,000.

Eventually, she said, Bayuga gave her P5,000 in cash, as promised.

Bernadez said she continued to look for financial help for Marisol, who needs three cycles of chemotheraphy. One cycle of treatment costs P50,000.

She added that Bayuga sent her a text message Thursday when her complaint was aired on TV.

She said the text message stated, “Bakit ginawa mo sa akin ito?” [“Why did you do this to me?”]

Bernadez said she simply wanted to know what happened to the rest of the money.

As far as I know, Bayuga is now missing. Note the ironies of this case. Corruption in the Office of Religious Affairs, Fortress by the Pasig?