A taxpayer’s suit seeking to stop the use of public funds by high-ranking government officials in their respective political campaigns was filed today before the Regional Trial Court of Manila.

Identified as defendants in the complaint were Vice-President Noli De Castro, Health secretary Francisco Duque III, Defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Education secretary Jesli Lapus, Agrarian Reform secretary Nasser Pangandaman, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Augusto Syjuco, and Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation Chairman Efraim Genuino. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was also named respondent in behalf of President Arroyo.

In his complaint, lawyer Ernesto Francisco, Jr. pointed out that each of the defendants engaged in relentless tri-media political advertising campaigns on major television and radio stations as well as in major daily newspapers purportedly to promote the functions and activities of their respective agencies or to espouse certain public interest causes.

But the ads, Francisco noted, “are, on their face and in reality, clear political propaganda designed to promote the personalities and candidacies of the defendants and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.”

Each of the defendants have already manifested their intention to run for national elective positions in May 2010, Francisco pointed out. He also noted the likelihood of President Arroyo vying for a Congressional seat in Pampanga in the May 2010 elections.

“If defendants are indeed using public funds, not only is such act unlawful, immoral and unethical, such is also despicable considering that while they are throwing away and wasting hundreds of millions of pesos in people’s money for their own personal use, millions of Filipinos are suffering from hunger, unemployment, lack of medical care and medication, lack of education and educational facilities, and lack of housing, to name a few,” Francisco said.  

Francisco’s petition asked the court to issue a writ of preliminary injunction and/or restraining order to prevent the defendants “from further appropriating or using public funds to pay for their paid advertisements or any other advertisements designed to promote themselves or their candidacies for public office or which may have similar effects and which are paid for with the use of public funds.”  

Francisco also asked the court to (1) order the defendants to make a full and complete disclosure of the sources of funds used for their paid advertisements and to make public the same; (2) stop the defendants from further appropriating or using public funds to pay for the subject paid advertisements or any other advertisements designed to promote themselves or their candidacies for public office; and (3) order the defendants to pay government back “all amounts sourced from public funds which were used to pay for their paid advertisements.”

Another option the court can take, according to Francisco is to order the Office of the Solicitor General to institute the appropriate action or proceeding for the recovery from the defendants of the funds used to pay for the ads.