Filipinos are in trouble with a top cop who is too relaxed and reluctant to seriously look into how a "mistah" (classmate) got hold of P6.9 million from the coffers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) without authorization from his superiors, a senator said Friday.

"Parang hindi siya nababahala. Parang hindi siya concerned sa pagtrato ng ating pera. Kung ganito ang trato ng PNP chief sa mga pangyayari sa loob ng kanilang tanggapan, delikado tayo (It seemed he's not even alarmed. It seemed he's not concerned about the money was handled. If this is how a PNP chief handles this kind of issues concerning the police organization, we're in trouble)," Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."

Roxas admitted that he nearly lost his cool during Thursday's Senate hearing on the P6.9 million worth of euros seized from retired PNP comptroller Eliseo dela Paz at the Moscow international airport in Russia last week.

"I was really angry because Verzosa, the highest official of the PNP, which lost P7 million that he did not authorized, was too relaxed. He knows the truth but he doesn't want it revealed in public because several people could be involved," the senator said.

He said Verzosa had "conditional" and "tentative" answers to senators’ questions about the P6.9-million police fund brought by dela Paz undeclared to Russia for the 77th International Police General Assembly.

The senator said Verzosa's "he said" answers seemed unlikely for a PNP chief, who is supposed to be in control of one of the most important institutions in government.

"Siya mismo ang PNP chief hindi niya masabi kung saan nanggaling ang pera! (He is the chief of the PNP and yet he doesn't know where the money came from!)," Roxas said, adding that since the Moscow incident happened over a week ago, Verzosa should have known by now how his classmate was able to slip the big amount of money out of the country undeclared.

Verzosa and dela Paz belong to the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1976, whose members now “lord” over both the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Majority of the PNP delegation to the Interpol meet were classmates of the highest police official.

Graft, malversation charges awaiting dela Paz

Roxas said that despite dela Paz's insistence that there was nothing irregular in carrying undeclared millions of cash during foreign travel, he has decided to file cases of graft and malversation of public funds against the retired police official.

"One way or the other we will file cases against him. He violated an executive order, an administrative order and the country's budget law,"Roxas said, adding that if the Senate, as an institution, will not file the cases against dela Paz, he will.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, ordered the arrest of dela Paz for snubbing the panel's subpoena for Thursday's hearing.

Dela Paz's lawyers said they will question the Senate's arrest order before the Supreme Court.

Dela Paz said Santiago's committee was not the proper body to investigate his plight at the Moscow airport. He also believes that senators will not give him a fair trial because he had been prejudged by them.

Two govt rules violated

According to Santiago, at least two government rules were violated when the Department of the Interior and Local Government and PNP sent a delegation to the Interpol meet in Russia.

First, Santiago said, the trip violated Administrative Order 103, which directs the “continued adoption of austerity measures in government" signed by President Arroyo in August 2004.
 
Section 1 of the AO directs the suspension of all foreign travels except “ministrerial meetings” and “scholarships or training that are grant-funded or undertaken at no cost to the government.”
 
Nine officials of the PNP were allowed to attend the international conference in Russia. Based on Santiago’s calculation, the generals were each given a daily per diem of P47,166. She noted that this is way higher than the standards of the United Nations Development Programme which allots P11,000 daily per diem.
 
“We are even richer than the UN!” Santiago said.
 
And two, Senator Manuel Roxas II cited the official gazette of the 2008 General Appropriations Act which he said mandates government agencies “to defray foreign travel of any government official or employee including uniformed personnel of the DILG and the DND. No official will be sent to foreign training, conference, or attend to international commitments when they are due to retire within one year after the said foreign travel.”
 
Money laundering?

Asked whether dela Paz is liable for money laundering, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Diwa Gunigundo said, “As far as I can gather, we need to establish predicate of the crime.”
 
Gunigundo said the common crimes linked with money laundering are drug trading and gambling.
 
Dela Paz defended himself saying that the money was meant as a “contingency fund” for the police generals who attended the international conference. National Police Commission vice chairman Eduardo Escueta denied knowing anything about the contingency fund, however.
 
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said there is no such a thing as “contingency fund” in the PNP budget. Although he said the police may be using their own language. He also informed the committee that the police organization spends P80 million every year for foreign and local travels.