Agra said being in the headlines and pilloried by angry protesters were taking a toll on him and his family.
He said it pained him to see the name “bequeathed to me by my father” made the subject of snide wordplay—a reference to placards with the words “Agra-biyado” and “Agra-be” held up by protesters at the Department of Justice.
“That hurts me because I am a family guy,” he said.
…That national government agencies knew this was happening but for the longest time turned a blind eye to it is the tragedy of Maguindanao and the ARMM.
This much is clear, according to Jesuit priest Father Albert Alejo, convenor of Konsult Mindanaw: “The funding agencies know about it, because part of their money subsidizes warlordism. The IRA (internal revenue allotment) goes into lining the pockets of some of these important people.”…
…A special COA report on ARMM’s education department covering the period 2002 to 2005 noted that, “for CYs (calendar years) 2002 to 2004 alone, the DepEd failed to remit to GSIS deductions from employees’ salaries representing loan repayments amounting to P233,945,228.30 and government share of P118,344,279.60.”
However, the COA continued, “despite non-remittance, the funds intended for the purpose were no longer available as the PS bank accounts reflect minimal balances of P57,411.80 and P10,726.81 as of December 31, 2004.”…
…It is not surprising then that in 2005, the Philippine Human Development Report said that only 39.7 percent of adults in Maguindanao have six years of basic education, compared to the national average of 84 percent.
For those in school, the critical shortage of books is yet another problem. Maguindanao’s schools have a total of only 30,952 textbooks for Math, 34,039 for English, 28,810 for Filipino, and 25,697 for Science…
…Other, bigger ills plague the education sector in ARMM, according to COA – ghost teachers, teaching positions for sale, absentee teachers, and even ghost schools. But how the Ampatuans squandered billions of pesos in public funds, with their political patrons in Manila looking the other way, is perhaps the most ghastly scourge ever visited upon the poor of Maguindanao and ARMM.
