Palace grants Balutan’s request for graft probe

Malacanang yesterday committed to heed the request of Alexander Balutan, the former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), to investigate accusations of corruption against him.Balutan last week said he would resign from office because of “personal reasons.” Malacanang, however, said he resigned because of serious allegations of corruption against him.In a news briefing yesterday, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said he met with Balutan on Monday afternoon, where he confirmed that he would be passing to the president the former PCSO general manager’s request for a probe.“I’m writing a memo precisely for that, that is our agreement. But I think General Balutan is already fine with the clarification that he was not fired,” Panelo said. “I will write a memo to the president. Since there is a request, I will suggest that the request be granted, that there be an investigation,” he added.Panelo said Balutan resigned out of delicadeza (sense of propriety) because of the many allegations of corruption against him.These include the Commission on Audit finding that Small Town Lottery has not been able to reach its collection goal, a charge that Balutan denied.“He told me, he wants everyone to know that it is not him. But since they are charging him with corruption, out of delicadeza, he resigned,” Panelo said.Last Friday, Panelo said Balutan was “fired” because of corruption allegations that were not expounded.However, he backtracked on Monday, saying the former Marine general resigned from his post, confirming the earlier statement of Balutan.Panelo said there was no need to apologise over the blunder.“Whether he was fired on that basis or he resigned on that basis, the basis is only one, there were serious allegations of corruption. He wants to have an investigation on that and he would not want to be viewed as clinging to a position when there are serious allegations of corruption against him,” he said.“The president, he does not want even a whiff of corruption and there were already a lot of complaints,” he added.Over the weekend, Balutan’s spokesman Florante Solmerin asked those accusing the former PCSO general manager of corruption to present evidence.“These are merely serious allegations, allegations of serious corruption. Balutan said he is open to a full investigation to ferret out the truth so the truth will come out,” Solmerin told Manila Times.Last week, Balutan said he would only step down from office if somebody from Office of the President or Congress asked him or ordered him to do something which “he cannot stomach.”