Will Panay Fed tell the truth about the fund misuse scandal?

From the grapevine, I learned that Cadio Gorriceta pleaded with the incumbent leadership of the Panay Federation of Sugar Producers (Panay Fed) to bail him out of this burning scandal about the P1.3 million that he improperly took from the organization and spent for his personal use.

The board of directors of the Panay Fed reportedly convened an emergency meeting to confront with this sensitive issue as media reporters started making inquiries from its current president, Francis Trenas, on whether the filching of the million-peso fund really took place about 10 years ago.

Cadio Gorriceta wanted the Panay Fed to issue a statement that the money was fully restituted after the anomaly was discovered, and he owed not a single centavo to Panay Fed as a result of this highly immoral and improper act.

But Francis Trenas does not want the Panay Fed to be dragged into the controversy, so the board designated the corporate secretary, Atty. Aloysius de la Cruz, as official spokesman on the issue.

The question now is whether Atty. de la Cruz will tell the public about the whole truth.

He should answer the following questions:

1. Is it not true that the Panay Fed had allocated P1.3 million as down payment for the importation of farm tractors to help its members improve production?

2. It is not true that the money had been given to Eli Bagtasus, dealer of the farm equipment, for the purpose of getting the tractors bought from abroad, but that the transaction didn't prosper?

3. Is it not true that Cadio Gorriceta, upon learning that the transaction was aborted, secretly ask Eli Bagtasus to give him the money on the pretext that he would take care of returning it to Panay Fed?

4. Is it not true that it took several months before the disappearance of the money was discovered, and when that happened, Cadio sheepishly admitted it, and issued two checks for P650,000 each to restitution of the money to the organization?

5. It is not true that after the first check had cleared, there was a break-in at the Panay Fed headquarters, and the second check was forcibly removed from the premises?

6. Is it not true that again, the hand of Cadio Gorriceta was established in this sordid incident, and after which he agreed to issue several post-dated checks over several months to fully settle the amount?

Panay Fed owes it to the membership to tell the truth about the so-called Thomas Crown affair in the organization.