Jinggoy Estrada rats on colleagues

Misery loves company.

The much-awaited privilege speech of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada predictably took to task his other colleagues in the Senate and some members of the House of Representatives for the alleged abuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“Selective justice is injustice,” Estrada said, pointing out that out of the 371 lawmakers with “irregularities” in the PDAF noted in the Commission on Audit (COA) special report, the government seemed to focus only on himself and Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr.   The three are already charged before the Ombudsman.

“We have been singled out,” Estrada lamented in his 17-page speech that curiously did not contain a single line in his defense.

Entitled “The Untold PDAF Story that the People Should Know,” the speech told a not so pretty story of how senators and congressmen are readily “rewarded, bribed,” and given “additionals” by the executive branch to get its way.

The speech was considered in the Senate as an attempt by Estrada to balance the adverse public opinion against the opposition lawmakers who have been implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam masterminded allegedly by Janet Lim-Napoles.

Estrada said the supposed “government-wide” performance audit conducted by the COA covered only three national agencies and five provinces.

Pilloried in the media and charged in the Ombudsman for allegedly making millions of pesos in kickbacks from the PDAF, Estrada said the Aquino administration also used the pork barrel system to get its way in Congress, such as the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial.

“After the conviction of the former Chief Justice, those who voted to convict were allotted an additional P50 million as provided in a private and confidential letter memorandum of the then chair of the Senate committee on finance [now Senate President Franklin Drilon],” Estrada said in his speech.

Incentive after the fact

“Where did the money come from? I am sure [Budget] Secretary [Florencio] Abad knows the answer to this. And I am sure that this was not a unilateral decision of Senate President Drilon to hand out P50 million to each senator,” Estrada said in English and Filipino.

Estrada said he voted for the removal of Corona but did so only because he believed it was the right thing to do.

“I stand by my decision in my vote to convict the former Chief Justice and assure our people that I was never influenced by this incentive, which came after the fact,” Estrada said.

Estrada also hinted at the lack of transparency on how many millions of pesos in pork barrel funds the executive branch actually released to its allies during the previous administration.

“The unclear system in the apparent secret arrangements and how much each lawmaker received could be the reason why the DBM refuses to render a complete account of releases to all lawmakers as requested by the COA,” Estrada said.

Economic stimulus fund

“The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website only provides information on PDAF releases from 2009 onwards. Why was there no information on releases in  2008? 2007? 2006? And other years? If you open the 2009 pages, the PDAF releases for then Senators (Rodolfo) Biazon, (Mar) Roxas, (Aquilino) Pimentel and Senators (Francis) Escudero, (Antonio) Trillanes and Manny Villar are among those conspicuously not posted,” Estrada added.

These current and former senators are known allies of President Aquino.

Estrada said Drilon and former Senate Presidents Juan Ponce Enrile, Manny Villar and Edgardo Angara “all know that the budget negotiations they conduct with the House and the DBM include negotiations not only for PDAF and the infrastructure projects of legislators but also for so-called congressional initiatives or budget insertions.”

“At one point, when Sen. Edgardo Angara was chair of the finance committee, I remember he even advised the senators in a caucus that there was a so-called economic stimulus fund where legislators from both Houses were allowed to avail of allocations for projects over and above the regular pork barrels. Thereafter, we were all asked to submit our listings to the committee,” Estrada said.

Puzzling DBM silence

Estrada challenged Abad to release to the COA the complete documents so that the agency could complete the audit of P115 billion worth of pork barrel funds released from 2007 to 2009. The COA special audit managed to audit just P41 billion of the pork released during the period.

“It is puzzling that the DBM has kept silent in the midst of the discussions about the nation’s treasury,” he said.

Estrada lashed out at his colleagues, Senators Teofisto Guingona III and Alan Peter Cayetano in particular, for focusing the blue ribbon inquiry on him, Enrile and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.

Estrada said the blue ribbon panel failed to investigate the COA’s finding of P1.2-billion questionable transactions of some local government units funded from the PDAF of administration allies Cayetano, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Senators Francis Pangilinan and Manny Villar.

“Why were they not mentioned? Was it because they are your allies? I am not saying that they have sinned. This is based on the COA report that there were irregularities in their allotments,” Estrada said.

Allies in House

Estrada also turned his fire on the irregularities involving public funds allegedly committed by staunch Aquino allies in the House of Representatives—House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and former An-Waray Rep. Florencio Noel.

“Were their PDAF properly used? It doesn’t appear so because according to the COA special audit report, 28 suppliers of Mandaluyong City denied having undertaken 167 transactions amounting to P28.744 million,” Estrada said.

“It means there were 28 suppliers of Mandaluyong who said they had no transactions worth P28.7 million in the city of Mandaluyong so it could be said that they were also ghost projects,” Estrada added.

Never a bribe

During interpellation, Drilon asked Estrada if the P50 million given after the Corona impeachment trial was “a bribe.”

“But categorically Senator Estrada, categorically you can state that it was not a bribe?” Drilon said.

“It was not a bribe. It was never a bribe,” Estrada said.

On interpellation by Enrile, the Senate President and presiding officer during the Corona impeachment trial, Estrada said “somebody” approached him as regards the needed conviction “but did not promise any reward.”

Enrile pressed Estrada to identify the person but Estrada said, “I would rather keep it to myself since I was never swayed by the influence of this person.”

Integrity of impeachment

“I just want to preserve the integrity of the impeachment,” Enrile said.

“I was never swayed by anybody. Not even Senate President Drilon. Not even the one close to Malacañang. I was never swayed,” Estrada said.

Just as he inhibited from the blue ribbon proceedings, Estrada didn’t offer any explanation of his involvement in the Napoles PDAF scam.

He instead scored Guingona for repeatedly asking resource persons to name him, Enrile and Revilla as those that endorsed Napoles’ fake NGOs as recipients of their PDAF.

“I am not stopping nor do I plan to stop resource persons from naming names if this is part of their narrative,” Estrada said, lamenting that the names of the three senators were being mentioned “like a broken record.”

Estrada also called out Cayetano, who during the course of principal whistle-blower Benhur Luy’s testimony, asked if one of those involved had the slogan “Gusto ko happy ka” in apparent reference to Enrile.

“I know these people know they are the ones I’m referring to. My only message to them is, ‘For every finger you point to accuse and taunt, four fingers are pointed right back at you,’” Estrada said.

‘Blatantly incomplete’

“And since he is fond of quoting from the Bible, perhaps he can reflect on this.  Let the one without sin cast the first stone.  Don’t be too self-righteous.  And most of all, don’t be too hypocritical,” Estrada added.

Estrada lashed out at the COA for its “selective and blatantly incomplete” report on the use of lawmakers’ PDAF.

“The COA report also said that it was not able to establish total releases for each legislator. Is this the reason why only P2 million was audited for Congresswoman Henedina Abad? P178 million for Congressman Niel Tupas? P197 million for Congressman Isidro Ungab? P351 million for Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano? P5 million for former Sen. Mar Roxas? P3 million for Senator Trillanes?” Estrada said.

“In contrast, the PDAF of Enrile, Estrada and Revilla are closely examined and entirely audited. What makes us so special, COA Chair Pulido-Tan?” Estrada added.

Estrada said the COA report on the PDAF only audited P41 billion out of the P115.987 billion in pork released between 2007 and 2009.

He said the COA report also failed to identify the legislators behind P69.2 billion in infrastructure projects and the legislators behind the more than P1 billion in PDAF releases.

“P70 billion are unaccounted for. Shouldn’t the public know who the legislators are behind these? Can’t they be identified or does Chair Pulido-Tan just refuse to do so?” Estrada said.

Selective reporting

Estrada also trained his guns on the report presented by Tan before the Senate inquiry.

“The special audit report also covered PDAF releases to 371 legislators. Yet during the hearing again, Chair Pulido-Tan conveniently mentioned and repeatedly named only four legislators—Enrile, Revilla, Estrada and (Gregorio) Honasan,” Estrada said.

Estrada said that when Sen. Nancy Binay asked that she name the other legislators in the COA report, Tan excused herself.

“We therefore ask why Mr. President. Why the propensity for selective reporting?  Why are certain pieces of information readily released?” Estrada said.

He also scored Tan for releasing the audit report to the media and then offering her often quoted “kahindik-hindik [appalling]” commentary.

He also criticized Tan for traveling abroad too many times a year. Estrada said that Tan traveled five times in 2010, nine times in 2011 and 10 times in 2012.

“And one more thing about the COA, Mr. President. Since when did COA ever start to have its findings validated by a broadsheet?” Estrada said.

“Chair Tan’s statement in a newspaper was quite appalling. ‘The Inquirer validates our findings. It’s providential.’ Is this the kind of Commission on Audit we have now?” Estrada added.

“We all here are victims of a flawed system which is so ingrained that it has been institutionalized,” he said.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/495217/jinggoy-estrada-rats-on-colleagues#ixzz2g6jDAuCb

Drilon confirms P50M pork barrel

Neither a bribe nor a reward.

Senate President Franklin Drilon on Thursday said the P50 million worth of pork barrel projects made available to senators after the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona last year was part of the senators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was withheld during the entire Corona impeachment trial.

Drilon stressed it was not a bribe.

“What I remember was during the four-month Corona trial no PDAF was released by Malacañang precisely to avoid suspicions that funds were being peddled to influence the trial. The PDAF that Senator Estrada was talking about was released after the trial,” Drilon told the Inquirer.

After the trial, he said the senators were asked to submit a list of their projects so that their PDAF could be released.

Drilon vehemently denied that the P50 million pork per senator was a bribe, noting that even Sen. Jinggoy Estrada clarified this to him immediately after the latter’s speech on Wednesday.

Estrada himself admitted that he accepted the P50-million “incentive” after the Senate convicted Corona.

“I have yet to see that letter mentioned by Senator Estrada. But if the insinuation is that the Department of Budget and Management and I gave out additional PDAF funds as incentives to those who voted to convict then Chief Justice Renato Corona, that is not true,” Drilon said in an earlier statement, adding senators voted according to their conscience and their own evaluation of the evidence presented during the trial.

Pressed on whether he did write a letter as claimed by Estrada, Drilon on Thursday said he might have.

“If there is a letter, it only said submit your projects worth P50 million,” said Drilon, who was Senate finance committee chair last year when the Corona trial took place.

“I cannot determine with accuracy if that was the additional PDAF because I do not keep track of releases as finance committee chair. I only relay the request of the senators for fund releases of their proposed PDAF projects. DBM releases the funds, and I am not informed of the total releases per senator,” Drilon said.

Drilon could not say who among the senators got or did not get the P50 million allocation.

The Senate in 2012 voted 20-3 to convict Corona for dishonesty in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. The three who voted against his impeachment were Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Joker Arroyo.

‘Incredible leap in logic’

“I cannot say this enough and with any more clarity: The accusations that Senator Estrada leveled against me and the administration are not true. I have absolutely no knowledge of this letter, nor am I privy to its contents or circulation,” said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“His conclusion—that I would somehow be involved in the distribution of the letter and the course of action outlined in it—requires an incredible leap in logic that is ill-justified by fact,” said Abad.

The budget chief stressed that the Aquino administration “does not and will not bribe any group or individuals—whether these ‘bribes’ are offered officially or otherwise—all for the sake of getting our way, or for the sake of gaining political leverage over parties that may oppose us.”

Told about the caucus of senators wherein the amount was mentioned, he said that the executive was “not privy to what happened in that caucus.”

“Second, we deny that there was a P50-million bribe to induce the senators to convict Corona,” said Abad.

When the Inquirer pointed out that several senators, including Senators Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile and former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, had already validated Estrada’s claim, Abad said: “Let me check our facts and get back to you.”

He later sent a text message to say that the process would take “some more time.”

Call it ‘incentive’

On Thursday, Estrada said the P50 million worth of projects distributed to senators after the conviction of  Corona might not have been a bribe but it was an “incentive” that the executive should do away with just the same.

“That was not a bribe because that came after the fact or after the conviction… You may call it an incentive,” Estrada told reporters in a telephone interview.

Estrada said he used the allocation because there were many requests for assistance from among local government units.

“I availed [myself] of it. It’s part of the infrastructure projects. If there are senators who say they can’t remember, they should check their files if there was really a letter given them, whether they [accepted it] or not,” Estrada added.

Asked if there was anything wrong with an incentive after the Senate convicted Corona, Estrada said, “I said in the latter part of the speech there is a flawed system already that’s why we have to fix the system.”

“It can’t be that whenever there’s a crisis in Malacañang, the executive will use pork barrel funds as bribes or rewards. That happened during the time of GMA [former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo], that’s why she wasn’t impeached,” Estrada said.

On Abad’s challenge for him to reveal the contents of the confidential and private memo presented by then committee on finance chair Drilon, Estrada said, “I think he just has to check the records of the (DBM).”

“[After] the conviction of Chief Justice Corona, senators availed [themselves] of additional P50 million,” Estrada said.

No selective persecution

Administration senators on Thursday used the Senate inquiry into the pork barrel scam—ironically one of the forums that Estrada said were being used to vilify him and other opposition senators—to debunk his claim of selective investigation and prosecution.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano even mocked Estrada by referring to the opposition lawmaker as the “one who should not be named”—a paraphrase of the description in the Harry Potter series of the devilish villain Voldemort.

Cayetano said Estrada and his allies were being singled out by the government investigation of the PDAF scam. He asked why only Estrada and a few others were charged when there were many lawmakers that figured in the COA special report on PDAF misuse.

“It doesn’t mean that if your name is in the COA report, that will already be the subject of an investigation by the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation],” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said during the hearing.

“As I always say, the scope of the NBI investigation is only on the Napoles component of the PDAF scam and the Malampaya Fund, meaning the information coming from the whistle-blowers and validated and verified by the paper trail,” De Lima said.

Even some personalities already named in the whistle-blowers’ affidavits aren’t charged unless the documentary support are completed, she said.  Once the case documents are completed against those implicated by the whistle-blowers, De Lima said they will be charged.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/496009/drilon-confirms-p50m-pork-barrel#ixzz2g6igkAZH

Drilon asked to reconsider Napoles subpoena

MANILA, Philippines — The chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday asked  Senate  President  Franklin Drilon to reconsider his decision  not  to subpoena  Janet Lim-Napoles, the  alleged mastermind in the P10  billion “pork barrel” funds scam.

“We urge you to reconsider your decision not to approve a subpoena issued to Janet Lim-Napoles,” Senator  Teofisto Guingona  III  said in his letter to Drilon.

“A response within three days  would be appreciated,” he said.

Guingona said “caution, timing and prudence” should not be used to diminish and destroy the Constitutional power of the Senate to conduct investigations in aid of  legislation.

And this power by the Senate, he said, has been upheld  by the Supreme Court in several cases.

“Government officials and even the  whistleblowers have been summoned pursuant to the investigation. No logical and legal reason exists why caution, timing and prudence are now being used to prevent Janet Lim-Napoles from attending the hearings of the Senate blue ribbon committee,” said the senator.

“From the time I sat as chairperson, a total of 22 subpoenas have been signed by the previous and current Senate President. There is no reason why Janet Lim-Napoles’ subpoena must be treated differently,” Guingona added.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/495477/drilon-asked-to-reconsider-napoles-subpoena#ixzz2g1engvLR