Monday, September 23, 2013

Jinggoy’s speech may implicate colleagues

By Angie M. Rosales
The Daily Tribune
But senator refuses to divulge contents
Jinggoy.1More senators are likely to be dragged in the continuing controversy on the alleged pork barrel scam, but Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is poised to deliver a privilege speech in relation to the scandal, is withholding information on the body of his speech and refused to say whether some of his colleagues will be implicated in relation to the purported misuse of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or in the conduct of the inquiry by the Senate blue ribbon committee.
Estrada, who was supposed to deliver his speech yesterday afternoon, during their regular plenary proceedings, made a manifestation on the floor to defer the delivery of his speech for next week.
When cornered by reporters after the plenary session, the senator refused to even give any hint on the contents of his speech which was originally intended to be delivered last Monday, the same day of the filing of plunder charges against him and two other senators – Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. – by the Department of Justice (DoJ) before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
“I am still thinking about it since some of my colleagues are involved,” Estrada was quoted as saying in explaining his decision to postpone the delivery of his speech.
Reiterating the participation of “some”, the senator could not be badgered into divulging the circumstances that may obviously place some of his fellow senators in a bad light.
“I’d rather keep quiet (for the moment),” he said, in answering a query whether the names of those who could be “implicated” had not surfaced in the past or even in the Senate investigation on the pork barrel scam.
“We are being pictured as the worst thieves and that I will not accept. We were not confronted pver these allegations yet even with the testimonies of the whistleblowers and the documents that they claim to have in their possession. But still, everyday, we were placed in the headlines of the newspapers portraying us as guilty (of having received kickbacks on the pork barrel). As far as I am concerned, I am innocent,” he stressed.
Enrile, speaking through his spokesman Enrique V. De la Cruz Jr., called as incomplete, hasty and partial the investigation of the DoJ.
“That investigation has been accompanied by repeated and deliberate “leaks” and the turnover of 17 boxes of documentary evidence to the DoJ three days after the Department revealed and the President confirmed that a conclusion had already been reached.
“In the words of Secretary De Lima herself, she said: ‘I have to be very candid. We are under extreme pressure to file already a case or cases ASAP …’
“Let me make clear that I am innocent of the charges filed against me.
“The Filipino people are entitled to a thorough, complete, and impartial investigation so that whatever his rank, whoever is guilty is punished and the innocent are exonerated. That is not the kind of investigation that has been done.
“I therefore trust that the Ombudsman will conduct a thorough, complete, and impartial investigation under due process of law so that justice be done to all. It is with this trust that I will lay my case before her. I am therefore ready to fully and honestly cooperate with the investigation to discover not just the truth but the whole truth,” Enrile said.
“I empathize with him. That is also our obsservation, because they are under pressure to file cases already,” Estrada said.
“It’s really one-sided. It is only their side that is heard. Our side is never heard. That is what is sad,” Estrada lamented.
The minority bloc has not had any meeting or caucus regarding the PDAF controversy and will hold one as soon as Enrile is discharged from the hospital and given a clean bill of health.
Doctors found an obstruction in his urethra which was immediately removed. The senator was supposed to be discharged this afternoon but doctors advised him to stay for another day for observation.
In an interview with dzBB, Senate President Franklin Drilon mentioned a supposed “request” made by the minority bloc regarding the conduct of the probe by the blue ribbon on the PDAF scandal.
“They did not ask for the hearings to stop, They know that this cannot be stopped since there is a resolution. All they asked is for their names not to be mentioned,”Drilon said.
When asked if there was a senator who supposedly issued a “threat” to the effect that some other upper chamber members will be dragged as well if names will be mentioned, Drilon practically confirmed the information, underscoring the fact that it was allegedly made but “not in the caucus” that they held weeks ago.
The Senate chief did not mention any names as to the colleague concerned.
Whether the three senators ought to take a leave of absence, “that is addressed to the individual decision of the senators. There is no requirement of the Senate for them to take a leave of absence.”Drilon said
At least two senators yesterday insisted that the Senate blue ribbon committee must continue and must not confine its probe on the so-called Napoles “issue” in the alleged pork barrel scam, saying that not only the remaining 74 purported bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) should be investigated but also to be investigated are the grant and release of funds to local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) as well.
Sen. Nancy Binay yesterday formally sought for the inclusion of LGUs, GOCCs and their subsidiaries that were found by the Commission on Audit (CoA) to have transfered substantial amounts of lawmakers’ PDAF to NGOs and people’s organizations (POs) without due regard to existing laws, rules and regulations.
“The present inquiry is limited in scope as it focuses solely on the transfer of PDAF to NGOs linked to the Janet Lim Napoles group,” Binay said in filing resolution No. 254.
The filing of a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman by the Department of Justice (DoJ) of the charges against those supposedly embroiled in the P10-billion pork barrel scam should not impede the continued holding of investigation by the blue ribbon committee, Escudero said.
The senator added that there are still many facts to be had surrounding the siphoning of lawmakers funds to bogus organizations.
“The uncovering of the Napoles-NGO operandi does not close the issue, but of course this is where we take off. Rather, it opened a whole wide door about other NGOs, 82 as reported in the Commission on Audit report. There are only 8 Napoles-related NGOs; we’d like to find out how the remaining 74 operates. It follows the same operation and pattern as the Napoles group and the amount involved is more staggering than what is being looked at now,” he said.
Escudero, chairman of the senate committee on finance said the Senate, in sustaining its own investigation, affords the public the venue to be informed with the facts of the case through testimonies under oath.
“The Senate remains to be the only venue where the citizens can very much acquaint themselves with the goings-on of this case from the witnesses and key players themselves. This has become equally important to the people because they now become more vigilant to demand to know where and how the government utilize the taxes they pay.”
“I have asked the committee to invite Napoles. I also spoke with Guingona about it. The court has the jurisdiction over her. Whether it grants our request or not is totally up to the court. But let it not be said that the senate did not pursue it,” he said.
During last week’s hearing, Escudero requested for the appearance of the manager of Metrobank’s Magdalena branch where Napoles was said to have made a onetime withdrawal worth P75 million.
“A withdrawal this huge is a cause for red flag from the bank to the AMLAC. The withdrawal may have been reported to the AMLAC as an automatic procedure. But what we’d like to know is if this withdrawal was reported by the bank under the ‘know your client rule’ by the BSP. Under the rule, the bank manager must know Napoles personally and what she does for a living. The sources of the big amounts she withdraw must be known to the manager. The fund from the treasury goes to an NGO account and then moved to Napoles’. There is an illegal and dubious pattern already that should have raised the red lights,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dennis Cunanan, the former deputy director general of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) implicated in the pork barrel scam, welcomed the filing of charges against him, saying this will help clear his name as well as his agency before the Office of the Ombudsman.
“I welcome this fresh development since this will help clear my name over the alleged controversy,” said Cunanan, who has been on leave as the TRC Director General since he was dragged into the pork barrel scam.

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