When thieves fight among themselves

PerryScope

By Perry Diaz

Janet Lim Napoles and Ruby Chan Tuason in happier days.

Ruby Chan Tuason opened a can of worms when she testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) implicating Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile in Janet Lim Napoles’ pork barrel scam. Indeed, never in the history of the Philippine Congress had someone testify before the legislative body accusing incumbent lawmakers for accepting kickbacks.

Prior to Tuason’s testimony, BRC chairman Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III opened the hearing by saying the testimony of Tuason will be a “three-point, buzzer-beater, winning shot.” This enraged Estrada who then rebuked Guingona and accused Guingona of prejudging him in the pork barrel scam. “I feel so hurt by the parting statements made by the chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee. If that’s the case, if he chooses that battle, I will give him that battle. No problem with me,” Estrada said. With that the word war between Guingona and Estrada began.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada and TG Guingona.

A few days later Guingona took the floor and delivered a privilege speech. He clarified Jinggoy’s concerns by saying that his “three-point shot” statement was not a reference to Jinggoy’s innocence or guilt. He said that he was just trying to emphasize the value of Tuason’s testimony. But Jinggoy had none of that. “If your statement was not intentional and not to prejudge me, then what is your intention?” Jinggoy asked Guingona.

The heated verbal exchange between Jinggoy and Guingona sidetracked the purpose of the hearing, which was to hear the testimony of Tuason to get a clear picture of how Napoles worked with at least three senators – Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. – in funneling pork barrel funds to bogus non-government organizations (NGO) controlled by Napoles.

Kickbacks

Tuason, who was the social secretary of former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, was the “bagwoman” of Napoles who delivered kickbacks to senators who had endorsed their pork barrel allocations to “ghost projects” of Napoles’ NGOs. Acting as the go-between between Napoles and the senators, Tuason, by her own admission, earned P40 million in “commissions” for brokering bogus projects funded from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel as it is commonly known. But that’s peanuts compared to the colluding lawmakers who received the lion’s share amounting to 40% to 70% of the money released to NGOs.

Tuason testified that in 2008 alone she delivered kickbacks totaling at least P9 million to Jinggoy. But Jinggoy refuted her claim saying that Tuason merely brought him food – pancit – and not money. She admitted that she had brought assorted sandwiches to Jinggoy; however, she claimed that she used those occasions to deliver Jinggoy’s kickbacks as well. But poor Tuason, Napoles dropped her out of the scam operation when Napoles figured a way to directly do business with Jinggoy, which makes one wonder: Did Tuason testify to get back at Napoles for cutting her out of the scam operation?

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Gigi Reyes with President Benigno Aquino III (File Photo).

Tuason also implicated Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile whom she claimed to have delivered money to Enrile’s chief-of-staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes. However, she admitted that she never got to talk to Enrile about his pork barrel allocations. But she said Reyes showed her Enrile’s authorization letter indicating he had “full trust” in Reyes.

To date, three senators – Estrada, Enrile, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. — are among 38 individuals who are facing plunder, bribery, and malversation charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged participation in the pork barrel scam. But Jinggoy insisted that there were more senators who were involved in the scam, which begs the question: Who are the other senators who had schemed with Napoles to steal the taxpayers’ money?

During his word war with Guingona, Jinggoy asked Guingona why didn’t he ask Tuason whether she also requested other senators — incumbent as well as former senators — for project allocations? Guingona replied that he had indeed asked her but Tuason denied any involvement with any of them. But Jinggoy claimed that he had received information proving Tuason’s involvement in transactions between Napoles and other senators. This prompted Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to chastise Jinggoy that he shouldn’t resort to “blind items” and instead should name names.

New witness

Dennis Cunanan, Sen. Bong Revilla, and Janet Lim Napoles

Recently, another respondent in the $10-billion pork barrel scam case offered to turn state witness. Dennis Cunanan, former head of the Technology Resource Center (TRC), said he was willing to spill everything he knew about Sen. Revilla’s misuse of his pork barrel allocations. The Department of Justice put him “provisionally” in the Witness Protection Program, subject to the Office of the Ombudsman’s final approval.

Interestingly, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed an “urgent resolution” asking the BRC to summon Cunanan as a resource person to the Senate investigation. “It is in the public’s strong interest for Cunanan to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s ongoing hearing on the PDAF scam; he can divulge information on the criminal involvement of certain public officials in the scam, and how the scam is perpetuated through the exploitation of loopholes in the disbursement of government funds,” Santiago said in her resolution. She said that the more eyewitnesses come forward, the stronger the case will be.

Dipping into the cookie jar

Senators Vicente Sotto III, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, and Bongbong Marcos.

On another front, Estrada and Revilla, together with Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vicente Sotto III are in hot water for receiving P370 million in “stimulus fund” in March 2012 at the height of the impeachment trial of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona. This was confirmed by no less than presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, who said that the money came from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Little was known about DAP until September 25, 2013 when Jinggoy delivered a privilege speech exposing the “secret dealings” and “behind closed-door” negotiations of high government officials to juggle taxpayers’ money including the pork barrel funds. Then he dropped the bombshell: Malacañang gave “incentives” — or bribes — to senators in the last two years in exchange for their support – and vote – for the President’s legislative agenda. Jinggoy mentioned 20 senators who received an extra P50 million in the form of additional pork barrel for their vote to convict former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. Of the 23 incumbent senators at that time, only Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Miriam Defensor-Santiago were untainted by the anomalous releases of DAP funds during the Corona impeachment trial.

With witnesses coming out of the woodwork to testify against those involved in the $10-billion pork barrel scam and the alleged bribery of 21 senators during the Corona impeachment trial, the Senate chamber is degenerating into a free-for-all among the lawmakers. The spectacle of senators pointing fingers at one another in full view of television viewers makes one wonder: What happens when thieves fight among themselves? The answer is: the people suffer. Indeed, that’s what’s happening right now.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)