Budget Secretary Florencio Abad should take most of the blame in the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) since he has final discretion on the awarding funds including some which allegedly went to fake non-government organizations (NGOs), United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) spokesman Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said yesterday. Tiangco argued that Abad can withhold the PDAF of lawmakers, which he can also do the same to NGOs. Tiangco noted that Abad withheld the release of his PDAF in 2011. “If they can stop the release of the PDAF of the lawmakers, they can stop the PDAF from being released to fake NGOs,” Tiangco pointed out. Tiangco, at the same time, stressed that the current focus of the investigation on the PDAF scam to lawmakers is misplaced. Tiangco maintained that the investigation should also focus on the government agencies implementing the PDAF of legislators. “The lawmakers are the sacrificial lamb in this controversy. As if they are the ones guilty,” Tiangco said. The special report of the Commission on Audit (CoA) from 2007 to 2009 was concentrated on the lawmakers as it did not touch on the various government agencies that implemented the PDAF, Tiangco said. He added the DBM and government agencies implementing the PDAF should also be held accountable for the current controversy involving the discretionary funds in the budget. Tiangco made an appeal to President Aquino to relieve department secretaries that have been involved in the scam. “President Aquino is capable. Hopefully Mr. President, even your allies, whether they are legislators or part of the Executive branch, when they are found definitely involved in a controversy, they should be ordered relieved,” Tiangco stressed. He said that Aquino should have the political will to relieve and allow the filing of criminal cases against those involved in the anomaly whether they be from the administration or the opposition. “For me, it’s better to file charges against all who are guilty, whether they are from the political opposition or from the administration. The law should be equally applied to all including those from the executive department. This is not going to happened if those from the executive did not allow it to happen,” he said. He said that it is imperative upon the president to relieve his alter egos who are involved in this anomaly. “He could be held liable under the dictum of command responsibility,” Tiangco said referring to Aquino. Leaders of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) in the House of Representatives are also set to meet today to address the issue of PDAF implementation amid calls for its abolition. “Yes, the issue concerning pork barrel whose abolition was echoed by no less than the President is possibly one of the major concerns to be discussed,” Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte said yesterday. Belmonte will be presiding over the meeting which will be held at the “Balay” of the Roxases in Cubao today. Some 113 LP members are expected to attend the meeting. Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, secretary general of LP, said that the meeting is part of the regular meetings of the party. “The meeting is a one hour caucus. This is a regular activity. We used to do this every Monday in the 15th Congress regarding congressional work,” Sarmiento said. According to former budget secretary and now Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya the Lower House is set to implement more stringent measures that would plug the loopholes in the PDAF use. He said that the House is now in the process of formulating a new system in use of the PDAF that would not sacrifice the delivery of government service. Andaya said Belmonte has issued guidelines that the PDAF should never be used again for NGOs and consumable items. He said that the amount of PDAF that would be allotted to each lawmaker is also under review. Belmonte added that lawmakers should be given their day to answer the charges leveled against them before making conclusions. “Yes I appeal to them (public), they should not judge my colleagues implicated in the pork barrel scam right away. They should be given their day to explain their side,” Belmonte said. The speaker noted that one of the lawmakers implicated in the P10-billion Napoles scam was dragged into the controversy because his signature was forged. “One congressman showed me the documents with his forged signatures showing he had no idea the money (pork barrel) he put would be downloaded to an NGO. We should hear them out,” Belmonte said. Sarmiento and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe backed Belmonte, saying everybody has the constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. “Every Filipino is entitled to due process,” Sarmiento, secretary general of LP, explained. United Nationalist Alliance Spokesperson Navotas rep. toby Tiangco maintained that the lawmakers are “sacrificial lambs” in the controversy. Tiangco said that the implementing agencies are equally or more liable than the lawmakers. Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe said “just like any other accused, congressmen implicated in the pork barrel scam should be given all the opportunity to defend themselves in all forums as they are also entitled to constitutional presumption of innocence. For all we know, they may have been victims themselves.” Commission on Audit (COA) chairman Grace Pulido-Tan told the Senate blue ribbon committee that some senators gave instructions to implementing agencies that their pork barrel funds should go to specific NGOs. Tan claimed that a total of P1.093 billion from the PDAF of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Gregorio Honasan went to bogus NGOs belonging to Napoles. The COA’s two-year special audit report covering 2007 to 2009 showed that P6.156 billion of pork barrel funds of 12 senators and 180 congressmen all went to 82 NGOs, ten of which are linked to Napoles who allegedly got P2.1 billion. Some lawmakers, particularly the Makabayan bloc and some administration lawmakers have sought the abolition of the PDAF following the P10-billion Napoles scam. Cavite Rep. Elpidio “Pidi” Barzaga Jr., a stalwart of the National Unity Party (NUP) said that the solution to the raging controversy over the PDAF is its abolition. “There should be a complete abolition. To restore public trust and confidence to legislators even the line items should be abolished,” Barzaga said. Barzaga maintained that lawmakers should focus on legislation. “We should focus mainly on our constitutional duty of crafting laws. The people have already spoken. We have already heard their voice,” Barzaga stressed. But Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, a stalwart of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), opposed the total abolition of pork barrel funds. “On PDAF, I still think it is needed by the people, especially in the countryside. For many, it’s lifeline for them. It should not be abolished notwithstanding the clamor of people belonging to the ABC class. PDAF is not for them. It is for the poor. But having said that, lets jail the corrupt,” Aggabao said. Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman said authorities should work double time in the filing of appropriate charges against those involved in the scam in order to clear the names of the innocent. “I hope her surrender will give way to justice, through a thorough and impartial investigation so the guilty will be punished and the innocent people are spared,” Turabin-Hataman said. President Aquino also is set to receive within two years up to P5 billion in remittance from state gaming firm Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) as part of royalty, from casino collections, which will go to the President’s Social Fund (PSF) that Aquino’s spokesmen consistently defended as a necessary pork barrel which is beyond the scrutiny of Congress since this is not listed in the annual budget. Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr. said the Casino is contributing P2.25 billion to the PSF this year (2013) and P2.5 billion next year (2014). Naguiat Jr. said amounts would be on top of the P2 billion it remitted to Malacañang last year for the PSF. Aquino said he would order the Presidential Management Staff, which administers the PSF, to disclose in detail how the fund has been used since he assumed office in 2010. Aquino, aside from the casino fund, also is entitled to a share from the “small” proceeds of the operation of the Malampaya Natural Gas project which is under the control of the Department of Energy (DOE). Presidential Deputy spokesman Abigail Valte argued Aquino has been transparent in spending the PSF. “We assure transparency in the use President’s Social Fund. That can be seen on the COA report of 2010,” Valte said. Valte said the PSF is getting bigger in amount because the fund had not been used every year. “It is not saturated every year and is in fact replenished. So, by this, we can see how judicious is the President in using this funds,” Valte said. Valte said there is only a demand to abolish the stinky pork barrel because of the abuses in the PDAF allotted to the members of Congres. The Communist Party of the Philippines said that in the hope of drawing the people’s ire away from Aquino and drowning out the people’s demand to abolish Aquino’s trillion-peso discretionary funds, Malacañang orchestrated the Janet Lim Napoles drama, taking advantage of the public outrage at the profligate lifestyle of the Napoleses whose riches are believed to have been accumulated through corrupt dealings with congressmen and senators. Malacañang ordered the filing of illegal detention charges against Napoles. This was followed by days of attention-grabbing “manhunt” operations and Aquino’s announcement of a P10-million bounty, only to end in the farcical “surrender” of Janet Lim Napoles to Aquino himself. In a crass show of political accommodation, Aquino himself, with his top officials, brought Napoles to Malacañang and subsequently remanded her to the national police headquarters in Camp Crame (instead of a detention facility in the city where the criminal charges against her were filed).
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 23:43:45 +0000
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