I made two major points in my speech yesterday: 1) After preliminary investigation, if the prosecutor decides to file a case in court, lawmakers involved in the PDAF scam will be automatically suspended from the Congress under Republic Act No. 7086, also known as the Anti-Plunder Act of 1991. Moreover, the law defines plunder as the acquisition of ill-gotten wealth in the total value of at least P75 million, committed both by the public officer and by any person who participated with him. Plunder is punished by life imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from holding any public office. If the accused is over 70 years old, his age would be considered a mitigating circumstance. In the case of a convict who is at least 70 years old, he can apply with President Aquino for pardon on the ground that his continued imprisonment would be inimical to his health. Otherwise, the penalty for life imprisonment does not appear to have any definite extent or duration. 2) Although the budget allows public funds to be transferred to NGOs, pork barrel funds were released to phony NGOs, without compliance with the procedure provided by R.A. No. 9184, also known as the Government Procurement Reform Act. The procedure provided by law has been deliberately ignored, and therefore the transfer of public funds to NGOs has been illegal. -- Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 04:04:37 +0000
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