QUOTE Abad was a long time congressmen in the early Nineties, - TopicsExpress

QUOTE Abad was a long time congressmen in the early Nineties, after which held several executive positions, as Agrarian Reform Secretary, Education Secretary and now Budget chief under Aquino. “That was what we in the independent minority bloc have been saying all along,” Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz told the Tribune in a telephone interview. “This alleged pork scam could have not materialized without the participation of the Executive Department, specifically the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Agriculture (DA),” he stressed. “From the start, we had already pointed out that it was a selective striptease that they were into. It is a disgrace and a travesty of justice. We have always contended that this operation would not have been undertaken without the participation of the DBM, the implementing agencies and even the Commission on Audit (CoA),” he said. A number of agencies directly under Alcala’s department including the Technology Resource Center (TRC) and the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), have been implicated in the alleged P10-billion pork scam. Aside from topping the Napoles “confessional list,” Abad and Alcala are the subject of plunder cases filed by militant groups, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the Sanlakas. The cases against the two have not been acted upon by the Ombudsman, an Aquino appointee. Abad has never been qustioned either by the Senate blue ribbon committee and was always spared, despite earlier allegations that the DBM was part of the scam. UNQUOTE