Noy can’t escape liability as group lists Aquino’s ‘gains’ in plunder raps Written by Charlie V. Manalo Friday, 21 March 2014 00:00 A national peasant organization has refuted President Aquino’s claim that he had played no role in the pork barrel scam and the diversion of the Malampaya funds as it listed down the gains he got from the alleged misuse of the public funds. “Aquino mobilized the country’s resources to immobilize his opponents,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairman Rafael Mariano, referring to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Malampaya Fund. “Isn’t it an open book that Aquino benefited from the use of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) in the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona? Up to now, Aquino and his relatives enjoy the fruits of Corona’s impeachment,” the former lawmaker averred. “The Cojuangco-Aquinos continue to defy and bastardize the then Corona-led Supreme Court decision to distribute Hacienda Luisita. And now, all motions filed by Hacienda Luisita farm workers are gathering dust under a Sereno-led Supreme Court,” Mariano lamented. The peasant leader stressed Aquino’s gains are not necessarily all monetary but mainly anchored on political survival. Mariano said “through the pork barrel system, Aquino ensured that Congress will not use its impeachment power against him and remain as a Palace rubber-stamp.” He criticized Aquino for trying to exonerate himself from the mess, describing the President’s defense that the crime of plunder should involve “personal gain” as “totally ridiculous.” “If everybody involved in the pork barrel and Malampaya fund scams would follow Aquino’s line of thinking, nobody will be sent to jail,” Mariano said. “Aquino’s so-called ‘personal gain’ defense doesn’t erase the fact that a crime was committed and that the public suffered because public funds intended for them were misused by Aquino and his minions,” he added. The group also called on the Ombudsman to start the ball rolling on the two plunder case it filed against the President. “We call on the Ombudsman to start the preliminary investigations on the two plunder cases we filed against Aquino and his gang. Aquino should not hide under the cloak of presidential immunity,” Mariano stressed. The KMP maintained that “under the Constitution, the Ombudsman has the power to investigate or conduct an independent investigation even of a sitting President to determine his complicity on the offenses charged for purpose later on of filing an impeachment case against him.”
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:44:28 +0000