Several Palace breaches in extra pork — Joker Abad liable for falsification of legislative documents The ripples caused by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s disclosure in a privilege speech of an apparent “payoffs,” “rewards,” or “incen-tives” to senator judges in the im-peachment court who convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona that led to his ouster as head of the Supreme Court (SC) appears to run deep with a former member of the Senate saying culpability of the Palace remains despite the explanations it had made on the extra funds distributed. The insinuation that the Executive “rewarded” the senators who voted for conviction puts Mala-cañang on a slippery slope, making it answerable on the charge of at least im-propriety, if not outright bribery, and the buck stops right at the presidential doorstep, former Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday. Reacting to the Tribune banner story carrying the carrying the admission of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad on the release of P1.2 billion “stimulus funds” to senators between 2012 and 2013, on top of their regular P200 million annual allocation of pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the national budget, Arroyo said the Cabinet official opens himself to liability “for the crime of falsification of legislative documents.” “Abad opens himself to liability for the crime of falsification of legislative documents under Articles 170 and 171 of the Revised Penal Code which penalizes, ‘any public officer who, taking advantage of his official position shall falsify a document by ……causing it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate (or) making untruthful statement in the narration of facts,” he said. “That is exactly what Abad did when he issued a deceptively crafted press release that made it appear that, although I voted to acquit Corona, I was, nonetheless, given P47 million along with other senators who allegedly received P50 million each over and above their PDAF allocations, which is now perceived to be a gratuity for their vote of conviction,” he added. While Arroyo was among those who voted to acquit Corona during the impeachment trial last year alongside Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Abad said funding releases were made following a request from Arroyo this year in the amount of P47 million. The former senator, however, explained that his “funding requests” were nothing unusual as he has been consistent in seeking the same during budget deliberations and as such, the said amount he sought were “amendments introduced in the General Appropriation Act of 2013 and ‘not’ PDAF by any language.” “Over the years, during budget deliberations on the General Appropriations Act, I occasionally introduce, upon requests, amendments that gave direct assistance to indigent patients in the PGH, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and lately, to the Bicol Medical Center. These funds were directly allocated and paid out to these named medical institutions,” he said. “As I was going to retire, three schools in my province asked for financial assistance for the construction of school buildings, the funds for which were directed to the Department of Education for implementation,” he said. The DBM chief, Arroyo claimed, maliciously bundled the budgetary amendments he introduced for medical and educational provisions in the 2013 GAA together with the questioned 2012 releases. “Abad said the questionable funds given to the senators came from a newly minted program designed by the DBM, called the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), yet again, another one of those lump-sum appropriations yet unheard of, until he pulled it out from his hat,” Arroyo said. “Abad took pains to massage the information regarding these amendments/appropriations in the budget as if they were part and parcel of the lump-sum appropriation for the DAP, which he mentioned, if only to deodorize the stink of the accusation against them that they ‘rewarded’ the senators who voted to convict in the Corona impeachment trial,” he added. Abad’s admission has prompted Senate President Franklin Drilon to finally admit receiving additional pork barrel funds after the impeachment trial, even to the supposed issuance of letter to colleagues, yet, maintains regularity in the act of the DBM. Shortly after Estrada’s speech, Drilon would not give any categorical admission in giving out supposed letter-memorandum to colleagues which the latter took out and showed on the floor while delivering his privilege speech. In an interview with dzBB, however, the Senate chief was prompted to admit the existence of the said letter, saying that the “memo simply said ‘please submit projects worth P50 million.” “There’s nothing wrong with that. Whether it’s (stamped) confidential or not, what’s important is how it was spent. The letter was for mere requests only. If it’s not granted, then it’s of no use,” he said. “During the trial, there were no releases. After the trial, there were releases including the DAP because we need to catch up with infrastructure spending to respond to the worries of economists on underspending. It was not only the senators who made the suggestion. LGUs also have infrastructure programs to meet the spending program. GOCCs were also given additional funds under the DAP,” he said. Drilon, then still Senate finance committee chair, would not confirm the P1.2 billion total releases made by the DBM saying that he’s not privy to it as he’s not being furnished a copy of the actual releases. The Senate chief, in the same radio interview, also confessed of receiving additional funds coming from DAP in the amount of P100 million, not P50 million. The supposed “ceiling” amount of P50 million per senator was not strictly followed as there were fund releases much higher or lower than P50 million, he further confessed. When asked why the DBM released the amounts to senators instead of the department offices or implementing agencies, Drilon said the reason behind it was because most of the programs were not under the budget, the unused or unprogrammed funds or in plain words, “savings” realized by the government. Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was also interviewed by dzBB, said the P50 million was released months after the impeachment trial based on his recollection and corroborated Estrada’s claims that it was announced by Drilon as finance committee chairman. Lacson, who had consistently waived year after year of his P200 million PDAF, did not avail of what he described as additional pork allocation and not consider it as a bribe. It did not come as a surprise, what Estrada spilled on the floor of the Senate plenary hall, but not the initial denial made by those supposedly in the know as they know for a fact that there were indeed fund releases made by the DBM. Lacson said it cannot be denied the additional funds released by the DBM were “pork barrel” especially since it was culled from the GAA and not from the so-called regular allocation. “It made me laugh, how can a regular allocation amount to P50 million, on top of P200 million? That is not a regular allocation,” he said. Drilon explained that his P100 million DAP fund was used for the construction of projects in his home province Iloilo which is bidding to host the APEC Ministerial Meeting in 2015. ”We have to repair our roads and build other infrastructure projects specially to attract tourism. For three years, the Iloilo province has no infrastructure projects,” Drilon explained. Drilon denied insinuation that the DAP was used to bribe the senators to vote for the conviction of Corona. ”Even former Senator (Joker) Arroyo who did not vote for conviction also received P47 million. So the issue here whether it (DAP fund) was pocketed or used for the right purpose,” Drilon said. Last Wednesday, Senator Jinggoy Estrada revealed in his privilege speech that Drilon sign a “confidential” memorandum about the release of P50 million to the senators who voted for Corona’s conviction. Later, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) clarified that the budget was DAP fund released to the senators. Drilon explained that the DAP was introduced in 2011 to spur economic activity. Drilon stressed his aspiration to implement reform in the Senate and he wanted to start it through the abolition of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) beginning next year. ”I want to inform the people that I’m serious in imposing reform in the Senate and we will start it through the abolition of PDAF,” he said. The P200 million PDAF for every senator has been marred with controversy after whistleblowers revealed that several lawmakers, including senators, released PDAF to the alleged “bogus” non-government of organizations (NGOs) under Janet Lim Napoles. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ramon Carandang, meanwhile, said Congress has already approved to scrap the allocations of the Priority Development Assisatnce Funds (PDAF) intended for the lawmakers. Carandang did not mention on whether President Aquino would also give up his President Social Fund which is in billions. tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/19697-several-palace-breaches-in-extra-pork-joker
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 16:32:12 +0000
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