CBCP exec to Revilla: Unacceptable, just explain

Fr. Edwin Gariguez with children in a Mangyan community on Mindoro island. Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, said Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. and the other lawmakers, whose allotments under the Priority Development Assistance Fund were allegedly used by bogus nongovernment organizations, should divulge what they know instead of pointing fingers at others.

MANILA, Philippines—Unacceptable.

This was how a ranking official of the Catholic Bishops’Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Tuesday described Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s defense that Malacañang was after him after it was revealed that more than P1 billion of his pork barrel funds had been misused.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, said Revilla and the other lawmakers, whose allotments under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) were allegedly used by bogus nongovernment organizations, should divulge what they know instead of pointing fingers at others.

Gariguez supported Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s call for senators linked to the scam to go on leave.

“I agree with that instead of them saying, like Sen. Bong Revilla, that (the Palace) is just after him… That is not acceptable to the people,” Gariguez said in a Church forum at Intramuros, Manila. “They should come up with a reasonable explanation and explain if you received (money) or not. They should give the public a reasonable answer.”

Gariguez joined calls by other sectors for the abolition of the pork barrel system.

“Scrap it! The COA (Commission on Audit) itself did not see this for 10 years so this means that the country lost a lot of money,” he said. “What guarantee do we have now that taxpayers’ money will not be misused when we saw how politicians connived with those who release the money and those who check the releases?”

Gariguez said President Aquino should announce the abolition of the pork barrel system during his State of the Nation Address on Monday.

“Congress should have nothing to do with the PDAF because this should be handled by line agencies,” he said. “This has really become a source of so much corruption. Imagine, P10 billion. There should be some drastic measures to address this problem and these should come from the Executive.”

Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros called for a “rethink” of how the pork barrel system had been handled, particularly the role played by lawmakers.

“Senators and congressmen are legislators. They were elected to make laws, not to make roads or create livelihood programs,” Oliveros said. “There are agencies of government which handle these programs. Leave the funds to them and not to our legislators because it only becomes an occasion of abuse.”

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte dismissed Revilla’s accusation that the Palace was behind charges that his PDAF funds had been misused and that these were part of a “demolition job” ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

“The government is facing many problems … We don’t have time for things like this,” Valte told reporters. “I understand  the senator mentioned that he has a source. We would appreciate it if that information was given to us because certainly that is not the case. The demolition job did not come from us.”

Valte said the President felt that the allegations that were being looked into by the National Bureau of Investigation were very serious. “What can be assured is that the investigation will be thorough and will be impartial,” she said.

Malacañang also rejected Senator Santiago’s call for the President to form a team of special prosecutors to look into the scam. Valte said that NBI investigation should suffice for now.