President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party (LP) on Thursday threw its support behind the opposition congressmen’s move to investigate the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.
But the ruling party distanced itself from Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab, chair of the powerful House committee on appropriations who was implicated in the scandal involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
In a statement, Western Samar Rep. Mel Sarmiento, LP secretary general, vowed that the party “will also support all investigations pertaining to allegations that Janet Lim-Napoles “has pocketed billions in government funds by diverting lawmakers’ pork barrel to bogus NGOs.”
An LP “district chair,” Ungab will be at the forefront of the chamber’s deliberations on the proposed P2.268-trillion national budget for next year that begin next Wednesday.
Sarmiento insisted that neither the President nor the party had a hand in Ungab’s appointment to the committee chairmanship. The position is usually reserved for a senior congressman close to the administration.
Sarmiento said the party had someone else in mind, but Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., an LP member, picked Ungab.
“How can Representative Ungab be the instrument of the LP in the House of Representatives? He would not even be the appropriations chair if claims are true that the LP really had a say in his appointment,” Sarmiento said.
Probe resolution
The House minority will file a resolution on Monday for a congressional inquiry into the alleged scam.
If the resolution pertains to the same investigation now being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Belmonte said he prefers to wait for the results.
“I have already talked to (Justice Secretary) Leila de Lima (and asked her) to continue (the) investigation to its conclusion and to send us (a) copy of her report,” he said in a text message yesterday. “Then we’ll decide if further action is necessary.”
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora on Wednesday appealed for support for his colleagues, including those in the majority, for the planned inquiry.
“We want to get to the bottom of this. We are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to find out the truth. We are going to ask the NBI to present whatever case they can present to us. We’ll ask the help of the Department of Justice,” Zamora told reporters.
Malicious
“We will go to the agencies and we will ask the Speaker to give us in this investigation the kind of power that is needed for a true and meaningful investigation,” he said.
Sarmiento described as “malicious” allegations linking Mr. Aquino and his party to the pork barrel scam.
“It was under this administration that this dubious practice of allocating PDAF to bogus NGOs was stopped,” Sarmiento said.
“It is also inaccurate to claim that the LP is responsible for the appointment of Representative Ungab as chair of the appropriations committee. He was elected to that position by his peers upon the endorsement of the Speaker on the basis of his credentials and track record,” he said.