Trail of thieves
Last Thursday I watched pork barrel whistle-blower Benhur Luy testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Tootsie Guingona. Luy described in detail the modus operandi of the pork barrel scam that starts with either Janet Lim Napoles approaching lawmakers to buy their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the lawmakers approaching her to inform her that their pork barrel was available.
Then Napoles’ group would scan the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) website for the menu of projects to be funded by the PDAF. Then Napoles and the lawmakers would agree on an NGO to implement the amount. Then Napoles group would go to the government implementing agency with a letter from the lawmaker endorsing an NGO to be a recipient of the lawmaker’s pork barrel.
In one case, Sen. Bongbong Marcos endorsed to change an NGO assigned for a project with another NGO that turned out to be bogus. In his defense, Marcos said his signature was forged but DBM asserted that they do not process dubious documents as they always double-check the authenticity of signatures appearing in a document.
How was the loot divided? Luy narrated that lawmakers usually got 50 percent of the PDAF paid on staggered basis and the Napoles group got 50 percent or 40 percent.
How were the lawmakers paid? Either in cash for senators and for the congressmen through fund transfer or a manager’s check. The senators either picked up their share from the office of Napoles or their chief of staff went there. Luy recalled that there were times the share of the senators were delivered by a trusted driver of Napoles to the Senate grounds, usually the lobby.
The revelations of Benhur Luy have shot down the usual defense of lawmakers that they did not participate in choosing the NGO and did not know Napoles. They were lying.
At one time Luy was prodded by the senators to name the members of the Senate who received their illegal shares but Luy refused to budge. When he was prodded to just give a clue, Luy relented and referred to a beneficiary senator by a code name: “sexy.”
Man or woman? Luy said the senator was a man who used to be fat but had slimmed down. Sen. Jinngoy Estrada in an interview said that he used to be hefty but lost weight after an operation but he isn’t admitting anything more.
I think the testimony practically put an end to Jinggoy’s political ambition for higher office. Last Friday, in “My Politics” on My TV, during an interview with Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale she lamented the ill effects of abolishing the pork barrel. She worried about the indigent scholars currently sponsored out of this discretionary fund.
While we share the same concern, I said that all is not lost because we can always request the President to give the fund directly to implementing agencies like the Department of Education and for health programs, the Department of Health.
But with what’s happening now, there is no other choice but to abolish the pork barrel scheme to eliminate wholesale stealing of the people’s money. The scandal angers ordinary citizens who are trying their best to survive on a meager income but see Napoles and lawmakers enjoying the fruits of their labor.
It was even more scandalous to learn that the cash of Napoles had to be placed on the bed or sometimes the bathtub because the money couldn’t fit her vault.
So it would be best to scrap the fund. Eversince lawmakers were allowed to have a say in it, they just lined their pockets with money from the pork barrel.
