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.