Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile’s lawyer sees partisan politics in play in the filing of plunder charges in connection with the pork barrel funds scam against his client, a top opposition personality being one of the leaders of the United Nationalist Alliance.
“To dismiss any notion in the public that this was politically motivated, they should explain why in the list of the [Commission on Audit] where it was said that 12 senators had irregular disbursements, only three were chosen,” lawyer Enrique Dela Cruz said in radio interview.
On the supposed paper and money trail that had whistle-blowers identifying the lawmakers they gave money to in the course of the multi-billion-peso racket, Dela Cruz said Enrile was not said to have received the money.
“We read the executive summary and just in the case of Senator Enrile, there was no such account. No money was received either personally or through his account by Senator Enrile. So that’s not true in the case of Senator Enrile,” Dela Cruz said.
“I just don’t know in the case of the others charged,” Dela Cruz added.
In showing the clear case of politics in play in the filing of charges against Enrile, Dela Cruz indicated that the government agencies involved only focused on facts that would implicate the opposition leader.
“In the chosen period from 2007 to 2009, the total amount of PDAF releases was P115 billion. If they really wanted to examine the public funds, they should have audited where the entire P115 billion went,” Dela Cruz said.
“The COA report itself said that it only audited P32 billion out of the P115 billion released…. And out of the P32 billion audited, they identified 12 senators and 62 congressmen that according to COA had irregular disbursements,” Dela Cruz added.
Dela Cruz said the focus was further narrowed down to P10 billion of the amount.
“The DOJ focused on only P10 billion and three senators and five congressmen. Why was the investigation selective? Were they protecting some body?” Dela Cruz said.