Where’s 2nd batch of raps, Senator Estrada twits DOJ chief

By: Norman Bordadora - 11 years ago

Feeling unfairly singled out for prosecution by the government and vilification by the media, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is badgering Justice Secretary Leila de Lima about a second batch of respondents in the P10-billion pork barrel scam that she had promised to hail to court weeks ago.

“Where’s the second batch of charges that Secretary De Lima promised? It has been more than two weeks,” Estrada said in an interview.

Estrada and two other opposition senators, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Bong Revilla, were among those charged in the first set of plunder complaints that the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed with the Ombudsman in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles more than a month ago.

Also charged were former House Representatives Rodolfo Plaza, Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Edgar Vadez, and dozens of minor government functionaries and employees of Napoles’ fake foundations.

Contacted for comment, De Lima advised Estrada to “be patient and just wait please for the second batch of PDAF cases”.

“I assure him it will be filed. There’s just some delay on account again of voluminous documents involved. We’re also double-checking the list to make sure that there is enough evidenciary support for each case or each respondent,” she said.

The senator apparently expects the new set of respondents to include lawmakers and officials allied with the administration. “If they will follow the results of the committee report, yes, but if they will be selective, no,” Estrada said.

Estrada et al. were charged in connection with their alleged involvement in the diversion of their pork barrel fund entitlements into fake foundations run by Napoles that were implementing ghost projects.

The Commission on Audit (COA) special audit of pork barrel fund releases worth P115 billion from 2007 to 2009—on which the DOJ based the complaints it filed against Estrada et al.—identified almost 80 dubious nongovernment organizations that illegally received pork barrel funds but less than 10 were said to be controlled by Napoles.

In a privilege speech in the Senate last month, Estrada challenged Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to release to the COA the complete documents on the pork barrel fund releases from 2007 to 2009 so the agency can complete its audit.

The COA special audit managed to audit just P41 billion of the pork released during that period. The agency said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had been stinting in sharing the documents covering the fund releases.

“It is puzzling that the DBM has kept silent in the midst of the discussions about the nation’s treasury,” Estrada said in his speech.

Estrada believes that the COA special audit of the 2007-2009 pork barrel fund releases had missed out on the fraudulent practices of administration allies because the DBM had provided incomplete documents.

“If the DBM will not provide the COA the Saros [special allotment release orders] of the administration allies, they will not be charged,” he said.

Estrada said the DOJ should have already taken steps to complete the partial picture painted by the COA special audit after the filing of charges against him and his corespondents.

In the privilege speech he delivered in late September, the beleaguered senator also directed his fire on two of President Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives—Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II and former party-list Rep. Florencio Noel (An Waray)—whom he accused of misappropriating their pork barrel entitlements under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“Were their PDAF properly used? It doesn’t appear so because according to the COA special audit report, 28 suppliers of Mandaluyong City denied having undertaken 167 transactions amounting to P28.744 million,” Estrada said.

“It means there were 28 suppliers of Mandaluyong who said they had no transactions worth P28.7 million in the city of Mandaluyong so it could be said that they were also ghost projects,” he said.