JV Ejercito wants gov’t agencies that processed ‘pork’ releases probed

Sen. JV Ejercito INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines — Senator JV Ejercito said on Friday he would ask the Senate to investigate top officials of the departments of budget and management, agriculture and of agrarian reform who may have conspired to steal the lawmakers’ pork barrel funds or priority development assistance funds (PDAF).

“We believe that some fund manipulation is being done by these agencies, putting us lawmakers in a bad light,” Ejercito told reporters during a visit here.

The investigation should also include the Commission on Audit, Ejercito said, adding he has been planning to file a bill that would create a body that would “audit the auditor.”

Ejercito stressed he has come to personally favor the abolition of the congressional PDAF as an expression of support to the people’s intense disgust against the pork barrel system.

He lamented that accusations by various people organizations had given the impression that all lawmakers were corrupt. “It is unfair to accuse that a wrong committed by a few would be a wrong doing committed by the whole,” he said.

Ejercito expressed hope that Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, would pin down or clear lawmakers accused of plunder in connection with the scheme during her appearance before the Senate blue ribbon committee on Nov. 7.

He said the inclusion of his brother, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, along with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla, in the plunder charges had diminished the people’s trust and confidence in the Senate, citing a recent Pulse Asia survey.

“I take this as a black eye. The Senate is under siege,” Ejercito said.

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