Drilon: Proof enough for Senate to make recommendations on ‘pork’ scam

Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Franklin Drilon believes there is now enough evidence for the Senate blue ribbon committee to make appropriate recommendations on the alleged P10 billion pork barrel scam.

“At a certain point, there is already enough evidence to come up with a committee report. The committee report will give recommendations on what steps we should do to avoid a repeat of this,” Drilon said in an interview on Friday.

The evidence that the committee has gathered from its investigation, he said, will then be transmitted to the Office of the Ombudsman for appropriate actions.

“Our investigation is not for prosecution,” said Drilon.

He issued the statements a day after Ruby Tuason, a co-accused  in the plunder case at the Office of the Ombudsman over the scam, testified before the committee.

But Drilon noted that the chairman of the committee,  Senator Teofisto Guingona III, was already inclined to terminate the investigation even before Tuason decided to testify.

And because the chamber was determined to find the truth behind the scam, Drilon said the committee decided to proceed with its investigation.

Drilon though refused to comment on Tuason’s testimony, citing the sensitivity of his position as president of the chamber.

“My position is a bit sensitive as president of the Senate and if I give my opinion now that might influence the result of the investigation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes was convinced that Tuason was a credible witness except for her testimony about her co-accused, Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile.

While  Tuason was clear about how she had supposedly personally handed “kickbacks” to another co-accused, Senator Jose “Jinggoy Estrada, Trillanes said she was ” withholding” information about Enrile’s alleged involvement in the scam.

“She suddenly became forgetful when it comes to Enrile… I saw that she’s withholding some information,” Trillanes said in Filipino in a separate radio interview.

He then disclosed that an unverified  report that one of Tuason’s lawyers, Dennis Manalo, used to work for Enrile’s law firm.

If that was true, then that would explain why it was only  Estrada, who was pinned down by Tuason’s testimony.

“That was pretty obvious yesterday. Pero ang senyales nito ay laglagan na, kanya kanyang diskarte na so in this case, medyo unfortunate for Senator Estrada pero mukhang nilalaglag na sya,” Trillanes added.