Jinggoy Estrada hits use of Senate hearings to malign opposition
Senator Jinggoy Estrada. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines–Detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on Wednesday assailed some of his colleagues for using the Senate blue ribbon committee as a platform to attack their political opponents and to advance their own political interests.
Estrada also lamented how the Congress was being used to get back at the Supreme Court after it declared as unconstitutional some portions of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), purportedly an economic stimulus program of the Aquino administration.
“In the history of the Senate, especially the hearings in the Senate blue ribbon committee, it’s only now that the committee was being used to persecute individuals, including fellow senators,” Estrada told reporters during a break in the hearing of his bail petition in the Sandiganbayan.
“They’ve done nothing but to use the Senate blue ribbon committee for politics. That’s what they did to me,” he said.
He said he was sure that Senate President Franklin Drilon had also noticed how the Senate was being used to destroy Vice President Jejomar Binay and other senior government officials.
According to Estrada, the senators leading the Senate inquiry into Binay’s supposed role in the construction of the alleged overpriced parking building in Makati City “are those who can’t wait to get a post in 2016.”
He was apparently referring to Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who have both expressed their intention to seek higher posts in the 2016 national elections.
Very glaring politicking
He said politicking in the Senate was “very glaring” during the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearings on the P10-billion pork barrel scam which were presided over by committee chair Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.
“What’s worse is that they are exacting revenge when they did not like the Supreme Court’s decision on DAP. What are they doing now? They’re targeting the JDF (Judiciary Development Fund),” he said.
“This will not end. Of course, the magistrates of the Supreme Court won’t allow (itself to be bullied). They have to stop what they’re doing,” Estrada added.
Instead of attacking the judiciary, he said the Aquino administration should respect the high court’s decision on DAP.
“Tapos na ang boksing (The fight is over). There’s no use in being vengeful. Let’s just accept the (high court’s) ruling. It comprises the fundamental law of the land,” he said.
He said he himself had accepted the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to indict him for plunder for his alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund allotments.
“But I’m fighting this case because I know that my conscience is clean. I did nothing wrong. I did not steal even a single centavo from the people,” he claimed.
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