Roque hits alleged selective accountability in Senate

Lawyer Harry Roque on Thursday criticized the supposed selective accountability in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearings on corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay, saying that senators should wash the dirt off their own hands.

Echoing previous remarks from the Binay camp, Roque, a potential senatorial bet of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in 2016, said senators demanding for an audit of housing agencies previously headed by the Vice President should submit their projects to an audit, too.

“Alam mo, accountability ay para sa lahat ng nasa gobyerno. Hindi naman pwede na para kay Vice President lamang ‘yun (Accountability is for all those in government. It’s not appropriate to single out the Vice President),” Roque said in an interview with reporters in Pangasinan.

“So para mapatunayan nila na bago sila magbato ay malinis din ang kanilang mga kamay, buksan nila ang kanilang mga proyekto (So for them to prove that before they attack us their hands are clean too, they should open their projects to the public),” he added.

Roque also accused the senators of pretending to be clean, claiming they received kickbacks from projects supposedly funded by the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund and Disbursement Acceleration Program.

“Ang hamon natin sa ating mga nagmamalinis na senador eh bago kayo magbato sa ibang tao, siguraduhin nating malinis tayo (Our challenge to our senators who project they’ve done no wrong is before you throw stones on other people, make sure you are clean first),” he said.

“Tignan po natin kung ano ang pinaggagawa ninyo sa mga proyekto ninyo, tignan po natin kung walang overpriced (Let’s see what you’re doing in your projects, let’s see if there’s no overpriced),” he added.

“So sabihin ninyo po, magkano ang inyong mga ‘tongpats?’ (Tell us, how much is your percentage),” he added.

Accusing senators of targeting political opponents, vice presidential spokesperson for political affairs Rico Quicho on Tuesday said the agencies previously headed by other resigned officials should also be audited.

“Akala ba namin ‘public office is a public trust?’ Mukha yatang mga kalaban lamang ang target nila (We thought public office is a public trust? It looks like it’s only the political opponents who are being targeted),” Quicho said.

READ: Submit yourselves to audit, Binay camp dares Pimentel, others

When Binay tendered his resignation from the Aquino Cabinet, he relinquished his duties as chief of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and presidential adviser on OFW affairs.

“’Yung mga senador palaging sinasabi kailangang i-audit lahat ng mga proyekto ni Vice President, pero ngayong hinahamon sila na ipa-audit ang PDAF at saka ang DAP nila, mukhang napakatahimik nila (Those senators, they always say the projects of the Vice President should be audited, but now they are being challenged to adjust their PDAF and DAP, it looked like they turned silent,” Roque added.

In June, Roque said he was “seriously considering” an offer by the Vice President to be included in UNA’s senatorial slate in 2016. TVJ

READ: Harry Roque ‘seriously considering’ Senate run under Binay’s UNA