CoA report covers up new, bigger pork scams

SOLON SAYS AQUINO’S FAVORED PARTYLIST GOT P4.05B

The release of the Commission on Audit (CoA) special report on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was calculated to enrage the people on particular lawmakers who have received excessive funds during the previous administration, but it actually was meant to cover up irregularities in the PDAF’s release under the watch of President Aquino, a member of the independent House minority bloc said yesterday.

Abakada Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz said the CoA report which was released by CoA Chairman Grace Pulido Tan herself last Friday was intended to divert public attention from bigger PDAF irregularities under Aquino’s term.

However, during the deliberation for the 2011 budget sometime in 2010, Akbayan partylist, a staunch ally of Aquino, got its pork complete with gravy, the trimmings and the side dishes, as it was granted a P4.05-billion fund for its marginalized constituents in agrarian reform communities.

The fund, which came from the Public Works Department’s P110.6-billion budget for 2011 and was covered by an “erratum” in the department’s spending plan, was granted to the group after an intense lobbying from then Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao.

According to Bag-ao, the P4.05 billion was to be used to provide support services to agrarian reform beneficiaries, agricultural credit, and initial capitalization for new beneficiaries. Then, in 2012, Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad, wife of DBM Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad, got P22.5 million excess funding over her P70 million pork when the DBM released her P92.5 million for her district.

“So, why has CoA not included the period 2010 – 2012 in its audit? Are they afraid to make these information public?” said Dela Cruz.

“The CoA report is incomplete and half-baked,” said Dela Cruz. “Why did it only cover the fiscal years of 2007, 2008 and 2009? Why did it not include the years 2010 up to 2012?,” he asked.

“This is meant to divert public attention from the bigger irregularities concerning the PDAF releases under President Aquino’s watch,” he stressed.
Last Friday, Pulido-Tan bared that a number of lawmakers, most of them allied with the previous administration, got excess funds over and above their maximum PDAF allocation, P70 million for Representatives’ district or sector constituents and P200 million for Senators’ nationwide constituency.

Leading CoA’s list was former Compostela Valley Rep. Manuel Zamora of Compostela Valley who received P2.998 billion in excess of his P210 million share during the three year period on audit.

Also getting huge excesses were Reps. Neptali Gonzales II (Mandaluyong City), P35 million; Junie Cua, P42 million; Edcel Lagman (Albay), P153 million; Philip Pichay (Surigao del Norte), P121 million; Niel Tupaz (Iloilo), P36 million; Isidro Ungab (Davao City), P29 million; Alvin Sandoval (Navotas), P48.4 million and Eduardo Nonato Joson (Nueva Ecija), P170 million.

Then Speaker Prospero Nograles received an excess of P400 million while former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile got P347million.

Senators who also received more than the usual were incumbent Senators Jinggoy Estrada, P401 million; Ramon Revilla Jr., P265 million; and Miriam Defensor Santiago, P26.15 million.

Former Senators Edgardo Angara and Lito Lapid got additional pork in the amount of P384 million and P13.6 million, respectively.

Most of those in the CoA list are now allied with the Aquino administration.

The funds were said to be coursed through the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD), Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC); National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC), National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR) and Zamboanga del Norte Agriculture College Rubber Estate Corporation (ZREC).

Five provincial governments, eight city government and 109 barangay. The provinces are Tarlac, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, along with the Mandaluyong City, Quezon City and Manila were also tagged as recipients of the excess funding, When asked why the special audit covered only congressional expenditures during the Arroyo administration, Pulido Tan explained that it was already being conducted in 2010 when she was appointed to the CoA post, adding that audit examinations during the Aquino term will be included in the annual audit report of various agencies that spent congressional allocations.

However, Dela Cruz refuted Pulido-Tan saying the audit during the Aquino term should have commenced a long time ago as the present administration is already three years into office.

“The Aquino administration is already three years in office and CoA has not yet started an auditing of the PDAF releases for the last three years?” Dela Cruz said.

“Are they trying to cover-up for bigger fund misuse?”, he said.

The Abakada solon said that while Zamora received almost P3 billion on top of his PDAF, it was released in tranches over a three-year period as it was supposed to have funded a number of projects.
In a separate interview, ACT teachers Rep. Antonio Tino bared they will scrutinize how Akbayan’s P4 billion funding was spent.

“We will definitely ask them (Akbayan) how they have spent the additional P4 billion they got in 2011,” Tinio said.

However, Dela Cruz said the CoA report should be clarified as the excess funding the lawmakers received might not be actually pork barrel but congressional initiative allocation (CIA) which is allowed by law.

“The excess funding might actually be if the form of CIA which is allowed by law. If that’s the case, then there could be no irregularity in the release of additional funding. Maybe the report was done to make it appear the excess funds were in the form of pork barrel,” said the party-list solon.
“So, there is a need to clarify the report,” Dela Cruz added.

Former Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman who was also included in the CoA list, also justified his additional funding say8ing they were with the conformity of the DBM, and was made possible through the CIA and a few through a leadership allocation for ranking officers of the House and the Senate and chairmen of major committees to whom numerous requests for funding are directed because of their congressional position
“PDAF has an absolute ceiling of P70 million for Representatives’ district or sector constituents and P200 million for Senators’ nationwide constituency. No Member of the Congress can exceed his annual PDAF maximum allocation because the PDAF is not elastic,” Lagman stressed.

“It is a gross misimpression that all fund releases recommended or initiated by the Members of the Congress are subsumed under PDAF,” he added.
“These additional allocations, which are legitimately appropriated and transparently released, are not part of the PDAF,” he said.

Unlike the PDAF, which is for priority hard and soft projects exclusively for particular constituencies, Lagman, chairman of the House the Committee on Appropriations from 2007-2008, said the CIA and leadership fund can be released and utilized for nationwide implementation.

Lagman also denied part of his PDAF or any of his additional allocations were channeled to non-government organizations (NGOs) linked to suspected pork barrel scam con artist, Janet Lim-Napoles.
“None of my fund releases were coursed through or ended with Napoles-linked NGOs and other dubious organizations or foundations,” he averred.

“I utilized part of my leadership fund in responding to the requests for funding of priority projects from local government units (LGUs) and concerned citizens outside of my district like some barangays of Quezon City, a few municipalities of Nueva Ecija and Pampanga and other LGUs in Albay,” the former solon admitted.

Exceeding the appropriated amount of pork barrel per senator or congressman, as contained in the CoA special audit, does not indicate any irregularity unless these were spent for projects other than those allowed to be funded by the PDAF, Senate President Franklin Drilon said.

The matter of some lawmakers receiving more than they’re supposed to be entitled to was “not necessarily illegal as what they’re claiming as an excess in amount could have been some due to some realigned valid projects.”

“What’s far more important is whether it was used for which it is intended,” the Senate chief said adding that the fact of the use of these funds which are being raised, should be examined.

But the culpability of the senator or any lawmaker lies in the evidence or any information showing collusion or any participation, even through their representatives in diverting these funds to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs), Drilon explained.

The Senate leader himself expressed reservations as to issue of some lawmakers receiving more than what was supposedly their yearly appropriations as PDAF in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) which is being approved by the two Houses of Congress, during the Arroyo administration or from 2007 to 2009.

“I’m not sure if it’s true or not. It’s possible that some of their (yearly) allocations were not fully consumed…meaning there could have been some that were carried over the following year. It’s also possible that (then Pres. Gloria) Arroyo provided some extra funds. There’s nothing illegal in it,” he said.

With the CoA special audit report already at hand, with supposed corresponding pieces of evidence, there should not be a close coordination between the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the CoA itself to expedite the resolution of the issue.

“We are all under the cloud of doubt. This should be put to rest the soonest time possible and allow those in the report, an opportunity to defend themselves, provide explanation. Otherwise, this issue will only be often in the media and will not give those concerned any chance to respond to the issues thrown at them,” he said.

“The government must show resolve in addressing this issue so that the public will realize that we are taking appropriate and swift actions to get to the bottom of the controversy; and in the end, the government must be able to observe and apply justice and the rule of law,” he stressed.

He said the resolution of the PDAF scam will help restore the people’s trust in the justice system.
“We need to finish the investigation so that those who are allegedly involved will be presented the opportunities to defend themselves and clear their names before an impartial and credible investigative body and appropriate judicial forum,” said Drilon.
“These three investigating agencies should exercise a close coordination in resolving this case and studying the appropriate actions to undertake,” he added.

Drilon said the COA audit report provided the evidence that the DOJ and the Ombudsman will have to carefully study in order to determine if they warrant filing for charges.

“Because of the audit report, we are all under clout of doubt. Even if our names were not in the report, the people have the tendency to generalize and suspect us to be doing illegal in the use of our pork barrel,” said Drilon.

“That is why we need to finish the investigation the soonest in order to shed lights on the issue and to enable the involved lawmakers to answer allegations against them in the proper venue” he ended.

The budget secretary during the period covered by the report said that the pork releases during his time was above board.

Camarines Sur Rep. and former Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr said the implementing agencies are the ones screening the recipients of the pork barrel.

Andaya served as budget secretary of then President Arroyo from 2006 and resigned before 2009 when he ran for a congressional seat.

In a radio interview yesterday, Andaya stressed that there were no irregularities in the release of the pork and that there was not a single non-government organization which directly received “pork.”

Andaya said that the DBM’s job is to release the funds but could not identify irregularities between the implementing agencies and NGOs. –Charlie V. Manalo, Gerry Baldo, Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune