De Lima claims corruption is alive and well as Duterte allies squabble over 2019 budget

The squabble between allies of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of Budget and Management over allocations under the proposed 2019 budget shows President Rodrigo Duterte is incompetent in resolving corruption, detained Senator Leila de Lima claimed on Monday.

Senator Panfilo Lacson has revealed that House Speaker Gloria Arroyo supposedly allocated billions of pesos of infrastructure projects to her district, as well as House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya.

On the other hand, Andaya alleged that Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno inserted P75 billion into the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to favor his relatives. The lawmaker claimed that DPWH did not request for that amount.

Lacson and Andaya also alleged that congressional staff members and former Cabinet members have been parking as much as P200 million to P300 million of DPWH allocations in favor of local government units even though the allocations would not fund the projects needed by LGUs.

“What a circus, to say the least. A royal rumble,” said De Lima, who is in detention due to drug-related charges. 

Her defense claimed that the drug-related charges against her are trumped up charges for opposing Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

“Duterte’s political allies, political vultures all, are now at each other’s throat. It has become obvious that these huge chunks of public funds were made to appear as legitimate budget of agencies to sidestep the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or more popularly known as “pork barrel,” the senator claimed.

“The web of corruption can only get wider and more egregious. It is hard to believe that this was not done by a clique of insiders in Malacañang, but it is much harder to believe that Duterte has neither hand nor knowledge about this,” she further alleged.

“For all his bravado and tough talk, Digong is a weak and incompetent leader incapable of stopping corruption where it really matters,” she added, using Duterte’s nickname.

The fact that President Duterte is in favor of the acquittal of former Senator Bong Revilla Jr. from a P224-million plunder charge speaks volumes on where the President really stands on corruption, the senator claimed.

Revilla was acquitted of the plunder charge  less than two weeks ago on December 7, but President Duterte said in August 2017 that then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales was into selective justice and should just “wind up” the cases against three former Senators.

Prior to Revilla’s acquittal, other former Senators charged with plunder—former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile have been freed.

Enrile was allowed by the Supreme Court to leave detention in August 2015 for humanitarian reasons, while Estrada was released on bail in September 2017.

“Meantime, the lawmakers involved in the Napoles PDAF Scam are still celebrating because they” know that the recent acquittal of one of them has set favorable precedent for them,” De Lima noted.

“Nagpipyesta ang mga mandarambong,” she said.

Revilla, Estrada and Enrile are all running for a Senate seat in the 2019 polls. — Llanesca Panti/VDS, GMA News