Sorry dear Senators but I’m not buying it

For the past two weeks, the general public has been glued to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings regarding the P10 billion pork barrel scam. So far, one thing is for sure, the Commission on Audit (CoA) conducted a special audit of our legislators’ use of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2007-2009 and have discovered that over a billion pesos has been channeled into bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) which are linked to Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of this whole scam.

During the said hearings chaired by Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, the names of three Senators have consistently been mentioned as to have funneled their PDAF to these bogus NGOs and these are Senators Bong Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada.  Aside from them, several Congressmen have also been linked to this scam such as Masbate Rep. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Pangasinan Rep. Conrado Estrella III to name a few.

 

Did they or didn’t they really know about these bogus NGOs?

 

When asked for an explanation regarding this, Senator Estrada simply said that he didn’t know what these bogus or fake NGOs were and that it is not his duty or responsibility to check whether these NGOs were actually legitimate or not. Does he actually expect us to believe this?

First of all, all legislators who were given their PDAF have the power and discretion to decide where to place their funds thus, these hundreds of millions of pesos from Senator Estrada’s PDAF couldn’t have been transferred to these bogus NGOs without his knowledge. Also, during the testimony of former NABCOR Vice-President Rhodora Mendoza, she said that they received letters signed by these legislators or their duly appointed representatives assigning the funds to these NGOs.

Given this, didn’t Senator Estrada and the other government officials involved in this scam even bother to check how their funds were being used? I would’ve have perfectly understood him and even gave him the benefit of the doubt if he channeled his funds just once to an NGO and after finding out that this was a bogus NGO he would have stopped and filed necessary charges against the NGO’s leaders but to channel hundreds of millions of pesos to several fake NGOs for a period of three years? I think it’s pretty hard to believe that he is also a victim here. 

 

A cloud of doubt

 

Having been in the NGO and Academe sector for more than ten years now, we are required to submit regular reports and updates on how we are spending the funds that were given to us by private sector donor agencies or foundations down to the last centavo. Given that these public funds are from hard-earned taxpayers money, shouldn’t our legislators been more careful in ensuring that these funds were used properly and for the right purpose? Isn’t it their sworn duty as our government leaders to ensure that public funds are spent properly and don’t just end up in bogus NGOs? Therefore, I hope that Senator Estrada and his allies understand that unless they can come up with a better explanation than what he has previously stated, then the public will always think that he and his other colleagues in the Senate may have been in cahoots with Janet Napoles in directing billions of pesos worth of public funds to their pockets.

 

Malacañang’s hand in CoA Special Audit of PDAF?

 

Last week, Senator Estrada also made a statement implying that Malacañang may have had a hand in this investigation that is implicating him together with other members of the minority bloc in the Senate. During the last Blue Ribbon Committe hearing, no less than CoA Director for Special Audit Susan Garcia said that the special audit of the use of the PDAF started in May 2010 during the time of then CoA Chairman Reynaldo Villar. Villar was an appointee of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and clearly, President Noynoy Aquino wasn’t in power yet when the CoA special audit began. It is also worthy to note that current CoA Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan was appointed to her present position in April 2011 thus, the special audit was already one year old when President Aquino’s appointee to CoA assumed office. This testimony and statement of facts clearly refutes any allegations that the present administration used or influenced CoA to pin down Senator Estrada and other members of the Senate minority bloc.

 

Instead of looking for people to blame for their names being implicated in this pork barrel scam, perhaps the best thing that Senator Estrada and his allies can do is to give a better explanation to the public about how and why more than a billion pesos of their PDAF ended up with these bogus NGOs and worse, bogus projects. Of course this is easier said than done especially if the truth isn’t really at your side.

 

Comments are welcome at harveykeh@gmail.com  / Follow me at Twitter: twitter.com/harveykeh

 

Harvey S. Keh is Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government and is also the Lead Convenor of the Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership.