Miriam on how to prevent 'pork' scams: Jail senators first

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago believes that in order to discourage another pork barrel scam, the lawmakers allegedly involved in the present should be jailed first.

"For purposes of deterrence, it is more efficient and bloodcurdling to send senators to jail, if they are guilty of plunder. Analyzing and retrofitting the pork barrel system should come later, because it will take more time and requires highly technical skill," Santiago said in a statement on Thursday.

The senator, who also seeks to abolish the pork barrel system, said those embroiled into the scandal are delaying the case and employing tactics that aim to distract public attention.

She also said President Benigno Aquino III is "mostly correct" in insisting that the first item of business concerning the alleged pork barrel scam is to jail those proven guilty of wrongdoing.

In a speech yesterday before the members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III hinted that those who criticized the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) of his administration may have come from those who were charged in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.

"Since I am in a room full of journalists, perhaps I can leave it to you to connect the dots: All of these attacks came after plunder cases, among others, that were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against a few well-known politicians," Aquino said.

The DAP was first attacked after Senator Jinggoy Estrada revealed in privilege speech that lawmakers who voted to convict former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona were given additional funds. The Aquino administration later said these were from the DAP scheme.

Estrada is one of the over 30 individuals charged with plunder due to the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam.

Aquino said the "true issue," which is the alleged scam, has been "drowned out by all the background noise" that included the DAP controversy.

"Let’s keep our eye on the ball. The public was outraged by the audacity with which public officials allegedly stole from the national coffers through PDAF," Aquino said.

Santiago, meanwhile, said the senators suspected of plunder "have lost their moral right" to steer the debate from the PDAF to the DAP.

"I will not allow my colleagues to deflect their criminal liabilities concerning PDAF by harping on the DAP system from which they themselves profited," she said.