Senate minority: Not our job to check if NGOs are real

MANILA, Philippines -  Members of the Senate Minority group said Wednesday that it is not their job to verify the legitimacy of the non-government organizations (NGOs) that receive their pork barrel through government agencies.

In a statement, the Senate Minority cited a specific provision in the 2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA) which states that the government agencies and local government units shall ensure if the NGOs and people's organizations that they deal with are legitimate.

The group also said that GAAs of previous years contain provisions allowing for the transfer of funds to NGOs and civil society and people's organizations, subject to certain conditions.

"The above-mentioned provisions clearly support our stand that: first, the transfer of funds to NGOs does have legal basis; and second, that it is not the responsibility of the legislators to ascertain the legitimacy of the NGOs which the IAs (Implementing Agencies) work with in the implementation of our projects. That burden falls on the IAs and the local government units concerned as provided by law," the Senate Minority group said.

The Commission on Audit (COA) recently revealed in a special report that nearly 200 lawmakers including 12 senators allocated P6.15 billion in pork barrel in 2007 to 2009 to 82 NGOs, some of which are dubious.

COA Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan said in last week's first hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the alleged pork barrel scam that four senators were all found to have provided their Priority Development Assistance Fund allocation to the NGOs linked to Janet Lim-Napoles.

These were Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., and Senate Minority members Juan Ponce Enrile, Gregorio Honasan, Jinggoy Estrada.

The Senate Minority group said "it is even more unfortunate" they have been "pilloried and scorned by the media and by the public for this lapse in the implementation of the law."