‘Noy can’t be impeached over PDAF’

MANILA, Philippines - House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora yesterday dissuaded his colleagues in the opposition from threatening to file an impeachment complaint against President Aquino over the pork barrel issue.

“At this point, the President is doing nothing that is impeachable,” Zamora told a news conference.

He said he and his colleagues and other lawmakers should be talking about more serious problems the nation is facing.

“For instance, we want to know why the unemployment rate is rising, which means more people are going jobless, despite our high economic growth. We will raise that when the House starts floor debates on the 2014 budget on Monday,” he said.

He said the jobless growth implies that it is only the rich who are reaping the benefits of high growth.

“This cannot go on if the administration wants to achieve inclusive growth, meaning growth that benefits the poor,” he said.

Zamora said opposition senators and congressmen who have been linked to the pork barrel scam should not put political color to the impending government decision to file charges against them.

“They should not use political affiliation as a defense. That is the advice I would give Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and the others. If the government claims they used bogus NGOs (non-government organizations), they should prove these are not bogus. If the claim is that their project beneficiaries were bogus, they should prove they were not fake,” he said.

The opposition leader also urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make sure that it has airtight cases against alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles and lawmakers she reportedly gave kickbacks to.

“It’s not sufficient that a whistle-blower claims he delivered millions to a senator’s chief of staff. They have to prove that the money ended up with the senator. It’s not enough that a whistle-blower claims he delivered P10 million, for instance, to a congressman. That should be backed up by something else, like a testimony or document evidencing a P10-million withdrawal from a bank account,” he said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares expressed belief that the DOJ, National Bureau of Investigation, Commission on Audit (COA), and the Office of the Ombudsman have more than sufficient evidence to file plunder charges against all those behind and involved in the pork barrel scam.      

“They have filed cases before with less evidence. Here, they have a series of whistle-blowers or witnesses who will corroborate each other’s testimonies. They have documents and they have the exhaustive COA report on pork barrel fund irregularities in 2007-2009,” he said.

Colmenares said whistle-blowers should be included in the charges to make sure they won’t recant their testimonies.