MANILA, Philippines - Senator Jinggoy Estrada claimed on Wednesday that senators who voted to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona were given additional pork barrel.
Estrada said in his televised privilege speech that those who voted in favor of the Corona conviction and the passage of the Reproductive Health and Sin Tax laws got an extra P50-million pork barrel.
The senator said the additional funds was "provided in a private and confidential letter" from then Senate finance committee chairperson Franklin Drilon.
He said Budget Secretary Butch Abad knows where the additional pork barrel after Corona's conviction came from.
In a statement, Drilon said he has yet to see the letter mentioned by Estrada.
"But if the insinuation is that the Department of Budget and Management and I gave out additional PDAF funds as incentives to those who voted to convict then Chief Justice Renato Corona, that is not true," Drilon said.
The Senate President said he was told by Estrada after the privilege speech that he did mean to say that the additional pork barrel was a "bribe."
"Estrada said that he was standing by his decision to convict Corona and he was not influenced by any supposed incentive. He said the additional PDAF 'came after the fact of the conviction,'" said Drilon.
"I maintain that the Senators voted according to their conscience and their impartial evaluation of the evidence presented during the Coronal trial," he added.
Senator Pia Cayetano, who voted to convict Corona, also belied Estrada's claims.
"Huh?? I voted yes to all - RH, sin tax and conviction of CJ Corona. I never got addl PDAF. So easy to check records," Cayetano said in her Twitter account.
Celebrity Sharon Cuneta, wife of former Senator Kiko Pangilinan, agreed to Cayetano's statement.
@piacayetano EXACTLY!
— Sharon Cuneta (@sharon_cuneta12) September 25, 2013
In his speech, Estrada cried of being "singled out" in the entire pork barrel controversy.
He blasted the Commission on Audit, the media, and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in being "selective" in the investigation into the alleged pork barrel mess.
Read: Jinggoy feels 'singled out' in pork probe, cries 'injustice'