DAP could doom Noy– Miriam

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino could be impeached if he is found to have used the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to bribe senators to convict former chief justice Renato Corona, Sen. Miriam Santiago said yesterday.

In a statement, Santiago said both the President and the senators who received funds from DAP would be liable for bribery as provided under the law.

She said the release of DAP to senators after the impeachment trial of Corona is now considered as an accepted fact.

“If evidence shows that Malacañang paid the senator-judges in exchange for a guilty verdict, then the crime of bribery has been committed, both by the President and by the senators.”

As this developed, Santiago called on the public to prove the power of righteous indignation by rejecting politicians involved in fund scams.

“I dare to hope and predict that any incumbent public official who will run in the 2016 elections will lose if the Ombudsman will charge him with plunder and malversation in connection with the pork barrel scam and in what appears to be the impeachment scam,” she said during the annual convention of the Philippine Psychiatric Association in Mandaluyong.

The senator said each of the senators who voted for the conviction of Corona received P50 million from DAP.

Three senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, the Senate chief during the impeachment trial; Franklin Drilon, then chairman of the finance committee, and Francis Escudero – who voted to convict Corona, received P100 million each.

“Naturally, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., denied that the DAP funds they received were bribes because the law punishes both the giver and the taker,” she said.

Santiago, who along with Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former senator Joker Arroyo voted to acquit Corona, claimed they did not receive DAP funds.

“But if the senator voted to acquit, he does not get anything. At the very least, this procedure is discriminatory and violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. It also gives rise to the natural presumption that bribery was intended and consummated,” she said.

Santiago urged the Supreme Court to prioritize the deliberation on the constitutionality of DAP, so the bribery issue during the Corona impeachment trial could be settled.

She said if the high tribunal would declare DAP unconstitutional, the senator-judges would be obliged to restitute and return to the government the P50 million each and the P100 million each from senators Enrile, Drilon, and Escudero.“Furthermore, President Aquino will be liable for impeachment, on the constitutional ground of bribery,” Santiago said.

SC can review trial outcome

Santiago said the high tribunal could review the outcome of the Corona impeachment trial.

“On the issue of whether judicial review of the impeachment trial is now called for, I believe the Supreme Court can give due course to a petition for review on certiorari on the ground of extrinsic fraud,” she said, referring to acts committed outside the narratives of the trial and are not known to the judge.

The senator said it is not a crime for the President to try to influence the outcome of the impeachment trial as the process is both legal and political.

She said it is legal for the President to try and influence the senator-judges as he is the nominal head of his political party and has the right to ensure his political survival.

Palace bid to reset DAP argument denied

The high court has denied the request of the Palace to move to March the debate on the legality of DAP.

In a full-court session yesterday, the magistrates dismissed the motion filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) seeking to reset to March 25 the arguments on the constitutionality of DAP.

The SC decided to proceed with the original schedule on Jan. 28. But it gave respondents Executive Sec. Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Budget Sec. Florencio Abad more time to prepare and set another hearing for them on Feb. 18.

This means only respondents from the legislative branch, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., will face the high court in the oral arguments next week.

In its motion last week, the OSG sought to reset the schedule as its collaborating counsel in the case, retired SC Associate Justice Vicente Mendoza, needs more time to prepare for the oral arguments.

Apart from resetting the schedule, the OSG also sought more time to comply with the high court’s order for the Department of Budget and Management to submit on or before Jan. 21 a “list of the sources of funds brought under the DAP, the uses of such funds pursuant to DAP per project and the legal bases thereof.”

Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza asked the SC to give them until March 18 to comply with the order, saying the DBM did not have enough time to prepare the documents as it was busy preparing for the 2014 national budget and in rehabilitation efforts of typhoon-affected areas in the Visayas. The SC junked the request.

The OSG had defended the legality of the DAP in its comment. – Marvin Sy, Alexis Romero, Edu Punay