Noy won’t fire 3 Cabinet men in ‘pork’ scam

SAN CARLOS CITY, Philippines – President Aquino yesterday rejected calls for him to fire members of his Cabinet implicated in the pork barrel scam.

“One of the tenets of our law is innocent until proven guilty. Not guilty until you prove yourself innocent,” he told reporters here, where he launched the country’s biggest solar farm, San Carlos Solar Energy Inc.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) secretary-general Joel Villanueva were included in the list, provided by suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, of former lawmakers who allegedly misused their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

 The President said he could not just fire members of his Cabinet to appease the critics.

“If a secretary is working, there are those who will be happy, and others, not too happy. Those dissatisfied become critics who ask that a secretary be removed. How can we maintain a Cabinet if we fire each time someone criticizes?” he said in Filipino.

He cited the case of Villanueva, who showed to him a supposed request to course his PDAF to Napoles-linked non-government organizations (NGOs), which did not carry the official letterhead of CIBAC (Citizens Battle Against Corruption), the party-list group that he represented when he was still congressman.

He said the supposed evidence was insufficient for him to fire Villanueva.

“If that’s the case, if I remove him it will be because of rumors,” he added.

The President said he could also earn the ire of those who benefited from TESDA under Villanueva and those who will lose the opportunity if he could not find a worthy successor.

He noted that 91 percent of TESDA graduates for the semiconductor and electronics industry were eventually employed. He added that from 26 percent, TESDA was able to give jobs to 62 percent of its graduates.

Allies or not

Vice President Jejomar Binay said the government should file charges against those who will be found liable for the misuse of their PDAF, regardless if they are allies of the administration.

“Why was there an emphasis on my allies? That is why I will rather be emphatic in saying that whoever, allies, non-allies or relatives, whatever the result of the investigation, charges should be filed against those who should be charged,” he said on the sidelines of the 35th National Conference of Employers at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.

Binay likened Napoles’ list to the “Hello, Garci” tapes.

“If you can remember there were two tapes. Now, there are allegedly three affidavits. But let us watch it. Like what I said, those who are liable should be charged regardless if they are friends or not,” he said.

Drop charges

Meanwhile, if a Visayas congressman would have his way, the plunder and graft cases against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., some of their staff and other officials would have to be dropped.

No charges should be brought against any other senator and any of the congressmen named in the so-called Napoles list, because there was nothing wrong with taking funds from Napoles, if they indeed received money from her, according to Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong.

“If they received commissions, those are not public funds. Those are private funds, those are profits of Napoles, which she just shared with them, and one did not violate any law if he or she took them,” he told a news forum in Quezon City.

“If she knocks on your door with a bagful of money that she is offering to you, you take it. If you don’t, people will say you are stupid,” he said.

He said only Napoles should be prosecuted for allegedly misusing public funds.

“The PDAF of lawmakers released by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) are public funds,” Ong, who said he teaches political law, added.

Ong said he is not afraid if his name appears in the different versions of the Napoles list that are circulating.

“My conscience is clear. I have not allocated any of my PDAF to Napoles or any of her NGOs. I allocated all my funds to my district,” he said.

He said he had his staff take video footage of his projects for documentation purposes.

“I also use the videos during campaigns. I tell my constituents that these are the projects undertaken by their congressman,” he said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Jess Diaz