‘Pork’ senators can run again in 2016, but ...

MANILA, Philippines - While there is so far no legal impediment to Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.’s seeking the presidency in 2016, any decision regarding the matter should be based on delicadeza, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

De Lima said the senator may run for president in 2016 unless he is convicted of plunder and graft before the elections or disqualified by the Commission on Elections.

“Since the criminal cases before the Sandiganbayan have just started, there is no such impediment, strictly speaking,” she explained.

But she stressed that considering the gravity of the charges Revilla is facing, he should consider deciding in favor of “national interest.”

He is being accused of pocketing P242 million in kickbacks from spurious projects using his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“The decision to run in spite of the big cases against him is actually addressed to his personal sense of delicadeza and sense of utmost responsibility towards upholding national interest,” she told reporters in an ambush interview. “This is plunder, the cases against them are no ordinary cases.”

In an interview over radio dzBB last Sunday, Revilla bared his plan to run for president in 2016.

Revilla, chairman of the Lakas-CMD party of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has also started going around the country with Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, another lawmaker charged with plunder over the PDAF scam, to thank and get sympathy from supporters.

De Lima also said she would meet with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials today to discuss the filing of the third batch of PDAF cases.

She declined to comment on a report that Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Joel Villanueva were among those to be charged.

“I don’t know where that came from. At this point, I cannot confirm or deny if that report is accurate. I have to be consistent with my policy that we will only announce when we are ready to file,” she stressed.

Still trusted

 Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, for his part, said Villanueva still enjoys the full trust and confidence of President Aquino.

Villanueva yesterday reiterated his innocence in the pork barrel scam, saying he could not have participated in any anomalous activity during the previous administration because he and Aquino belonged to the opposition bloc.

“It’s the height of stupidity or insanity. They (Arroyo officials) were all eyes and all ears on us,” Villanueva said.

“Is there a hatchet job against me? I hope I will not be made a sacrificial lamb here, only because I’m an ally of the President,” he said.

“I wrote the DOJ and NBI in September 2013 that I was willing to be subjected to any investigation. And I cooperated,” Villanueva said.

“My only request is that if they really have evidence, then go ahead, I’d be happy. But if not, then they should clear my name. I don’t think this is fair. Will this drag on forever? It’s almost a year now, but they have not seen anything,” he said.

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, meanwhile, urged yesterday Cabinet officials implicated in the pork barrel scam and other controversies to resign to spare President Aquino from further embarrassment.

“The President is always on the defensive because of them on the pork barrel scam, which I find very unusual because normally, they should be the one taking the flak for him,” Romualdez said, referring in particular to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.

He said Cabinet officials should not be “unnecessary baggage” for the administration.

“At the end of the day, it is up to them to submit courtesy resignation or take a leave of absence. These are very worthwhile options they can take to keep their offices beyond reproach,” he said.

He also appealed to the DOJ and the Office of the Ombudsman to speed up resolving cases against allies of the Aquino administration implicated in the pork barrel scam.

“Otherwise, the perception of selective prosecution will persist because only opposition lawmakers are being charged right now,” he said.  – With Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla