Miriam wants probe on alleged bribery of senators

MANILA, Philippines - Now that the Supreme Court has declared the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) as unconstitutional, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that it is about time to investigate allegations about the funds used to bribe senators to convict former chief justice Renato Corona during his impeachment trial in 2012.

It was reported that almost all of the senators who voted to convict Corona received additional funds, supposedly from the DAP, shortly after the trial.

Voting 20-3, the Senate sitting as impeachment court convicted Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The impeachment court ruled that Corona was guilty of Article II of the impeachment complaint: the chief magistrate did not fully disclose his assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Santiago said that the Commission on Audit should take the lead in conducting the probe of the alleged bribery using the DAP funds.

“Both the pork barrel and DAP scandals are equally repulsive, and the Supreme Court declared both funds as unconstitutional. I wholeheartedly welcome the impartial adjudication of these abominable abuses of public funds by the Supreme Court since I cannot obtain relief from the Senate itself, which appeared to have been complicit in bribery,” Santiago said.

“It is illegal for the budget department to discriminate among senators. While all other senators received an average of P50 million in DAP funds, reportedly three senators got P100 million each. They are Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Franklin Drilon and Sen. Francis Escudero,” she added.

Santiago noted that only Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former senator Joker Arroyo and herself – who all voted against impeachment – did not receive additional funds.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada said that the DAP has absolutely no basis and is nowhere to be found in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Estrada also called for a probe into the DAP and the fund releases related to it so that the people behind this would be held accountable.

“Now that the highest court of the land said that the DAP mechanism is unconstitutional and illegal, heads must roll and budget officials must be held accountable,” Estrada said in a statement.

Santiago previously predicted that the SC would declare the DAP unconstitutional because it was non-existent in the GAA or national budget. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Edith Regalado, Christina Mendez