Jailed senators can’t touch funds

MANILA, Philippines - About P18 million in combined monthly operational funds for the offices of detained Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. have been placed under control of the Senate leadership during their 90-day suspension by the ombudsman.

The Office of the Senate Secretary under lawyer Oscar Yabes will handle the senators’ funds, including their respective salaries.

Senate President Franklin Drilon has directed the Senate secretariat to take over the functions of the three senators with regard to the handling of about P2 million a month operational budget of each of the offices, sources said.

In the 90 days of the suspension, the total amount involved is P18 million for the three senators.

“The Office of the Secretary will take over the disposition of the funds of the three senators in the meantime that they are suspended,” a source told The STAR yesterday.

Estrada, Enrile and Revilla are also prevented from making cash advances since they might be able to tap their budgets while suspended from office, the source added.

The three senators have been suspended by the Sandiganbayan one after the other since September, as implemented by the Office of the Senate President despite questions raised by acting Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III on why the suspensions were not brought before the body for plenary discussions.

The suspension orders that would last until December are related to the plunder cases filed before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Based on the previous reports of the Commission on Audit (COA), each senator can tap P40 million to P60 million every year for their salaries, benefits, travel expenses, rentals for offices, professional/consultancy fees, extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses as well as other miscellaneous and operating expenditures.

The amount varies among regular senators and those handling top posts such as the Senate President, Senate President Pro-Tempore, majority and minority leaders.

Each senator also gets a uniform amount of P2 million for chairmanships of the various Senate committees, as well as benefits as members of the Commission of Appointments.

As this developed, the COA has reiterated anew the need for senators to submit their documentary and other audit instruments which will support the audit teams with regard to their monthly expenses.

Because of the stringent measures imposed by the COA, some senators have also resorted to direct payment schemes with regard to their offices’ respective expenses.

The Senate has supposedly made as a policy the submission of itemized audits for expenses, instead of the traditional issuance of “mere certification” issued by senators.

Enrile has again sought relief from the Supreme Court (SC) in the plunder and other charges he is facing before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pork barrel scam.

This time, Enrile questioned an order of the anti-graft court’s third division last July 24 suspending him for three months while standing trial.

In a 47-page petition filed last Oct. 3, Enrile asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or status quo ante order enjoining the Sandiganbayan from implementing its order that became final in a resolution last Aug. 22.

Enrile alleged that the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in granting the motion filed by prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman seeking his suspension.

Jinggoy hits Luy anew

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada again accused yesterday pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy of being a liar and a coached witness of the prosecution.

He even stood up during the hearing at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division’s courtroom to express dismay over allegations he received kickbacks or commissions in exchange for fictitious government projects implemented by the non-government organizations (NGOs) of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

“You know, these (testimonies) are all coached by the prosecution,” Estrada told reporters after the hearing, as he questioned the conflicting statements of Luy as to how the latter claims to have met him in a party in 2012 and then asked the lawmaker through his former chief of staff Pauline Labayen to sign documents at his office allegedly in 2010 and 2011.

“The tale is getting longer, and it’s all lies,” he said in Filipino, citing other allegedly unbelievable claims including how he complained about how his rebates were short by P10,000.

“He said that I talked with Mrs. Napoles over the phone through speakerphone… to complain about the 10 thousand. Assuming for the sake of argument that I took P183 million in commissions, will I still complain of being shortchanged by P10,000?” he said.

“This witness is a liar,” Estrada said, admitting that he could barely contain his irritation over the lies being told to the anti-graft court but denying that he swore inside the courtroom.

Luy again took the witness stand for the prosecution to continue his testimony as a state witness and a former employee of Napoles, who allegedly has firsthand knowledge about how the pork barrel scam was operated and who pocketed public funds.

Estrada, emphasizing that he does not know Luy, said he has never denied knowing Napoles and attending her parties but denied that he had any involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) anomaly.

Estrada said he did have conversations over the phone with Napoles about PDAF commissions or kickbacks as alleged by Luy who claims he, at one time, overheard the two talking to each other over the phone.

Meanwhile, former Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa is ready to face any investigation after his indictment in connection with the PDAF scam.

The lawmaker’s lawyer Edgar Avila said Dangwa welcomes the formal investigation even though it will tarnish his image.

“All these imputations of wrongdoing against me are not only false but are also in themselves wrongful,” Dangwa said.

He claimed that he is innocent of the accusations and maintained that the operators of the scam have forged his signatures in documents related to the PDAF allocations.

He said that endorsements of groups that would benefit from their PDAF were legal and constitutional as upheld by the Supreme Court. – With Michael Punongbayan, Artemio Dumlao