Reforms in Senate underway

We write to shed light on issues and suggestions made by Federico Pascual Jr. in his May 15, 2014 column titled, “What must the Senate do: prosecute or legislate?,” where he argues that  instead of engaging in “the pork barrel circus,” the senators must push for “(1) remedial legislation and (2) prosecution of the perpetrators.”

We wish to point out that the Senate has long been moving towards those two objectives. In fact, the Senate has repeatedly shown that the PDAF controversy, while important, does not interfere with their mandate as a lawmaking institution of the land.

To clarify, recommendations for remedial legislation that would prevent the occurrence of similar abuses such as those in the pork barrel scam were the subject of a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing before it submitted its report in April. It must be also remembered that under Senate President Franklin M. Drilon’s initiative, the PDAF - which is at the heart of this controversy — has been abolished by the senators way before the Supreme Court had declared it as unconstitutional.  

In addition, legislative reforms to fight corruption in public service have been a priority by the Upper Chamber throughout the 16th Congress. As of this writing, Senate Bill 2138 — or the systemic amendments to the Sandiganbayan Law — is set to be passed on third and final reading. 

Actual Senate activity during the past weeks has been devoted towards the senators’ legislative duties. To note, the last Senate hearing on the pork barrel scam had been conducted weeks ago, in March earlier this year.  

We also stress that Senate President Drilon has made it clear that the Senate will support the actions and decisions to be made by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan regarding their investigation of the pork barrel scam – including the full prosecution of those who evidence will show to have indeed misused public funds. The Senate leadership is firm that no action will be made to intervene or delay the pursuit of justice in this issue.

We hope to have enlightened everyone with the accurate context on the steps taken by the Senate to address the pork barrel scam. The Senate is determined to fully restore the people’s trust and respect, and it will do so in a prudent, fair and decisive manner, following the rule of law. — Samuel Y. Santos, Service Chief, Print Media Service, Public Relations and Information Bureau, Senate of the Philippines