Poe urges independent Senate probe on pork scam

MANILA, Philippines - Neophyte Sen. Grace Poe on Monday described the wanton misuse of pork barrel as a breach of public trust.

Poe made the statement as she led her colleagues at the Senate majority in calling for a parallel Senate inquiry into the irregularities found by the Commission on Audit (COA) in the use of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2007 to 2009.

Poe said she is filing a resolution urging the Senate to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation into the “regulation and use of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in questionable government transactions” identified recently by the COA.

“It is the poorest of the poor who feel the brunt of this breach of public trust,” she said.

Poe stressed that the PDAF should be spent on the people, especially the most marginalized members of our society, and not to be pocketed by some.

She sees the need to put an end to the squandering of public funds. “Tutukan natin kung magkano ang kinupit, pero dapat alamin din natin gaano kadami ang nawalan ng benepisyo at nagdusa,” Poe added.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto and Senator and Francis Escudero separately agreed for the need of the Senate to look into the COA report.

“I am in favor of investigating . More so now there is a COA report,” Recto said.

According to Recto, the COA report must be explained to the Senate because there are clarifications,  which need to be explained.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said a separate probe from the budget hearings should be conducted to aid the senators in imposing stopgap measures on the massive corruption of public funds.

A separate inquiry from the budget hearings will allow senators to call and invite third parties such as businesswman Janet Lim-Napoles and the whistle-blowers in the PDAF scam, Escudero said.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a member of the Senate minority group, branded as calls for investigation as “all premature considering that the NBI and DOJ and Ombudsman have not come up with their investigation report. “

“The COA report is also incomplete. I am willing to support the abolition of the PDAF after thorough and impartial investigation,” Honasan said.