‘P50 M for senators after Corona trial’

Drilon: No ‘incentives’ after Corona conviction

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Jinggoy Estrada came out swinging yesterday, alleging that senator-judges received P50 million each in “incentives” after convicting Renato Corona and ousting him as chief justice in the impeachment trial last year.

Estrada tagged Senate President Franklin Drilon, at the time chairman of the finance committee, as the one who allegedly allotted the money, as reflected in a “private and confidential letter memorandum.”

Drilon denied this and said he had not seen the letter.

“I have yet to see that letter mentioned by Senator Estrada. But if the insinuation is that the Department of Budget and Management and I gave out additional PDAF funds as incentives to those who voted to convict then chief justice Renato Corona, that is not true,” Drilon said in a statement, referring to the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel.

Drilon said even Estrada acknowledged that any PDAF release came “after the conviction” and was not meant as a “bribe.”

“I maintain that the senators voted according to their conscience and their impartial evaluation of the evidence presented during the Corona trial,” Drilon declared.

Both Drilon and Estrada voted for Corona’s conviction.

In a privilege speech, Estrada also insinuated that fund releases were used by the administration to influence lawmakers in voting for the impeachment of Merceditas Gutierrez when she was the ombudsman.

Gutierrez resigned without waiting for the case against her to be tried by the Senate.

Estrada said Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during her presidency, also used the PDAF to prevent several impeachment cases filed against her from prospering at the House of Representatives.

No complaint against Arroyo, now on her second term as a Pampanga representative, ever reached the Senate.

Estrada did not present evidence to substantiate his claims. Instead he referred to a text message purportedly from Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who allegedly warned that there would be no fund releases to certain congressmen if they did not vote for the impeachment of Gutierrez.

He claimed fund releases were also used by the administration to push for the passage of the sin tax law. He voted against the measure.

He alleged that at the height of the debates on the measure, the secretary of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office offered speedy fund releases to congressmen for the passage of the measure.

Last week, smarting over being singled out in the investigation of the pork barrel scam, Estrada had promised a “bombshell” in his privilege speech.

Yesterday, he challenged Abad to provide the documents needed by the Commission on Audit to assist the agency in its audit of the P155-billion PDAF released from 2007 to 2009.

Estrada said he was baffled by Abad’s silence over the pork barrel controversy.

During his speech, Estrada also slammed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for selective prosecution. “Selective justice is injustice,” he said repeatedly.

“The media frenzy, the cry for blood and for the heads to roll has reached much intensity that it seems impossible now for those implicated to be given any just and fair treatment,” Estrada bewailed.

He cited reports about the release of pork barrel funds at the height of the debates on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

“I will leave it to the people to create their own conclusion, whether this is true or not,” Estrada said. “But I can reveal that after the conviction of the former chief justice, those who voted to convict the former chief justice, those who voted to convict were allotted an additional P50 million.”

But Estrada said he stood by his decision to convict the former chief justice.

In his speech, Estrada explained that lawmakers get to control public funds greater than the P200-million PDAF for each senator and P70 million per congressman.

During budget deliberations, he explained, the amounts are swollen through “congressional initiatives” or “budget insertions.”

Lawmakers can also avail themselves of a so-called economic stimuli fund, above their PDAF, for other pet projects.

Drilon, in his statement, said that after the privilege speech, “Senator Estrada told me at the senator’s lounge that he did not mean to say that the additional PDAF was a ‘bribe’.”

“Estrada said that he was standing by his decision to convict Corona and he was not influenced by any supposed incentive. He said the additional PDAF ‘came after the fact of the conviction’,” Drilon declared.

Corona was convicted of betraying public trust for inaccuracies in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Hit List

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s promised bombshell was aimed at several of his colleagues and other government officials. Among those in his crosshairs yesterday were the following:

Senate President Franklin Drilon

Blue Ribbon chairman Teofisto Guingona III

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago

Former senator Francis Pangilinan

Former senator Manuel Villar

Former senator and now interior chief Mar Roxas

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II

Former An-Waray Rep. Florencio Noel

Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas

Rep. Isidro Ungab

COA Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad