Miriam wants expanded probe on ‘pork’ scam

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate Blue Ribbon committee inquiry into the pork barrel scam should also look into the culpability of the heads of implementing agencies, according to Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Santiago is set to file a resolution asking the committee to expand its investigation to include the implementing agencies of projects funded by pork barrel funds listed in the 2013 and prior budgets.

She said the heads of certain agencies such as the Technology Resource Center, National Agribusiness Corp. and Muslim Youth Foundation are “equally guilty” as the lawmakers tagged in the pork barrel scam.

“The implementing agencies should never have allowed the corrupt politicians to exert pressure in favor of certain NGOs (non-government organizations), who are supposed to have their own funds from non-government sources,” she said.

Santiago said NGOs should source their funds not from the pork barrel, but from international donors, international financing institutions and corporate donors, among others.

“At present, there appears to be no government agency that monitors the flow of public funds to hundreds of NGOs, legitimate or illegitimate. They could be political NGOs, quasi-NGOs, NGOs run by socialites, or NGOs run by wives of public tycoons,” she said.

She said these agencies are not even created by Congress, and many are subsidiary corporations of existing departments or government-owned corporations.

Quoting former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, Santiago said the proliferation of such agencies is “highly anomalous,” considering that some of them receive more funds than the legitimately created agencies of government.

Santiago vowed to help establish the criminal liability of former and present officials of the implementing agencies. She said the government should recover the misappropriated funds if criminal liability is established.

“At the end of this process, we should throw into jail the guilty heads of implementing agencies,” the senator said.

Santiago noted that in the past, the Commission on Audit required full liquidation of government funds. In last year’s budget, she said liquidation was reduced to merely 70 percent.

“Who inserted this corrupt provision of the liquidation to only 70 percent of the funds? This provision was the key to corruption,” she said.

Santiago’s call for an expanded probe comes as Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III starts to consult with senators on its initial committee report on the pork barrel inquiry.

Sources said Guingona’s committee report is focused only on the dealings of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.