Toughest times for Drilon

The STAR boss, president and CEO Miguel G. Belmonte, was on television yesterday  appearing rather shy, but behind that unassuming demeanor is a person carrying on the Belmonte and Go family tradition of quickly coming to the succor of people hit by natural calamities. Thus the  STAR’s social arm, Operation Damayan, conducts  year-round social responsibility projects focused on relief, education and medical assistance. It distributed P3 million worth of relief goods in Bohol following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the province in October. It donated several millions worth of donations to previous flood, earthquake and fire victims.

To help the victims of the Yolanda super typhoon, the STAR Group of Companies has launched the Yolanda fund drive, with a P.5 million donation, together with Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, TGFHA, M. and SB.

To help send relief to families, cash donations may be sent to The Philippine STAR Operation Damayan c/o MBTC Aduana Branch Savings Account No. 151-7-15152422-9 (please fax deposit slip to tel.  5276857 c/o Operation Damayan).

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At a dinner meeting with five women from media, I asked Senate President Franklin Drilon if the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings on the P10-billion pork barrel scam are giving him the toughest time in his political career. Without batting an eyelash, he said, “Yes. It’s my kalbaryo (calvary).  It’s none of my doing, and I can’t do anything about it.”

He, as well as you and I, had no inkling that the one-million rallies staged in many parts of the country decrying a “pork barrel” scam as early as August would land in the Senate, and on his lap – and who knows where else? He arrived at the dinner barely an hour after the end of the committee’s first hearing over the alleged misuse of legislators of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), commonly named pork barrel. Under the glare of TV klieg lights and eyes and ears of a waiting public, the foci of attention that afternoon were businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and a number of “whistleblowers” who had charged her  of having given huge commissions to legislators for  their having given huge amounts of their PDAF to non-existent non-government organizations (NGOs). Three senators were named as  involved in this “scam” — namely former Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile and Senators Jinggoy  Estrada and Bong Revilla. If the three are found guilty of plunder,  they would be imprisoned for life.

The holding of the hearing was agreed upon after a verbal exchange between the  Senate president and the chair of the  Blue Ribbon Committee, Sen. TG Guingona.  The former had initially turned down a request of the latter to hold the hearing, his reason being it would be a waste of time, money and emotion since Napoles had denied  her role in the scam. 

Drilon was proven right: at the first hearing Wednesday last week, Napoles gave three well-rehearsed answers to legislators’ questions: “I invoke my right against self-incrimination,” “I don’t know,” and “I don’t remember.”

Drilon also had no easy time, or could not try to ease the temper of  Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who, as in past plenary and hearing sessions, spat out a flurry of incendiary expletives to opponents, insulted Napoles, and worse, at a press conference, described Senator Enrile as the mastermind of the pork barrel scam.

How do you deal with quarreling solons under the same House of Congress?  Drilon said, “The difficulty is that I have to be fair to all. If you can’t defend them, you should not attack them.”

Drilon carries the burden of justifying to the public why Napoles had to be transferred from the National  Bureau of Investigation to the Fort Santo Domingo in Laguna  for protection. Then there is the transport  and security expense — about P150,000 — incurred in her appearance at the senate committee hearing.

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Drilon said the investigation into the scam will end with Guingona’s decision. The Senate is set to file charges of perjury against Napoles, given her blanket denials of the whistleblowers’ allegations. As soon as the Ombudsman has gathered evidence based on the NBI’s recommendations, the case will be brought to the Sandiganbayan, where Napoles said at the hearing, she will tell all “before the proper court.”

The developments have inflicted damage on the legislative branch of government. “The damage has been done,” said Drilon. “All of us, senators and congresspeople, have been condemned  as thieves and cheaters. I can face the Lord, wala akong ninakaw.”

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Drilon told us legislators do not receive the P200-million PDAF they are entitled to. They recommend projects to be funded to the Budget and Management department, which in turn releases the amounts to the projects.  Somewhere along the way, the corruption takes place; commissions are given to the senators and/or their designated staff members. In the scam at hand, projects have been funded by non-existent NGOs, reported by the whistleblowers (former employees of Napoles) to be organized by Napoles.

Drilon told us a few days after the scam controversy broke out, he had declared that he is in favor of abolishing the PDAF. He is first in the list of senators who put in writing their  non-participation in the 2014 PDAF budget. Three of them are Senators Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and Vic Sotto. Senator Enrile said the same, but only verbally.

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As if the pork barrel scam were not enough to cloud a House smarting under balmy weather,  another practice is being questioned as  unconstitutional: the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). But legal minds, as well as Drilon, defend the rightness of this program which allows for the realignment or transfer of funds that had been earmarked for projects but are not used up, to fund another project. The condition is that the recipient project falls within the same department or agency. You can’t transfer funds from the executive to the legislative or judicial branch. The realignment practice, made for purposes of flexibility, is thus constitutional, and within legal, proper and ethical bounds, said Drilon.

Drilon has experienced ups and downs in his 30 years of service in government. He has served as a deputy minister of labor, then as labor secretary;  moved on to justice secretary and executive secretary.  In those roles, he had to deal with labor disputes, and the dangers of coup threats and assassination attempts. At one time, upon the insistence of then President Cory Aquino, he gave shelter for a month to an “endangered” person – the probable cause of his garden being lobbed with a hand grenade, causing the destruction of his late wife’s treasured orchid plants. This is his fourth term as senator, and his second as Senate president.

The road is rough for senators who want to walk the strait and narrow path, and this latest turbulent round will not detract from his will and perseverance to serve his government and country to the best of his ability.

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The Institute of Social Studies and Action (ISSA) is celebrating its 30th year of founding with an “intimate gathering of ISSA’s family and friends to share memories and renew our ties and commitments.” The reunion will be held Nov. 23, from 2 to 5 p.m., at the Macagba House(formerly ISSA office), at 1589 Quezon Avenue,West Triangle, Quezon City. Interested  parties may call +63917 8693660 and +63917 5225682.

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