Senate pork probe
should continue – Chiz
By Office of Senator Chiz
Escudero
September 17, 2013
PASAY CITY – Senator Chiz
Escudero said Senate should continue with its investigation on the
priority development assistance fund (PDAF) rip off despite the filing
of plunder charges against some senators, congressmen and individuals
in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“We did the same in the case
of AFP General Carlos Garcia. His case was already before the
Sandiganbayan and it was already in the plea bargaining stage. We went
on with the Senate investigation.”
Escudero, chairman of the
Senate committee on finance said, in sustaining its own investigation,
affords the public the venue to be informed with the facts of the case
through testimonies under oath.
“The Senate remains to be
the only venue where the citizens can very much acquaint themselves
with the goings-on of this case from the witnesses and key players
themselves. This has become equally important to the people because
they now become more vigilant to demand to know where and how the
government utilize the taxes they pay.”
The senator added that there
are still many facts to be had surrounding the siphoning of lawmakers
funds to bogus organizations.
“The uncovering of the
Napoles-NGO operandi does not close the issue, but of course this is
where we take off. Rather, it opened a whole wide door about other
NGOs, 82 as reported in the Commission on Audit report. There are only
8 Napoles-related NGOs; we’d like to find out how the remaining 74
operates. It follows the same operation and pattern as the Napoles
Group and the amount involved is more staggering than what is being
looked at now.”
Escudero, the principal
author who asked the Senate to probe the scandal had asked the
committee to call for Janet Lim Napoles, tagged as the mastermind of
the scam. Other whistleblowers and key personalities already mentioned
in Luy’s narration should also be called before the Senate, he said.
“I have asked the committee
to invite Napoles. I also spoke with Chairman TG Guingona about it.
The court has the jurisdiction over her. Whether it grants our request
or not is totally up to the court. But let it not be said that the
senate did not pursue it.”
During last week’s hearing,
Escudero requested for the appearance of the manager of Metrobank’s
Magdalena branch where Napoles was said to have made a onetime
withdrawal worth P75-M.
“A withdrawal this huge is a
cause for red flag from the bank to the AMLAC. The withdrawal may have
been reported to the AMLAC as an automatic procedure. But what we’d
like to know is if this withdrawal was reported by the bank under the
'know your client rule' by the BSP. Under the rule, the bank manager
must know Napoles personally and what she does for a living. The
sources of the big amounts she withdraw must be known to the manager.
The fund from the treasury goes to an NGO account and then moved to
Napoles’. There is an illegal and dubious pattern already that should
have raised the red lights.”