mostly, people thought that jinggoy would defend himself and deny the kickbacks/commissions and allegations of plunder in his promised pasabog privilege speech yesterday. but of course he didn’t — whatever his defense, he would be saving that for the ombudsman.
instead, he proceeded to blast COA, media, and other senators, bemoaning the “selective justice” that singled him out, along with enrile and revilla. “We have been vilified in the media. Even some of our colleagues here in the Senate have already passed judgment on us.”
bakit sila lang, he whines. well, some one(s) had to come first, yes? it was just their bad luck / karma that their offices had many many dealings with napoles and her ghost NGOs, and that benhur luy kept records and found the courage to blow the whistle on her. damay damay na. besides, if we waited until every senator and representative (kahit over the last decade lang) who have received kickbacks/commissions for PDAF projects were pinpointed by the DOJ and COA, mamumuti ang mga mata natin kahihintay. meanwhile, business as usual.
this is to say that, except for the newbies, all the senators now investigating the napoles scam in aid of legislation, and all congressmen including reps neptali gonzales, neil tupaz, and mrs butch abad, and all former senators (except joker arroyo and ping lacson) and congressmen for that matter, in and out of government (yes, shawie, including kiko), are themselves under public suspicion of receiving kickbacks/commissions over the last decade. and that we expect the DOJ and COA to be as assiduous about investigating each and every one as expeditiously as possible. because, really, there is no justifying kickbacks, whether 10 percent or 50 percent, whether the NGOs concerned are legit or not, because it’s stealing, plain and simple.
but in fairness, explosive na rin the allegation that senators who voted to convict corona received an additional 50M in PDAF, which means an additional 25M in kickbacks for each recipient? senate prez drilon and dbm chief abad deny any kind of bribery at any time, while ping lacson, who didn’t get any because he always said no to pork barrel, confirms it as “incentive.”
hmm. is it too early to say, tapos na ang maliligayang araw nila?
“Guingona also admits accepting P50M” http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/495829/guingona-also-admits-accepting-p50m
“Sharon Cuneta deletes tweet offering P10M reward to anyone who can prove husband stole from PDAF” http://www.interaksyon.com/entertainment/sharon-cuneta-deletes-tweet-offering-p10m-reward-to-anyone-who-can-prove-husband-stole-from-pdaf/
She pulled her gun out too early…
But Jinggy himself denied that the P50M was a bribe when Enrile interpellated him.
“Bakit Kami Lang?”
I’ll tell you why, Jinggoy. Granted that the three of you are not the only gagos in Congress. Indeed, Congress is full of gagos. But you got caught, the other gagos didn’t. Because they had enough brains not to partner with a woman whose people did not know how to keep their mouth shut. So you know what that makes you? Gagong bobo.
what i hate about the state of phil. journalism is that we dont know what the 50M is ostensibly for.
why release 50M at all? to whom?
basic stuff, but we are all interested in the bribe angle, no one knows basic info about these disbursements.
Do we know for a fact that the P50 million went only to the senators who voted to convict? I’m confused on that point. There are 23 different senators and 23 different versions about the money. It does suggest that money is thrown about very loosely. P50 million is not exactly pocket change. Yet no one seems to know EXACTLY why they got it.
Was the P50M on top of the authorized PDAF of each senator? If it is, and it seems it is, it is an unauthorized release, unauthorized in the sense that it was not in the budget. Hence, it could only come from funds contingent in nature
Now, assuming Joker and Ping did not avail of it, and the three who voted for Corona were excluded, that is 23 minus 5, equals 18. What is 18 times P50M? P900M! Where could you source out that much contingent fund and who could possibly authorize that?
If anyone could go back to the original Articles of Impeachment he would easily see that it was a hopeless case for the President. But this was politics. Had PNoy lost it, it would have been for him a devastating, humiliating loss, weakening him politically by so much so early in the game. He had to win by hook or by crook.
agree, ricelander. in fact, all that talk of bribery reminded me of jinggoy himself taking the floor during corona trial, challenging defense about allegations of palace interference. googled it and found these links. allegations were with regard pala to defying tro re corona’s dollar accounts.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/80-special-coverage/1471-defense-blasts-palace-interference
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/247830/news/nation/senators-to-defense-camp-explain-statements-on-alleged-bribery-try
Funny that it is Jinggoy now himself admitting to it. Today, Drilon was forced out of his denial and the rest of the senators were confirming it. Big problem for Abad. How could he now deny further? If he is asked where the fund came from and who authorized its release, what will he say?
DONT FALL FOR JINGGOY’s RUSE
You fell for Jinggoy’s ruse. Now you have forgotten his own case of plunder, which is well documented. Remember it was JPE who was Senate President at that time, so this came with his full knowledge and so most likely he is the one coaching Estrada to come out with this.
What was the P50M given to the Senators three months after Corona’s conviction? The PDAF was suspended during Corona’s trial ; this was additional PDAF.
Was it improper? Definitely. Which is why we want to abolish the pork barrel.
Was it illegal? No.
Was it a reward for convicting Corona? You can certainly interpret it that way.
Did it go to the Senator’s pockets, like what Jinggoy allegedly did with his PDAF coursed through Napoles? No.
One can argue that the administration used a questionable method to support a worthy goal: that of ousting a Chief Justice who was a midnight appointee and would have served as a rear guard against the effort to seek justice for the crimes of the Arroyo administration.
Jinggoy and Enrile wanted to create an atmosphere of confusion and they got one. They attacked, instead of being defensive all the time.
Do not lose track of the ball. It is Jinggoy who will stand trial with Napoles for plunder, no matter how much he squirms in public.
The smart Filipino can discern these distinctions.
no, andrew lim, havent forgotten jinggoy’s plunder case. like, you know, kaya namang mag-multi-tasking / multi-thinking ng “smart filipino”. plunder on one hand, additional PDAF on the other…
“Senate President Franklin Drilon on Thursday said the P50 million worth of pork barrel projects made available to senators after the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona last year was part of the senators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was withheld during the entire Corona impeachment trial.” http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/496009/drilon-confirms-p50m-pork-barrel
So, there is no “additional” PDAF? only regular PDAF that they are entitled to? So how could that be a reward? Or incentive? or whatever else it is called? You withhold a senator’s PDAF, release it later and call it a reward? Blackmail pa.
In any case, Lacson could not help himself: “…I confirm P50M additional.” http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/495029/lacson-confirms-p50-m-payoff-to-senators-who-convicted-corona
Saludo ako kay Sen. Ping Lacson, di natitinag sa mga hamon ng pagkakataon makapagpayaman sa kaban ng bayan. Sana “ikaw na
nga sa 2016”. Linisinmo ang ating pamahalan at buong bureaucrasiya. Kagaya ng sabi sa amin noong 2003 sa mga namumuno ng Calabarzon
OFW organization sa Riyadh,SA, matuwid na halimbawa lang mula sa itaas hangangg sa maliit na kawani ng pamahalan ang kailangan.
Binigyan mo ng pag-asa na matangal ang kanser ng corruption sa ating systema. Ituloy mo ang pangarap ng mga magulang mo.
junggoy’s pasabog was a dud.
“Money flowed at Corona trial/ Joker says P500m in pork last year, P50m more from DAP” http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/10/02/money-flowed-at-corona-trial/