Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad Speech on DAP

[Delivered at the Senate of the Philippines, GSIS Buidling, Pasay City, on 24 July 2014]

With the permission of the chairman.

Senate President Franklin Drilon; Chariman of the Finance Committee, Senator Chiz Escudero and members of the committee on finance; my colleagues from the DBCC, Secretary of Finance Cesar Purisima and the NEDA Director General RC Balisacan, as well as my colleagues from the Cabinet and the Executive. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Msgr. Ramirez Should Return PDAF Money

I may not agree on his stand with regards to the Reproductive Health Law, but I will be the first to concede that Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz has a valid point when he asked members of the clergy to return the donations when the source of fund is doubtful.

The senior bishop raised this point in an interview with reporters last 25 May 2014 after alleged pork barrel scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles was accused of giving generous donations using money allegedly stolen from the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Cunanan Is Unreliable and Offer Nothing New

The government is currently reviewing the application of Dennis Cunanan, the Director General of Technology Resource Center (TRC), as a state witness in the ongoing investigation over the alleged PhP 600 million PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam.

Cunanan’s office was reported to have been used as one of the intermediate points for the pork barrel that ended up in the pockets of three senators and Janet Napoles. Cunanan’s application for state protection was also hinged on his claim that he didn’t get a single centavo from the transaction.

A 'Rude Awakening' at GMA's Unang Hirit

If you are already a veteran newscaster, does that give you that license to be rude to your guest?

It appears that GMA news anchor Arnold Clavio thinks that it is and that’s enough reason for him to become impolite while in the middle of the interview with Atty. Alfredo Villamor last 5 November 2013 during the morning show, Unang Hirit.

Be a Lawmaker, Not a Plunderer

Lawmakers are expected to write new laws, review and amend existing laws. There is nothing more that is expected from and definitely nothing less. Life would have been simpler if they just follow this dictum, but obviously greed creeps in.

There is no plausible explanation or justification why the legislators should be involved in identifying if not implementing government projects. Who told them to provide scholarships or medical allowances to their constituents when it is clear as day it is the role of the executive branch.

Pork By Any Other Name

Did Malacañang offered bribes or incentives to lawmakers using the so-called Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to convict former chief justice Renato Corona? We all know the answer to this question, right?

Unless you are trying to pretend that you are blind and brainless, then the obvious answer is no. Why? Because Senator Bongbong Marcos who did not convict the chief justice received funds from DAP on December 2011, while Senator Pia Cayetano who convicted Corona did not receive anything in 2012.

Meet The Country's 3 Furies of Justice

In Greek mythology the three Furies are the chthonic deities of vengeance created when Cronos castrated his father Ouranus and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Furies emerged from the drops of blood. There were three sisters: Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. These three sisters soon became the forever loyal servants of Hades.

In the Philippines, the 'three furies of justice' is the name coined to describe the three ladies of an eight-member Inter-agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC). These are Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima and Office of the Ombudsman head Conchita Carpio Morales. And like the 3 mythical characters, the 3 prominent lawyers are charged with punishing those who committed moral crimes in the country.

Solons Who Transferred 'Pork' to NGOs

There is no existing law allowing Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or 'pork barrel' to be transferred to non-government organizations (NGOs). This was the assertion made by Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Maria Grace Pulido-Tan when she spoke before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee last 29 August 2013. She added that this is a clear violation of the Government Procurement Act.

COA previously identified thirty-five lawmakers, including three senators, who specifically asked for the transfer of their pork barrel funds amounting to PhP 1.7 billion to NGOs for 2007 to 2009 .

Msgr. Ramirez and Janet Lim-Napoles

Earlier, I wrote an article alleging that some prominent Catholic Priests are included in the list of Janet Lim-Napoles witnesses. Napoles is being accused of masterminding the diversion of about PhP 10 Billion worth of state funds to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) and ghost projects.

However, it appears that one of the priests mentioned in that article, Monsignor Josefino S. Ramirez, is not just an ordinary witness but a tenant of Napoles's sprawling property in a plush subdivision in Makati City.

President Aquino's Statement on the Abolition of PDAF

As the call for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) heats up, President Benigno Aquino III released a full statement on his stand that was delivered today (23 August 2013) at the Kalayaan Hall, Malacañang Palace. Here is the full text of that speech:

"Taong 1990 nang binuo ang tinatawag na nating PDAF ngayon para sa isang marangal na layunin: Ang bigyang-lakas ang inyong mga Kinatawan sa Kongreso, upang tumukoy ng mga proyektong hindi kayang pondohan ng mga local government units.