MANILA: Senate President Franklin Drilon yesterday said that the plunder case filed by his political rival in Iloilo province is part of a demolition job to malign his reputation as a lawmaker and head of the Senate.
“This was part of efforts to dishonour me and make me appear crooked and morally incapable to handle the pork barrel scam issue as Senate President,” Drilon said in a statement, reacting to the plunder case filed by former Iloilo Rep Augusto Syjuco Jr before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Syjuco filed the case a week after Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile, along with two congressmen, were charged by the Department of Justice with plunder over the alleged pork barrel scam.
“First, there was this Montblanc pen which I did not receive from (Janet) Napoles. Second, a graft case was filed against me by a former consultant who I fired for unauthorized postings using my Twitter account. Now, there is this unfounded plunder case that involved the construction of the Iloilo Hall of Justice which happened two decades ago,” Drilon said.
Napoles is the alleged mastermind of the P10bn ($240m) pork barrel scam now detained at a police camp in Sta Rosa, Laguna for serious illegal detention charges. Napoles is also facing plunder charges.
Drilon said that the case filed by Syjuco is “malicious and baseless.” He added that Syjuco had an axe to grind with him because he supported the former congressman’s rival, Iloilo Rep Arcadio Gorricete, in the last elections.
The case filed by Syjuco is based on the construction of the Iloilo Hall of Justice in 1992 when Drilon was the secretary of the Department of Justice.
“I had no involvement in the construction of the Iloilo Hall of Justice because the fund was coursed through the Department of Public Works and Highways Central Office. I was told the project was above-board, there was proper bidding, and there was nothing illegal and anomalous about the project which was completed in 1992,” he said.
He noted that the Iloilo Hall of Justice had to undergo an extensive evaluation after a devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Visayas region including Iloilo in 2002. But the analysis made by the experts hired by the DPWH Central Office says that the building is structurally sound and only needs retrofitting works and minor repairs, Drilon said.
He stressed that the P50m budget for retrofitting was not sourced from his 2012 Priority Development Assistance Fund. It was the DPWH that funded the retrofitting, he added.
“The arguments raised by Syjuco in his complaints are mere speculations and hearsays. The Ombudsman should act on his complaints as soon as possible so as to clear my name before the public,” he said.
The Philippine star
