CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Fire Budget Sec. Florencio Abad and Agriculture Sec. Proceso Alcala instead of acting like lawyers for them.
The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) issued this challenge yesterday to Pres. Aquino following recent exposes on the use of pork barrel funds.
Pamalakaya Vice Chair Salvador France said Abad and Alcala should also be made to explain why their departments had allowed a dummy agency to access P89.2 million from the pork barrel fund of eight congressmen as reported by the Commission on Audit (COA) last week.
“Pres. Aquino has no reason to keep two of the most fair-haired boys of the ruling Liberal Party in the government. The two officials should be fired and be made to face an investigating authority and an already angered taxpaying public,” said France.
He decried the President’s alleged ”kid gloves treatment” of the two cabinet members.
“The President appeared unperturbed and ready to defend the Budget and the Agriculture secretaries in the case of the P89.2 million anomaly,” he noted.
“Aquino should prove us wrong by compelling Abad and Alcala to submit themselves to investigation,” he added.
Pamalakaya said it was “extremely angered” by the President’s dismissal of the alleged P89.2- million pork barrel mess linked to Abad and Alcala as being paltry when compared to the P728-million fertilizer fund scam during the term of former Pres. Arroyo.
France recalled that Levito Baligod, counsel of the P10-billion pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, said the office of Alcala endorsed the release of funds to Napoles’ agency despite tightened accreditation employed by DA to non-government organizations (NGOs) requesting funds for development projects.
“Baligod confirmed the whistleblower had documents, including special allotment release orders (SARO), showing that 11 pet projects of eight representatives in the 15th Congress used Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation Inc. (KPMI), which was allegedly set up by Napoles,” France noted.
He said Abad and Alcala seemed “untouchable” in the Aquino administration.
At least eight congressmen, including allies of the President in the Liberal Party were implicated in the discovery of P89.2-million pork barrel fund released to fake NGOs identified with the group of Napoles. This is on top of the P 10-billion pork barrel scam earlier exposed by the whistleblower that implicated six senators and 28 congressmen.
Pamalakaya urged Malacanang to let the COA perform a credible audit of the P24-billion executive pork barrel utilized by the Office of the President.
“The Filipino taxpaying public including the urban poor who pay P3.60 expanded value added tax for every kilo of rice want an audit of the P24-billion pork barrel transferred to Aquino’s presidential account in 2012,” France stressed.
Pamalakaya also lambasted Aquino for “refusing to heed to the legitimate demands of the people to have presidential pork abolished along with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers.”
