By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, (PNA) — Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., on Thursday said that the P10 Billion pork barrel scam allegedly maneuvered by Janet Lim Napoles could not tarnish the name of the institution.
His reaction is based on the privilege speech made by Senator Jinggoy Estrada and the call of some sectors to burn the house to cleanse the institution.
“They cannot tarnish the good name of the membership who are completely clueless about it, including our first timers, and more importantly the good name of our institution, so we are very protective of that,” Belmonte said in a press conference.
He said that the COA which was also the subject of the speech of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has been referred to the three office group headed by the Ombudsman. The Department of Justice and the COA are members of the group.
Asked about his reaction after Estrada implicates Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales 11, he said he “remain fully confident of the integrity and the abilities of our majority leader, and we stand behind him here, as I said, everybody should be given his time, and that report is still on its very initial standing, it’s not even signed by any of the commissioners, but by a task force as we will await further developments.”
According to Belmonte there are only four solons that have been mentioned by Estrada who are part of the 16th Congress and the rests are either retired from politics while others run other public office. Among those mentioned which were part of the present Congress aside from Gonzales were Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, Batanes Rep. Hernedina Abad and Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupas.
“I don’t really believe that the COA has given any special treatment on anybody. If you will notice if you mention so many names, paano mo massabing special treatment yup?” Belmonte explained. “Pero at any rate that full report in which according to Jinggoy, I dunno if he counted correct, he counted so many names of the 300 plus and so forth.”
The only thing new in Estrada’s speech, Belmonte said is the P5 Million allegedly distributed to senators who voted in favor to convict then Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“What is the use of mentioning certain people, for instance mentioning one senator for giving P5 million? I mean, I don’t see how that computer with the huge amount that is currently in the investigation of the Napoles scam,” he pointed out.