But only P250K
each to 4 others
By JULIET
LABOG-JAVELLANA
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Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile.
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SENATE
President Juan Ponce Enrile played Santa Claus last Christmas, making a list
and checking it twice as he gave gifts to Senate members and personnel
apparently on the basis of who were “naughty” or “nice.”
Enrile gave 22
senators a total of almost P30 million, a gift that one senator said was
“unconscionable and unconstitutional”.
The cash gift
allegedly came from the funds allotted for the Senate post vacated by President
Aquino when he won the presidential election in 2010.
The Philippine
Daily Inquirer on Tuesday tried to set an interview with Enrile in connection
with the cash gift but he was not immediately available. A member of his staff
said Enrile was on his way out of town and could no longer be reached for
comment.
The various
senators the Inquirer talked to agreed that the P1.6 million bonanza for each
of the 18 senators was the biggest yet. Enrile has been Senate President since
November 2008.
The senators
could not remember the amounts distributed in Christmases past but the highest
one recalled that it was close to P1 million.
Enrile possibly
made all Senate employees happy, since according to the Inquirer
sources—“everyone, including the drivers and the security personnel”—benefited
from bigger bonuses last Christmas, amounting to up to P120,000 each. Some of
them said the amount varied from the previous P55,000 to P80,000.
The Christmas
gifts, billed as “additional MOOE” or maintenance and other operating expenses,
certainly made the Senate one of the happiest workplaces last Christmas, but
some were happier than the others.
That was
because the Senate President’s Christmas list for P1.6 million per senator did
not include four of his colleagues.
Senators
Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Alan Peter and sister
Pia Cayetano got only P250,000 each, Inquirer sources said.
Gigi Reyes
letter
The Inquirer
obtained a copy of a two-page letter signed by Enrile’s chief of staff, Jessica
“Gigi” Reyes, to Senate Budget Director Rene Chua confirming in writing
Enrile’s verbal instructions.
“The SP (Senate
President) is authorizing the release of the additional MOOE (next 2 tranches
for December to the ff. senators):” the letter said.
The handwritten
note listed Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Majority
Leader Vicente Sotto III, Senators Edgardo Angara, Franklin Drilon, Loren
Legarda, Francis Escudero, Sergio Osmeña III, Joker Arroyo, Manuel Villar,
Teofisto Guingona III, Lito Lapid, Ramon Revilla Jr., Panfilo Lacson, Francis
Pangilinan, Gregorio Honasan, Aquilino Pimentel III, Ralph Recto and Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The note said
Enrile was “waiving/foregoing any further additional MOOE” for himself.
Senate sources
said Chua got verbal instructions to give P1.6 million to 18 senators and
P250,000 to four senators.
The Inquirer
was able to confirm the gifts from three senators who got P1.6 million each but
they asked not to be named so as not to rankle their colleagues.
Curiously,
three other senators on the list denied receiving the money.
The Inquirer
also saw a copy of a check for P250,000 issued from Enrile’s Senate account.
‘Nothing
irregular’
Two senators
who said they were given P1.6 million each said there was nothing irregular
about the “gift.”
They explained
that the Senate President had realigned to savings the budget for the 24th and
vacant Senate post and distributed the funds to other senators.
For their
additional Christmas take, the senators have President Aquino to thank for. The
24th seat was the one held by the then senator before he ran and won for
President in 2010.
“There’s
nothing irregular about it. Under the Constitution, the heads of constitutional
offices like the Senate President are given the power to realign and utilize
appropriations in the budget to other existing items,” one senator told the
Inquirer.
“In the case of
the Senate, there is MOOE for 24 senators but there are only 23 (of us).
Therefore, there are unutilized funds which can be realigned to other existing
items,” the senator added.
Accepted
practice
Another senator
said using savings to give away as additional MOOE or bonuses was an “accepted
and regular practice” in the Senate and other government agencies.
“You can source
or pay incentives out of your savings. That is a traditional practice,” the
second senator said.
The Senate’s
MOOE for 2012 amounted to P1.4 billion. It includes travel and communication
expenses, rent, supplies and utilities, professional services and
representation expenses.
But the two
senators said the Senate President also had the option to return the unused
budget to the treasury.
“Of course, we
have that option to realign or not to realign,” the other senator said.
“Yes we can. In
some cases we return (it),” the second senator said.
Suspicious
But another
senator found the distribution of the cash gift as anomalous and “very
suspicious.”
The senator
said that while the Senate President was authorized to use so-called savings of
the Senate, discretionary funds should be “disbursed only for public purposes”
and supported by required documents.
“A Christmas
gift of P1.6 million does not serve a public purpose. It is unconscionable and
unconstitutional,” the senator said.
The senator
pointed out that the “additional MOOE” was just a cover. “It’s the end of the
year. What do you need additional MOOE for?” the senator asked.
‘Bribe’ to head
off coup
The senator
added that the P1.6 million, in checks issued from Enrile’s account, could be
“interpreted as a bribe to prevent a Senate reorganization this Jan. 21, when
Congress resumes session.”
Enrile had been
the subject of ouster rumors ostensibly for his opposition to major pieces of
legislation pushed by the Aquino administration, including the sin tax and
reproductive health (RH) bills.
These were
passed before the Christmas break after long and acrimonious debates in both
houses of Congress and which required the President meeting with lawmakers to
make a pitch for the passage of the controversial measures.
Untenable
Some of
Enrile’s own colleagues view his position as Senate President to be untenable
because as leader of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), he would
be campaigning against the administration alliance during the midterm elections
this May.
The senator,
who questioned Enrile’s distribution of the money, noted that the Senate
President recently talked about possibly resigning after the May elections.
That means, the
senator said, Enrile wanted to stay on as Senate President during the crucial
three-month campaign period for the midterm elections in May.
The senator
said Enrile could use the influence of the office of the third highest official
of the land to campaign not only against the administration but also for his
son Jack, a representative of Cagayan who is running as a senatorial candidate
under the UNA slate.
Enrile belongs
to UNA which includes Vice President Jejomar Binay, archrival of Interior
Secretary Manuel Roxas, touted as the possible presidential candidate of the
Aquino-led Liberal Party in 2016.
UNA also
includes former President Joseph Estrada, whose other son, San Juan Rep. JV
Ejercito, is also running under the UNA senatorial ticket.
Unfilled
positions
A look at the
Senate budget for 2012 showed that of the P2.8 billion appropriated last year
for the chamber’s operations, there was a considerable amount of savings
generated from “unfilled positions” that were otherwise provided for in the
budget.
For 2012, there
were 2,162 permanent positions in the Senate, including the senators and their
staff. But there were only 1,923 filled positions, leaving 239 unfilled.
P51.8M unused
The Senate has
a P708.1-million budget for the salaries of all permanent positions but the
total budget for the filled positions amounted to P656.3 million. That meant
P51.8 million in unused funds.
Aside from
this, the Senate Electoral Tribunal which has a separate budget of P105.7
million has 52 unfilled positions, corresponding to unused funds worth
P112,000.
‘Vindictiveness’
Another senator
said Enrile’s discrimination against four senators smacked of “professional
jealousy and political vindictiveness.”
The two
Cayetanos and Arroyo belong to the minority, which Trillanes joined after a
feud with Enrile. Santiago is with the majority.
Trillanes had a
bitter public spat with Enrile last September when the much younger senator
rose to challenge the veteran politician over the bill that sought to divide
Camarines Sur province.
Secret
negotiator
Angered by
this, Enrile revealed Trillanes’ previously secret role as Mr. Aquino’s
back-channel negotiator with China.
The Senate
President read on the Senate floor embarrassing notes of Trillanes’ meeting
with then Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady in Beijing, prompting
Trillanes to walk out of the session hall.
Biscuits
returned
Last December,
Santiago disclosed that Enrile had returned her and Sen. Pia Cayetano’s
Christmas gifts (biscuits from Iloilo) because of their sponsorship of the RH
bill that Enrile opposed.
Though Enrile
was one of Santiago’s wedding sponsors, the veteran senator reportedly also
resented Santiago when she upstaged him in a survey of senators’ performance
during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Enrile was
widely praised for his handling of the trial. He also allegedly resented Sen.
Alan Cayetano, the minority leader, for questioning some of his rulings,
particularly during the Corona impeachment trial.
Enrile’s
prerogative
Aside from the
questionable use of the Senate funds as Christmas gifts, a senator wondered
about the basis of Enrile in discriminating against his four colleagues.
“What’s the
legal basis for excluding four senators?” the senator said.
Another senator
laughed when told that four colleagues got only P250,000 each.
That, the
senator said, was also up to Enrile to decide. - Inquirer, with a report from Norman
Bordadora
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