₱100 million DAP and Ilo-ilo Bogus - Senate Pres. Drilon Faces Plunder Case

A screenshot of Robin Padilla's Instagram post that urges Senate President Franklin Drilon to resign amid the DAP funds controversy.

 

Senate President Franklin Drilon is facing another plunder charge before the Office of the Ombudsman, this time for his involvement in the allegedly anomalous purchase of a 16.2-hectare property in Iloilo seven years ago.

 

Former Iloilo congressman Augusto Syjuco Jr. lodged the latest criminal complaint accusing the senator and his supposed cohorts of pocketing at least ₱60.5 million from the transaction.

 

Last week, Syjuco filed a separate plunder complaint against Drilon for allegedly receiving kickbacks from the 1992 construction of the Iloilo Justice Hall wherein substandard materials and equipment were used to build a structurally weak and dangerous building.

 

In his latest complaint, Syjuco exposed the senator's alleged hand in the purchase of a property in Iloilo City where residents living along the riverbanks would be relocated pursuant to the Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

 

He said the property owned by Marilyn Mirasol Inocencio was an unproductive agricultural land valued by the city assessor's office at ₱2,754,030 or just ₱17 per square meter.    

 

However, to boost the valuation of the property, the city assessor's office issued a new tax declaration on Jan. 24, 2006 that changed the classification of the property from agricultural to residential, the day before it was purchased.

 

"These manipulations of the market value for the subject property abruptly increased artificially its selling price to ₱81,001,000 while the assessed value also sky-rocketed to ₱6,075,080.

 

"In a worse and surprising turn of events, the subject property that was valued at ₱2,754,030 only a day ago, was renegotiated for a stupendously increased amount of ₱63,200,000 on Jan. 25, 2006 through a Deed of Sale signed and executed a day after its market and assessed value were arbitrarily increased," Syjuco bared.

 

"Apparently, the issuance of the new tax declaration was made to justify the overpricing, to the damage and prejudice of the government," his complaint read.

 

Syjuco said Drilon immediately released the amount to pay the landowner a staggering ₱63.2 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF.)

 

Drilon slammed the latest plunder case filed against him by Syjuco as a desperate and pathetic attempt to malign him by a discredited politician.

 

Just like the previous plunder charge against him by Syjuco, Drilon said that the latest case was baseless since it had nothing to do with him at all.

 

"I had nothing to do with the purchase of the land as mentioned in the complaint of Syjuco. It was the Iloilo City government which purchased that land. I had no participation whatsoever in the purchase of that land," Drilon said in a statement. – With Marvin Sy.

 

₱100 million DAP

Answering accusations that he was among those who received the lion's share of "additional pork barrel," Senate President Franklin Drilon on Sunday said he received ₱100 million from the Disbursement Acceleration Plan (DAP) but put it to good use.

 

"The ₱100 million, I received that…I requested for that fund under the DAP of the government so [Iloilo] would have additional infrastructure for tourism to boost our opportunity to host the 2015 [annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]," he said in a radio interview.

 

The Senate President explained that the DAP, a lump-sum budgetary item introduced in 2011, was created because the government was being criticized for underspending.

 

"This is from the DAP which was created because of criticisms by economists that the government was underspending. Spending was weak that is why the [gross domestic product] at that time was low, at 3.6 percent against our target of 6 to 7 percent," he said.

 

Drilon, who hails from Iloilo City, said the fund after it was granted to his office went straight to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for implementation.

 

"Senator Jinggoy [Estrada] himself said that it was not a bribe. If it was used to influence [the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona last year], there is no logic to releasing it after the trial and conviction of Corona," he said.

 

Estrada, in a privilege speech last Wednesday, claimed that senators who voted to convict Corona were given an additional P50 million in funds "as provided in a private and confidential letter memorandum of the then chair of the Senate committee on finance [now Senate President Drilon]."

 

But Drilon pointed out that Senator Joker Arroyo, who voted for the acquittal of Corona, received funds from the DAP. However, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said Arroyo's funds were released in 2013.

 

"Confidential man o hindi, ang importante ay kung paano ginamit," he said of the so-called confidential memorandum.

 

Drilon asked the public to listen to their side of the story.

 

"The release of funds does not necessarily mean that it was pocketed [by the official]," he said.

 

The Senate president said that to address such perceptions, he will push for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

 

"We will lead the reform agenda so there would be no doubts that if [a lawmaker] has PDAF, something questionable is happening," he said.

With report from philSTAR and Inquirer 

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Palawan’s Oyster Bay into NAVAL Bay conversion prepared for Obama’s Visit; New home for 2 Hamilton warships

 

As Obama plans Asia tour, postcard Philippines isle symbolizes U.S. pivot

 

Its mangrove-fringed coral reefs support an abundant fish population. Its deep, blue waters are unmuddied by the monsoons that batter the western Philippines coastline.

 

But a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Asia starting this weekend could herald the start of dramatic changes to Oyster Bay, a postcard-perfect cove on Palawan Island that the Philippines expects to transform into a port for its naval frigates and eventually for American warships - all overlooking the disputed South China Sea.

 

Developing this remote island paradise into a military facility could exacerbate tensions with China, whose sovereignty claims over the vast, mineral-rich South China Sea, one of the world's most important waterways, set it directly against U.S. allies Vietnam and the Philippines. Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim parts of the sea.

 

Obama is scheduled to leave on Saturday on a four-nation, week-long tour to Asia. But the uncertainty caused by a government shutdown that began on Tuesday could force him to postpone his plans. "You know, we'll see obviously what happens as the week unfolds," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.

 

At the moment, however, Obama is scheduled to round off his tour with a stopover in Manila, which is seen as a strong signal of U.S. support for the Philippines despite Washington's professed neutrality in the South China Sea dispute.

 

Rebuilding ties with the Philippines, including helping to upgrade its ill-equipped military, has been an important part of a U.S. rebalancing of its strategic focus towards Asia that is seen as a bid to check China's growing power.

 

President Benigno Aquino has launched a $1.8 billion modernization program and revived plans to build new air and naval bases at Subic Bay, the largest U.S. military installation in Southeast Asia before it was shuttered in 1992.

 

Also on the cards is the development of Oyster Bay, which lies about 550 km (340 miles) southwest of Manila.

 

"It will be a mini-Subic," Commodore Joseph Rostum O. Peña, commander of the Philippines' western navy, said in the first public comments about converting Oyster Bay into a major naval base.

 

A future port here would extend the reach of the navy's two frigates, both former U.S. Coast Guard cutters, over the disputed Spratly Islands, in the southern part of the South China Sea, he said in an interview from his office overlooking the mouth of the bay.

 

Long-held plans to develop the port were resurrected by President Aquino after for purchasing each $15.15 million (x 2) US Dollars, now the Philippine Navy's largest ships, in 2011 and 2012.

 

Oyster Bay is about 160 km (100 miles) from the Spratlys.

 

"In Manila, the leaders must move behind rhetorical blandishments about a new spirit of partnership and start to detail specific actions that will strengthen Philippine defense capabilities," said Patrick Cronin, an Asia-Pacific security expert at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

 

That includes building a permanent home for the Philippines' two big warships. It also means finding strategic areas where the United States could rotate troops, ships and naval aircraft — all within easy reach of territory claimed by Beijing.

 

"Oyster Bay may be the best choice," said Cronin.

 

INCREASINGLY ASSERTIVE

 

China has grown increasingly assertive in the West Philippines Sea's 200 Nautical miles exclusive economic Zone and other ASEAN seas reaching the coast not just the Philippines but also Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, one of Asia's biggest security headaches. On Sept 3 the Philippines accused China of preparing to build a new structure on the Panatag shoal (Scarborough Shoal) in the sea in violation of the Declaration of Conduct, a non-binding confidence-building agreement on maritime conduct signed in 2002 by China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

These maritime tensions provide an uneasy backdrop to Obama's Asian tour that includes a regional summit where he is expected to urge China and Southeast Asian nations to resolve differences over the South China Sea.

 

Efforts to ease the tensions by agreeing a binding Code of Conduct (CoC) between ASEAN nations and China have advanced at a painfully slow pace, with no major breakthrough expected at the East Asia Summit in Brunei that Obama will attend.

 

China has repeatedly warned the United States to stay out of the South China Sea dispute. Washington has not publicly taken sides, but in July Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated his country's strategic interest in freedom of navigation through the busy sea and its eagerness to see a CoC signed.

 

The proposed code would not touch on countries' territorial claims, but would set rules governing the behavior of ships to reduce the risk of misunderstandings that could cause conflict.

 

China is in "no rush" to sign the CoC, said its Foreign Minister Wang Yi in August. Talks between Chinese and ASEAN officials in Beijing in late September went nowhere. Chinese state media warned in June that a "counter-strike" against the Philippines was inevitable if it continued to provoke Beijing.

 

China's foot-dragging on the CoC has firmed Manila's resolve to strengthen its military, said a senior Philippine diplomat.

 

"Of course, we are for peaceful means to resolve dispute," he said, also requesting anonymity. "However, we want a capability that would make other states think twice before they do something foolish in the disputed areas."

 

In Manila, U.S. and Philippine officials are thrashing out a framework agreement which would improve the Asian nation's ability to protect its maritime borders and increase the number of American ships, planes and troops temporarily stationed there. A fourth round of talks began on Tuesday.

 

The two sides hope to conclude the deal by Obama's arrival, but a senior Philippine military officer familiar with the negotiations said this was looking unlikely. "There are some legal issues they have to untangle," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

A former U.S. colony, the Philippines is ambivalent about the presence of American military personnel, as the populist Aquino is acutely aware.

 

His late mother Corazon was president when the Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to terminate the Military Bases Agreement, which forced American military personnel to leave the giant Subic Bay facility the following year.

 

Aquino has vowed to radically boost the Philippines' ability to defend itself by the time he leaves office in 2016. This requires U.S. help, and analysts say the U.S. "pivot" toward Asia could allow him to seek it on more equal terms.

 

NO FISHING HERE

 

Oyster Bay's initial upgrade will cost an estimated ₱500 million pesos ($11.5 million) and is due to be finished by 2016, the year Aquino leaves office, said Commodore Peña.

 

Transforming Oyster Bay into a major naval base will cost much more, said some officials.

 

Current budget constraints prevent the United States from building ports, said Cronin, although some money for Oyster Bay could be sourced from a contingency budget aimed at supporting exercises and defense cooperation.

 

Last year, U.S. and Philippine commandos staged a mock amphibious assault near Oyster Bay as part of annual military exercises. Local people, who subsist from fishing, are resigned to further disturbances.

 

"We not allowed to fish in the bay anymore," said Jesus Agpao, 48, head of a local fishermen's cooperative, pointing to where four small Philippine Navy vessels were already moored. He fears bigger ships will pollute the bay and scare away their catch.

 

Local resident Lorenzo Layacan, 67, said four of the area's five village chiefs opposed the new naval base, fearing the bars and brothels that sprang up around Subic Bay to serve U.S. sailors on shore leave would come up in Oyster Bay as well.

 

"They are afraid the young women will become prostitutes," said Layacan.

 

With report from Reuters

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