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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Palace: Trillanes asked for pork barrel before standoff
MANILA -- Malacañang said its refusal to release the P100 million worth pork barrel projects of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV might have been one of the reasons the Magdalo leader staged the Peninsula standoff last November 29.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Antonio Apostol said Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. and Senate ways and means committee chairman Juan Ponce Enrile endorsed last November 12 to Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. and Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. the request of Trillanes for the release of P100 million to fund his priority projects.
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Apostol said the amount involved P60 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and P40 million from the fund for infrastructure projects.
"While Trillanes was staging a coup d'etat, he was also trying to take advantage of this government by requesting the release of funds from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). You could see how the fellow thinks. He thinks he could toy around with this government. While he is trying to topple this government he is also trying to demand funds from this government," he said.
Apostol further said Trillanes should not be trusted and that the rebellion case against him is justified.
Suspicion
He said the government did not release the funds for Trillanes's projects on suspicion that he will use it to destabilize the government.
"He's asking funds for allegedly certain projects but we have doubts if it will be used for projects because he has different agenda. So it's intended to finance his own agenda," Apostol said.
Apostol added: "He (Trillanes) has no right if he thinks this government should be changed by his kind of government. He may be elected senator but if he is working very hard to topple this government then he has no right at all. Because he does not respect this government why should we be given funds?"
Government will keep sitting on Trillanes's requests for fund releases while watching his moves. "(It's) intended for senators who are not trying to topple this government," he said.
Assistance
Of the P60 million from the PDAF, Trillanes said P39 million would be for assistance to indigent patients who would get medical help from government hospitals, P15.5 million for financial assistance to local government units (LGUs), and P5.5 million for financial assistance to both LGUs and indigents.
Of the P39 million for indigent patients, the biggest amount of P6 million is for indigent patients at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) while P5 million is for those at the V. Luna Hospital.
Apostol claimed that Trillanes's pork barrel funds are only "partly" for their intended beneficiaries and remaining for his own agenda.
Asked for his basis in claiming that Trillanes will use the money for destabilization, he pointed to "intelligence reports" and "all his (Trillanes's) talks, all his moves" that he intended to topple the government.
He said his suspicion is based on "projection," adding that the funds could have been released if Trillanes had not staged the coup attempt.
Apostol also could not say who checked whether the projects listed in Trillanes's request were legitimate, saying it should have been the Senate's responsibility.
He said the funds would not be released unless Trillanes gets a court order. (JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (December 12, 2007 issue)
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