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Friday, March 29, 2024

LP, De Lima hit over Napoles bail

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DIPOLOG CITY­—United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday assailed President Benigno Aquino III and Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II for giving suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles continued special treatment while persecuting their opponents and his allies.

On the other hand, the workers group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and multi-sectoral coalition Sanlakas blamed former Justice secretary Leila de Lima for the bungled handling of the plunder cases against Napoles, Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon Lanete and former Apec party-list congressman Edgar Valdez, after they were allowed to post bail.

Members of the BMP Sanlakas held an indignation rally at the Justice department after the Sandiganbayan granted bail to alleged pork barrel mastermind Napoles, Lanete and Valdez last Wednesday.

Indignant. Members of labor groups hold an indignation rally in front of the Department of Justice after the Sandiganbayan granted bail to alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon Lanete and former Apec party-list representative Edgar Valdez. DANNY PATA

Though the granting of bail is not indicative that Napoles, Lanete and Valdez are guiltless, the Sandiganbayan ruling gives us a sneak preview of the final verdict of their plunder cases. This as well is a revelation of how lethargic and negligent De Lima and her staff were in their performance of their duties, h De Guzman estimated.

Leila De Lima is now the people fs dilemma. Because of her the chances of recovering the loot has dimmed further. Her gross incompetence makes her deserving to be cellmates with Napoles, h said BMP leader Leody de Guzman.

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De Guzman argued that if the court fs ruling is indeed reflective of De Lima fs performance then the Filipino people stands to lose a total of P166.19 million for the 11 counts of graft cases filed against Lanete and the seven counts of graft against Valdez alone.

At the same time, Binay said he believed the granting of bail on Napoles’ plunder case was the handiwork of Malacañang and the ruling Liberal Party.

On the other hand, Binay said the President, through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., had UNA candidates reelectionists Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, and 12 city councilors suspended over the release of P20,000 calamity fund for city hall workers who were among those seriously hit by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013.

Rama is pitted against Palace and LP-backed former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, head of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan, a Liberal Party ally.

“What I know is, Mr. Roxas calls Napoles Ma’am Jenny. Just like Mr. Roxas, [Budget Secretary Florencio] Abad also calls her Ma’am Jenny and in fact, he was the teacher of Napoles,” said Binay, referring to Napoles’ Senate testimony that it was Abad who told her to create nongovernment organizations and use them as conduits of the pork barrel funds allocated for lawmakers.

“Teacher nila Mr. Roxas and Abad yan si Napoles kaya tawag nila Ma’am Jenny,” Binay said, recalling that Aquino even received Napoles in the Palace when she supposedly “surfaced” after weeks of being declared a “fugitive” and an arrest warrant issued against her.

“Napoles was even escorted,” Binay stressed, referring to Roxas, who served as her advance party when she was brought to Camp Crame without handcuffs.

“Selective justice is their brand of justice. Up to the end of their term, they still showed the kind of justice they mete out to their allies and their opponents,” Binay said.

In December 2015, Binay said Rama was slapped by Malacanang with a 60-day preventive suspension in connection with the dismantling of a 28-meter illegal structure in a barangay in Cebu City.

Rama was a member of the ruling Liberal Party until he bolted and joined Binay in 2012. Rama is now UNA’s regional coordinator in Cebu.

Binay said Rama’s suspension was the Palace’s bid to take control of Cebu City a month to go before the May polls.

Binay assailed the suspension order issued by Ochoa and described the act of desperation “patently illegal, excessive, vicious and relentless.”

The suspension order against Rama was signed by Ochoa on behalf of President Aquino, Liberal Party chairman.

UNA spokesperson Mon Ilagan said Malacanang’s second suspension on Rama was meant to take a “political squeeze to control city hall and Cebu City.”

Ilagan said the suspension order from Ochoa is illegal and forbidden by the Commission on Elections.

He said Malacanang also defied a Comelec ruling, prompting the poll body to remind the Palace that the suspension of elective local officials is prohibited during the campaign period from January 10 to June 8, 2016.

According to Comelec, whoever violates acts prohibited during the election period is not only guilty of election offenses but could be a ground for disqualification if the offender is running for an elective post.

“What Malacanang and the Liberal Party are doing against Mayor Rama and the entire city council of Cebu City is patently illegal, excessive, vicious and relentless. The administration seems to have an unusually high interest on Mayor Rama that they need to suspend him twice over, and this time for giving P20,000 calamity assistance for employees of city hall,” Ilagan said.

 

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