W E D N E S D AY : J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 6
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editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Alvarez: Budget ‘pork-free’ SC defers action on Bongbong poll protest vs Leni By Rey E. Requejo
THe Supreme Court has reset its deliberation on the election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand “Bong bong” Marcos Jr. against Vice President Leni Robredo since two of the justices were on leave. The Marcos case filed with the Presidential electoral Tribunal was included in the SC’s regular en banc session on Tuesday. PeT is composed of 15 justices of the high court. However, PeT members agreed to defer to next Tuesday, July 12, their discussions on Marcos’ protest. A court insider said that two magistrates were on leave yesterday—Associate Justice Jose Mendoza and Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who is also chair of the tribunal. The case was raffled to Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, appointee and known buddy of former President Benigno Aquino III, who is tasked to study the protest and submit recommendations for actions of the PeT. Caguioa and Aquino were classmates from elementary to college at the Ateneo de Manila University. Prior to his appointment to the SC last January, Caguioa was Aquino’s chief presidential legal counsel and then secretary of justice. Aquino’s sister, actress Kris Aquino was the top campaign contributor of Robredo in the polls. In his protest, Marcos assailed the election results in 39,221 clustered precincts in 25 provinces and five cities all over the country involving some nine million votes. Marcos lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes in the final and official tally of votes. He garnered 14,155,344 votes, while Robredo got 14,418, 817 votes. He sought the nullification of about a million votes cast in three provinces—Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao because of alleged massive cheating. Marcos also asked the electoral tribunal to order the reopening of ballots and manual recount of about eight million votes in 23 provinces and five cities.
By Maricel V. Cruz
IncomIng House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday promised to make the 2017 national budget ‘pork-free.’ Alvarez, representative of Davao del Norte, made the statement in response to The Standard’s story that each congressman will be allocated P 80 million in pork barrel funds under the next year’s budget. “There is no pork barrel, it has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. I do not intend to violate it and [Budget] Secretary Diokno will not allow it,” Alvarez, secretary-general of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), said. Alvarez dismissed as “preposterous” the allegation that the pork barrel funds will be
revived under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. “How can there be pork barrel funds in the [2017] national budget when it had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court,” Alvarez stressed. Alvarez said that he himself would see to it that pork barrel funds which had been the source of corruption among legislators will not be revived in any way, or in any form. Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate also doubted that there will be pork funds under the Duterte administration. “Pangulong Digong Duterte already said
before that he will no longer allow ‘pork’ to be inserted in the national budget, knowing fully well that it was, is and will still be a source of graft and corruption. Duterte’s avowed stand of zero tolerance on corruption campaign will be put to nothing if ‘pork’ is allowed to grease the hands of legislators as a form of patronage. Zarate also stressed: “If this budget is the one still prepared by the Abad-DBM that is littered with pork allocations for the members of congress, then the same should not be allowed at all and should be scrapped at once from the proposed 2017 budget,” Zarate added, referring to former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who is said to be the architect of the illegal Disbursement Acceleration Program that was conceived during the Aquino administration.
Drug den. Probers check a compound where two suspected drug dealers were killed during a shootout with the police after a buy-bust operation in Malibay, Pasay City on Tuesday July 5. Police recovered firearms, drugs and paraphernalia from the suspects. DANNY PATA
Anti-laundering law gets extra boost By Maricel V. Cruz
Drug test. Manila policemen go through another round
of drug testing at Police Station 8 in Sta. Mesa Manila on Tuesday, July 5. Last week, several policemen tested positive of drug use. DANNY PATA
SeeKINg to boost President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-corruption campaign, a bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to include casino operators in the coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001. House Bill 14, authored by former Speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said the proposed measure will help ensure the integrity of financial and banking institutions and transactions in the country. It is also a crucial step towards
making the Philippines’ anti-money laundering laws fully compliant with the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “We cannot afford a repeat of the 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist which saw $81-million stolen from the bank’s account that entered the Philippine banking system and made its way to local casinos and junket operators before being transferred overseas,” Belmonte said. “Attempts to trace and recover the money encountered several setbacks, as casinos are excluded from the coverage of the country’s present anti-
money laundering laws,” Belmonte pointed out. The importance of including the casino sector under the coverage of the Amla has been pointed out by the Bangladesh Bank heist where tens of millions of dollars were stolen from the bank’s accounts with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Belmonte recalled that RA 9160 of the anti-Money Laundering Act was enacted on Oct. 17, 2001 to address the growing concerns over money laundering. Years later, in order to strengthen the law, the Amla was amended by RA 9194, and RA.10365.