Revisiting the PDAF

The biggest criticism regarding the investigation of the pork barrel scam in the previous administration was that it was selective, with only opposition stalwarts ending up detained without bail and becoming priority targets.

This time, the Duterte administration says it wants to uncover the whole truth as it prepares to revisit the scam involving the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund. Expected to provide testimony in the reinvestigation is businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who is on trial as the accused mastermind of the PDAF scam.

President Duterte himself has noted that only the least guilty can turn state witness, so Napoles’ testimony is still uncertain. This will depend on what Napoles will testify on. If her testimony is indispensable and she is the only one who can pin down key players in a particular case, she may be allowed to turn state witness.

But even without her testimony, the government can tap voluminous documents submitted by the Commission on Audit, which conducted its own probe into PDAF misuse. The COA probe did not need Napoles or her nephew Benhur Luy, who blew the whistle on the alleged siphoning of public funds by lawmakers using bogus nongovernment organizations.

COA auditors presented what was described as a “truckload” of documents implicating nearly 200 lawmakers, most of them in office at the time, in the PDAF scam. All the lawmakers identified by Luy were also in the COA report.

Only three senators, however, were swiftly indicted and held without bail for plunder: Ramon Revilla Jr., who was being groomed as presidential candidate of the opposition Lakas-CMD; Jinggoy Estrada, who was being considered as the running mate of then vice president Jejomar Binay, and then Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile. Also held without bail was Enrile’s chief of staff Jessica “Gigi” Reyes. All of them profess innocence.

Establishing guilt will be up to the courts. In the meantime, what has happened to the investigation of the others implicated by Luy and in the COA report? The current administration should avoid being accused, like the previous one, of selective justice. In taking a second look at the PDAF scam, the nation expects the whole picture to be revealed.