Drilon, Trillanes deny involvement in PDAF scam

MANILA, Philippines — Sens. Franklin Drilon and Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday morning denied any involvement in any irregularities regarding government funds such as the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

The senators issued the statement after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II claimed they are among the officials who would face charges after being named by pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles as involved in the PDAF case.

"I was never even mentioned in any of the so-called Napoles lists provided during the height of the investigations in 2013," Trillanes said in a released statement.

Likewise, Drilon said in a statement: "I have said this many times before and I will say it again: I vehemently deny any insinuation by the Secretary of Justice that I was involved in any wrongdoing regarding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)."

In May 2014, Napoles released 100 names that she claimed she allegedly had transactions with in connection with the PDAF allocation to her non-government organizations from 2007 to 2009. In the list, she named 20 senators who allegedly received funds meant for their election campaigns.

Trillanes and Drilon were not part of that list. The only current senators included in it were Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel, Sens. Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano and Francis "Chiz" Escudero.

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However, Aguirre said Napoles would release a new list which would include Sens. Leila de Lima, Trillanes, Drilon and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. Abad was already included in the 2014 list.

"This is outright black propaganda and political harassment intended to silence the members of the opposition," Drilon said. "We would await the copy of the affidavit. We will respond at the proper time and in the proper venue," he added.

Aguirre earlier said Napoles will reveal other higher officials under the Aquino administration who are involved in the PDAF scam. Trillanes then criticized the justice secretary for involving members of the opposition in various cases.

“Aguirre has been using his office to persecute and harass members of the opposition by fabricating testimonies from dubious convicts or detainees such as the Bilibid drug lords, Kerwin Espinosa and now Napoles,” Trillanes said.

Drilon in a statement Monday echoed this, saying that the intention is obvious from the personalities being linked.

"Sinu-sino ba ang target ng administrasyon: former President Benigno Aquino, former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senator Sonny Trillanes, detained Senator Leila De Lima, and myself," he said.

"If this is not revenge, I don’t know what it is."

For his part, Aguirre said this is not a ploy to discredit the Aquino administration nor take revenge against Duterte administration’s critics. He said there is no reason for the president to do so.