Enrile on why he got extra P100-M pork: Ewan ko, that's the rule

MANILA, Philippines - A senator receives P200 million in pork barrel every year, but Senate Minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile admitted that he received an additional P100 million during his term as a Senate President.

"My recollection, 'yung additional na PDAF [is for] being a Senate President," Enrile said at a televised press briefing. "Lahat ng naging Senate President merong additional (P100 million)."

Enrile seems to be unsure why there is an additional pork barrel for Senate presidents, but he said the extra fund is for his constituency -- the entire Philippines.

"Ewan ko, 'yun yung nadatnan kong patakaran eh," he said.

Enrile said other senators may also request funding from the additional pork barrel of the Senate President.

"Pwede kung ikaw eh kwan, malakas sa mga may discretion to give or not to give," he said.

Enrile and other senators have been linked to the alleged pork barrel scam, which supposedly used some legislators' priority development assistance funds (PDAF) that where channeled to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) to fund ghost projects.

Last week, the Commission on Audit revealed the full findings of its special report on PDAF irregularities, which said that Enrile disbursed over P904.5 million in pork barrel funds from 2007 to 2009.

Enrile denied such findings, saying the amounts attributed to him are "distorted and misleading" as they were from missing and incomplete records from the Department of Budget and Management.

The veteran senator claimed that P325 million in projects conducted by other lawmakers “were attributed to me as part of my PDAF in 2009 alone.”

The legislators include Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Miriam Santiago, and congressmen-members of the Commission on Appointments.

“The abovementioned legislators merely requested for my endorsement as then Senate President for the release of funds from the various projects under their own PDAF,” he said.