EDITORIAL - The main plunderer

There can be no plunder without the main plunderer. This is the main argument of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles in seeking a reversal of her conviction for her role in the misuse of P517 million in the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel of former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Last month, the Sandiganbayan affirmed Napoles’ conviction, throwing out her motion for reconsideration. She is expected to take her case to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, people are wondering if any of the lawmakers implicated in the misuse of billions in public funds entrusted to them will ever be found guilty and penalized for plunder.

Revilla, who is seeking reelection in the upcoming polls, was cleared by the Sandiganbayan. The anti-graft court ruled that the prosecution failed to establish that Revilla actually received kickbacks from Napoles. What was only established, according to the anti-graft court, was that the payoffs stopped at Revilla’s staff member Richard Cambe, who was convicted together with Napoles. Revilla is currently fighting even the return of P124.5 million that he is accused of pocketing.

The acquittal of Revilla has raised concern that similar rulings will be handed down by the Sandiganbayan, and all the lawmakers implicated in the diversion of their pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations set up by Napoles would also be cleared.

A two-year audit conducted by the Commission on Audit as well as testimony given by scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy implicated nearly 200 lawmakers, many of them still in office, in the scam. Only a handful, however, have been indicted.

With only lawmakers’ gofers being punished, it looks like the scam has not diminished the appetite of lawmakers for “pork” – as indicated in the continuing bickering between the two chambers of Congress, which has held up the enactment of the national budget for the year for an unprecedented three months now.

Failure to punish lawbreakers guarantees a repeat of the crime and breeds impunity. The courts should not lay the groundwork for this in the pork barrel cases.