Drilon: Senate must adhere to rule of law on suspension order

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Drilon: Senate must adhere to rule of law on suspension order
Senate President Franklin Drilon says the implementation of the court's suspension order on Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada is in compliance with the law

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Franklin Drilon on Wednesday, September 3, reiterated the Senate’s duty to implement the 90-day suspension order of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on senators implicated in the pork barrel scam.

In an interview on Bombo Radyo, Drilon said as lawmakers, senators should be the first to follow the law.

“We are not above the law. Neither the Senate nor the senators are above the law. “We will adhere to the rule of law,” Drilon said in an interview on Bombo Radyo.

The senator was responding to the position taken by opposition senators that the implementation of the suspension orders on Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, which Drilon received this week, should have been subjected to a vote.

Susundin po natin ang batas. Kami po ang gumagawa ng batas, kaya kailangan nating ipakita sa taumbayan na tayo po ay susunod (We will comply with the law. As members of Congress, we must be the first to follow the law, and we must serve as an example to the Filipino people by being obedient to the laws that we create and pass),” he said.

Drilon said the implementation of the suspension order on Enrile and Estrada is in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling that the anti-graft law is applicable to members of Congress.

“The Supreme Court categorically held that Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) does not exclude from its coverage the members of Congress. The Supreme Court is clear that the preventive suspension can be applied to all members of Congress,” he said.

He added: “The decision of the Senate President to implement the Sandiganbayan’s order of suspension against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada is in obedience to the anti-graft and plunder laws which we in the Congress crafted and passed.  All of us should be subject to the laws we pass.”

On Monday, the Senate received the order of the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division  to suspend Enrile; Estrada’s suspension order, handed down by the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division, came a day later. 

Acting Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III had questioned the “automatic” suspension of Enrile and Estrada, saying that the Senate, as a collegial body, should decide on the matter as such.

Senator Nancy Binay, a member of the minority bloc, said on Wednesday that the “right process” should have been followed which is to subject the issue to a vote.

Enrile and Jinggoy, along with Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr, face graft and plunder charges for allegedly conniving with reported pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, to misuse public funds.

The pork barrel scam – the biggest corruption scandal in recent Philippine history – involved the alleged use of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for ghost projects of bogus nongovernmental organizations run by Napoles.  – Rappler.com 

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