In the news story titled “9 senators realign P1.8-billion pork” (Front Page, 1/8/14), Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was reported to have “realigned” P200 million that, supposedly, would have been allocated to him as Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to “three local government units (LGUs) including Manila where his father is the mayor.”
Why only three LGUs?
If Senator Estrada is sincere in helping LGUs, particularly the poor ones, he should have “chopped” his PDAF so poor LGUs could also benefit from this
manna from the Senate, which senators enjoy. It is widely known that Estrada is eyeing the vice-presidency in the 2016 national elections.
The problem with him is, when he was implicated in the billion-peso PDAF scam, his posture was one of denial and his defense was a call to “probe the accusation” hurled against him.
If Estrada runs for another position in 2016, I will definitely not vote for him, unless he can prove his “innocence” in the pork barrel scam.
—MARK E. PARAS JR.,
publisher/editor, Sorsogon Today,
sorsogontoday@gmail.com