Drilion Admits Receiving P100 Million After CJ Corona Trial, Says It Was Spent For Iloilo Infrastructure

Minority Floor Leader, Senator Franklin Drilon admitted that he received P100 million from Disbursement Acceleration Plan (DAP), shortly after the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona was convicted. However, he denied that it was bribe money, and emphasized that the money was used for infrastructure projects in his home province, Iloilo.



"Ang tanong: ito ba ay ginamit sa tama? Pangalawa, ito po ay dahil sa mababa ang spending program kaya naapektuhan ang ating GDP. May masama po ba kung ito ay pinagbigyan kung sa tama naman ginamit?" Sen. Drilon said in an interview with DZBB, back in September 2013. That time, he was the Senate President and Noynoy Aquino was the president.

“Hindi ito bribe. Ito ginamit ko sa tama, infrastructure program. Magbi-bid kami sa 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, walang maayos na kalsada o convention center. Ang perang ito hiningi ko upang magkaroon ng infrastructure program para sa turismo.” He added, with Iloilo that time vying to host the said event.

Drilon noted that the DAP's funds did not go straight to the implementing agencies such as DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), simply because they were not in the agencies' programs at the time. He was among the 20 senators who voted for the impeachment of CJ Corona in May 2012. Only three senators voted, “not guilty.”

“During the trial, there were no releases. After the trial, there were releases including DAP because we needed to catch up on infrastructure spending to address what economists were saying about underspending. It was not just senators who suggested.” The Liberal Party (LP) said further, noting that there is no logic that the fund is a bribe to convict Corona.



That time, Drilon was reacting to the insinuations by then-Senator Jinggoy Estrada that the senate president facilitated the release of P50 million to each senator in exchange for the conviction of CJ Corona. Estrada was arrested in June 2014 for the plunder charges related to the pork barrel scam, and was released last month after posting a P1.33-million bail.

Contributed by Renato Pasayao