A peasant group in the Philippines charged high ranking Philippine government officials with plunder over the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assessment Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines, KMP) filed the charges Wednesday with the Office of the Ombudsman.
The group named President Benigno Aquino III as one of the respondents. Pres. Aquino enjoys presidential immunity over the charges.
KMP Secretary General Antonio Flores said Pres. Aquino may be able to avoid the lawsuit, but cannot escape investigation by the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman has the power to investigate even a sitting President and the Filipino people have every right to know his participation in the pork barrel scam,” he said.
“Aquino cannot hide under the mantle of presidential immunity,” he added.
The respondents included Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, and Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad.
The lawsuit also named several officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Budget and Management, and included Janet Lim Napoles, the Filipino businesswoman who is allegedly behind the entire PDAF scam.
The complaint stated that Pres. Aquino is charged through the “Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency.”
“The acts committed by the department secretaries under the Executive Department are deemed acts of the President,” the complaint said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon is facing separate plunder charges for previous transactions in the province of Iloilo.
Former Iloilo representative Augusto Syjuco, Jr. filed plunder against Sen. Drilon last week for allegedly receiving kickbacks in 1992 for the construction of the Iloilo Justice Hall, and today for being involved in the alleged anomalous purchase of a property in the province in 2006.
Syuco alleged that substandard materials were used in the construction of the structurally unstable Iloilo Justice Hall, and that 16.2 hectares of agricultural land were reclassified as residential the day before purchase.
Sen. Drilon said that the cases were pathetic attempts to discredit him.
(with reports from The Philippine Star and The Philippine Inquirer)