THE “war” between Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and her matrimonial godfather, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE), is getting uglier with the row threatening to engulf the entire Senate and how the chamber spends public funds.

This came after Santiago revealed that all but four senators received P1.85 million each in December, consisting of P1.6 million from Senate savings and P250,000 as a “personal gift” from Enrile. She said that Senators Antonio Trillanes 4th, Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano and she, received P250,000 from Enrile. She said on Wednesday that she returned the P250,000.

“He returned my biscuits, so I returned his cash,” she explained.

Enrile said that he receives Christmas gifts only from friends and he returned Santiago’s biscuits because she had not been friendly to him. They had a lot of heated exchanges during Santiago’s sponsorship of the reproductive health bill that Enrile opposed.

They also had a word war in July 2010 when Santiago said that Enrile’s leadership in the Senate was “very, very fragile.” Enrile retaliated by denying her any chairmanship. It took mediation from Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. before the two reconciled. Santiago, however, was not given her coveted chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which was given to Sen. Loren Legarda.

Their “reconciliation” turned out to be temporary and tenuous as they continued to snipe at each other.

Enrile admitted giving P1.6 million each to 18 senators as additional maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), but he contended that there was nothing irregular about this. He said that he, along with Santiago, Trillanes and the two Cayetanos, did not get any additional MOOE.

In a statement, Enrile said that it has been the practice of the Senate Secretariat and the budget office each year to determine how much savings they had generated and how to allocate the money.

He added that allocations from these savings usually included the Christmas package for Senate employees and additional MOOE to the senators’ offices.

According to Enrile, the additional MOOE coming from savings given to each senator was P1 million in 2008 excluding the P500,000 released by former Senate president Villar; 2009, P1 million; 2010, P1.316 million and P318,000; and for 2011, P500,000, P1.3 million and P318,000.

He also admitted giving P250,000 checks to senators because some of them, whom he refused to name, had asked him if he had Christmas gifts for them. He stressed that the funds for the checks came from the savings of his office and not from the Senate president’s discretionary fund.

He noted that this was the first time that somebody had questioned his grant of additional MOOE to senators since he became Senate president.

Grandma of scandals
Santiago, however, was unbending in questioning the grant of the additional MOOE and the “personal gift” from savings.

“The so-called savings of each public office has turned into a national scandal, the grandma of all scandals,” she charged.

She said that while the Constitution allows savings to be used by the office at the end of the year, the head of office manipulates the books and creates so-called savings by refusing to fill up vacancies, or refusing to buy essential office supplies or services, or capital equipment.

“These so-called enforced savings are then distributed among the highest officials, in the guise of Christmas bonuses,” she claimed.

Santiago called on Commission on Audit chief Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan to instruct the auditors of the Senate and of the House of Representatives to examine and audit so-called savings, or secret funds available to the Senate president, to the speaker and other heads of offices, to ensure transparency.

She also challenged the state auditors to reveal to the public the total income annually of every senator and every representative.

“This total income should include basic salary, Christmas and other bonuses, monthly honoraria for committee work, monthly appropriation to be spent at the senator’s discretion for staff salaries and for MOOE, appropriations for consultants, foreign travel funds, etc.,” Santiago said.

She revealed that each senator receives P2.2 million a month for staff salaries and office expenses, with the senators having the discretion on how to spend the amount.

“The senator can pocket the money if he wants to,” she said.

Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan said that his office received the additional MOOE grants but contended that that there is nothing wrong with them.

“The release of additional MOOE was properly documented and it was not given to us discreetly inside a paper bag,” Honasan added, an apparent dig at the giving of such bags to Malacañang
visitors during the time of president and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga province.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto 3rd also admitted receiving P300,000 as additional MOOE but maintained that was neither a Christmas gift nor a bribe to senators. He said he did not see the amount because it went directly to the fund of his office.

Lacson and Trillanes also admitted receiving the said amount, which they considered as a normal additional budget.

“It was what it is—MOOE. It was not a bribe,” Lacson said.

Trillanes said that he used the P250,000 to fund relief missions to the areas affected by typhoon Pablo (international codename: Bopha) in Northern Mindanao.

“It was not given as cash and was not specified as Christmas gift,” he added.