Filipino workers in Riyadh have welcomed the plunder charges filed by the Department of Justice against several Philippine lawmakers and a businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
Napoles is the alleged mastermind of the multimillion dollar scandal involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
“It’s good that plunder charges have been filed against them,” Rosell Cuyo, a teacher at the Second Philippine International School told Arab News.
“It’s in keeping with the Aquino administration’s ‘right path’ policy. It’s people’s money which is involved,” she said.
Among those included in massive corruption complaints (plunder) filed by investigators with the Office of the Ombudsman are Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who reportedly endorsed ghost projects worth P224.5 million; Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, P172.8 million; Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, P183.8 million; and former congressmen Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Edgar Valdez, P108.4 million and P56 million, respectively.
Enrile, Estrada and Revilla were among the politicians who garnered a huge number of votes from Filipinos when they were elected to office.
The crime of plunder is a non-bailable offense and punishable by life imprisonment.
“I voted for them because I trusted them,” said a Filipino worker in Riyadh, who asked not to be named.
Christopher Dimaculangan, 38, who works at Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), said he was not surprised that plunder charges were filed against the senators because their names appeared many times when the Commission on Audit (COA) prepared its report on the PDAF.
Riyadh OFWs welcome graft raps against Philippine lawmakers
