17 ex-GOCC, NGO execs found guilty in pork scam

Inquirer photo/Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has convicted for graft and malversation of public funds 15 former officials of now dissolved government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) that acted as implementing agencies, as well as two members of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) tapped as project partners, in bogus livelihood projects supposedly funded by the pork barrel of a former Misamis Occidental lawmaker, who remains in hiding.

Found guilty by the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division were five former officials of National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), namely vice president for administration and finance Rhodora Mendoza, who was sentenced up to 175 years in prison; human resource supervisor Encarnita Munsod (108 years); general services supervisor Victor Cacal (43 years); support services manager Romulo Relevo (23 years) and bookkeeper Maria Ninez Guañizo (43 years).

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Also convicted were six former officials of National Livelihood Development Corp.: former president Gondelina Amata; director Emmanuel Sevidal and Chita Jalandoni; asset management division chief Gregoria Buenaventura; chief budget specialist Ofelia Ordoñez and chief financial analyst Sofia Cruz.

‘Conspiracy’

Amata, Sevidal, Jalandoni, Buenaventura and Ordoñez were sentenced to jail terms of up to 84 years each, while Cruz got up to 34 years’ imprisonment.

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From another defunct GOCC, Technology Resource Center (TRC), were deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, who was sentenced to a maximum of 27 years in prison; group manager Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana (up to 43 years); chief accountant Marivic Jover (up to 16 years), and budget officer Consuelo Espiritu (up to 43 years).

Flerida Alberto, president of the Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation Inc. (KKAMFI), and Pio Ronquillo, a staff of Aaron Foundation Philippines Inc. (AFPI), were also found guilty and meted prison sentences of up to 110 years and 43 years, respectively.

Their varying prison sentences were for their “participation and conspiracy” in multiple counts of graft, malversation of public funds through falsification and malversation of public funds, particularly the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2007 to 2009 of then Misamis Occidental Rep. Marina Clarete, the ruling said.

They were also ordered to pay the government civil liability damages, on top of the amount of PDAF funds they funneled to NGOs, at an interest rate of 6 percent a year until the full amount is paid.

The decision, which was promulgated on June 28, was written by Associate Justice Ronald Moreno, with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez.

10 others at large

The case was based on a complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on July 20, 2016, finding probable cause to indict the respondents for 18 counts of violations of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act; 11 counts of malversation through falsification, and seven counts of malversation, for the alleged diversion of PDAF funds to ghost government programs.

In finding them guilty of graft, the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution was able to prove that a scheme was “designed and executed,” causing “undue injury” to the government when the accused made irregular disbursements totaling P51 million in multiple transactions.

The antigraft court also noted that the transfer of PDAF funds to KKAMFI, AFPI and Kasangga sa Magandang Bukas Foundation Inc., the three NGOs endorsed by Clarete for her supposed livelihood projects, violated the Commission on Audit rules on accreditation and project proposal requirements, among others.

Ten other coaccused, among them Clarete, former Nabcor president Alan Javellana, and TRC director general Antonio Ortiz, remain at large, and the charges against them will be reopened once they are found and served with arrest warrants, the court said.

Yap case dismissed

The similar charges against former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, another respondent in the case, were ordered dismissed, with the antigraft court citing the April 15 decision of the Supreme Court that granted his petition for certiorari, which sought to overturn a lower court’s ruling.

The high tribunal said the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion when it ruled that the information filed against Yap was enough to charge him.

Yap, who served during the Arroyo administration, was indicted with two counts of graft and one count each on malversation of public funds and malversation through falsification.

Janet Lim Napoles, who has been tagged as the brains of the P10-billion pork barrel scam that implicated dozens of lawmakers in an exposé in 2013, was not a respondent in the case.

Napoles, however, is already serving time at the Correctional Institute for Women for convictions in at least seven plunder cases and other cases related to the PDAF anomaly.