Sandiganbayan convicts Napoles, ex-DAR exec over P50-M ‘ghost’ projects
[Updated July 24, 2026, 2:58 p.m.]
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division on Friday found businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles and a former Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) official guilty of malversation over P50 million worth of non-existent projects for farmers in Luzon.
Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez read the court’s order finding Napoles and former DAR Undersecretary Jerry Pacturan guilty on 10 counts of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents.
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Napoles was also found guilty on 10 counts under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, while Pacturan was acquitted in these cases due to prosecutors’ failure to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Napoles was sentenced to up to 20 years for each count of malversation and up to 15 years each for each count of graft.
Pacturan was sentenced to up to more than 19 years as maximum in each of the 10 counts for malversation.
Meanwhile, Napoles’ former staff Evelyn De Leon was convicted with three counts each for graft and malversation. De Leon was sentenced to up to 12 years each for three counts of graft; while her malversation conviction also led to up to more than 19 years each for three counts of malversation.
De Leon was acquitted from seven counts each of graft and malversation for failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Napoles attended the promulgation via teleconferencing, while Pacturan and de Leon were physically present in the court.
In a 237-page decision, the court said Pacturan was convicted for conspiring with Teresita Panlilio, then the director for finance and management service and Rowena Agbayani, then chief accountant, both of the DAR; and with private individuals Napoles, de Leon, Ronald John Lim, Jr., Eulogio Rodriguez, Simplicio Gumafelix and John Raymund de Asis, to release the amount of P5 million each to 10 NGOs controlled by Napoles for the implementation of non-existent projects.
“Accused Pacturan is further specifically charged with entering into the 10 MOAs with the pertinent municipalities and NGOs without authority to do so and despite the irregularities in the face of the MOAs,” the court decision said, referring to memoranda of agreement.
Pacturan was the former DAR undersecretary for support service.
Napoles is specifically charged with ordering de Leon and her staff to prepare the fabricated letter-requests of the municipal mayors, falsifying the signatures of the municipal mayors and notaries public in the letter requests and MOAs.
De Leon then submitted the documents to the DAR to receive the checks and issue the official receipts, according to the court.
Meanwhile, the cases against Gumafelix and Rodriguez were dismissed since they were already deceased, while Agbayani, Lim and de Asis remain at large.
Prosecutors said the 10 local government units (LGUs) were supposed to receive P5 million in farm inputs, but witnesses from the LGUs testified that these projects were non-existent.
Furthermore, eight out of 10 mayors from provinces including Bulacan, Batangas, Pangasinan and Quezon testified in court, saying that their signatures in the letter requests for funding were fake, according to the prosecutors.
“They made it appear that the mayors endorsed the corresponding LGUs of Napoles,” a member of the prosecution team told reporters on condition of an on-background arrangement. “It turned out these were false because it was denied by the mayors.”
Prosecutors clarified that these were not projects under the Priority Development Assistance Fund, but under the regular funds of DAR. /das /mr
