Pending papers from PDAF conduits to add woes of pork-tainted legislators

Senator Teofisto Guingona III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The documents showing that the legislators had signed the liquidation of their pork barrel fund releases to questionable non-government organizations (NGOs) indicated that they had knowledge about the transactions, Senator Teofisto Guingona III said on Thursday.

“It reinforces the fact that you knew about it because you’re liquidating it. You were signing (the) liquidation so it reinforces the fact that you had knowledge about it,” Guingona said at a press conference after the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, which he chairs.

But he acknowledged that it was not yet enough to pin down the legislators who had signed the documents, saying their signatures have yet to be authenticated.

“The story is still unfolding,” Guingona said.

At least two witnesses – Rhodora Mendoza, former vice president for finance and administration of the National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor) and Salvador Salacup, former president of Zamboanga Rubber Estate Corp (ZREC)— testified  at the Senate that legislators who transferred their priority development assistance fund (PDAF)  to NGOs have signed  “liquidation” releases.

To ensure that PDAF that was coursed through their office would be implemented properly, Salacup said they came up with a memorandum of agreement that requires liquidation of fund releases.

“This is one of the mechanisms to ensure that we follow a structure and we follow a process in the implementation of such PDAF,” he said of the MOA during the hearing of Senate blue ribbon committee on the alleged “pork barrel” scam.

First, Salucap said, they checked whether or not the NGOs were legitimate by requiring them to submit pertinent documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of

Investigation, mayors permit and certified financial statements, among others.

The second mechanism, he said, was that they made it a point that the transfer of funds  would come in four tranches –  15 percent, 35 percent, 40 percent and  10  percent .

“And each of the releases should be liquidated properly and attested to by  an independent auditor. And in most cases it was a certified public accountant,” said Salucap.

“By the way, each tranche liquidation was noted by the legislators,” he added.

Asked by Guingona if the liquidation was signed by  the legislators,  Salucap said:  “Yes or his duly appointed (representatives).”

Salucap had earlier identified five legislators – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile and Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., APEC  Representative Edgar Valdez and  Buhay Representative Rene Velarde— who had allegedly coursed  their  PDAF to Pangkabuhayan  Inc. through  ZREC.

Salucap though clarified that the foundation was not among those reportedly linked to  Janet Lim-Napoles, the allegedly  mastermind in the P10 billion  pork barrel scam.”

Mendoza also identified Enrile, Revilla and Estrada as among the legislators who had funnelled their  PDAF to three NGOs linked to Napoles— Social Development Program for Farmers Foundations Inc. (SDPFFI), Magsasakang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI), and People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation Inc.

Asked also by Guingona if the legislators had also signed four times if the releases were in four tranches, Mendoza said: “Yes, as far as I remember.”

“Most of the legislators signed [the documents] themselves. A few have assigned somebody   from their office,’ she added, this time responding to Senator Serge Osmeña’s queries.