Cebu solons dealt with bogus NGOs

At least five former Cebu congressmen were named as among those who “funneled” their pork barrel funds to questionable non-government organizations through a government corporation affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, an official said yesterday.

At yesterday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations or the blue ribbon committee, Honesto Baniqued, president of the National Agribusiness Corp (Nabcor) read the long list of names of congressmen who went through their office, a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).

Senate Majority Floor Leader Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, the committee chairman, however clarified that the names revealed by Baniqued were not necessarily among those who have ties with NGOs affiliated with Janet Lim-Napoles, the suspected brains behind the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

The Commission on Audit in an earlier Inquirer report however listed the non-Napoles NGOs as questionable.

Baniqued said that as of May 21, 2009, their office transacted with several congressmen which included Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south district), Antonio Yapha Jr. (Cebu 3rd district), Eduardo Gullas (Cebu 1st district), Nerissa SoonRuiz (Cebu 6th district), and Pablo John Garcia (Cebu 3rd district).

Yapha represented the 3rd district until he ended his three terms in 2007. His rival, Pablo John Garcia, defeated Yapha’s wife, Estrella in the 2007 elections.

Garcia managed to keep his post for two terms until he ran for governor this year.

During the televised Senate hearing, Guingona asked Baniqued: Who were the legislators that have funneled funds through Nabcor?”

To this, Baniqued opened a blue folder and started enumerating the names of the solons which included Cebu’s congressmen.

“The general list that funnelled funds to Nabcor, but does not mean that they funneled the funds through the fake Napoles scams,” Guingona later clarified to the Committee.

It was not mentioned however in the hearing which NGOs where being tied to the names of the congressmen that have “funneled” their pork barrel funds through Nabcor.

Baniqued asked for ample time to allow him to check the list and isolate the congressmen who transacted with Napoles’ fake NGOs.

Coffee shop talk

A former president of Nabcor tied Napoles to the government corporation that the Commission on Audit said was one of the conduits for the release of millions of pesos in pork barrel funds to fake NGOs.

Alan Javellana, president of Nabcor from 2007 to 2009, told the Senate blue ribbon committee yesterday that he met Napoles on two occasions at the coffee shop of the building where the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel funds scam held office.

COA chairman Grace Pulido-Tan last week identified Nabcor as one of the conduit implementing agencies through which P1.742 billion in Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of senators and congressmen found its way to Napoles’ NGOs.

“We were looking for investors and it’s not only Napoles that I met. There are many other prospective investors for Nabcor,” Javellana said when asked by Sen. Francis Escudero what was so special about Napoles that the president of a GOCC would give her a briefing.

Escudero, who sought the blue ribbon inquiry into the pork barrel funds scam, asked if it meant inviting Napoles to buy shares of stock in Nabcor. “To participate in a joint venture with our projects,” went Javellana’s response.

Javellana said he also knew former Napoles employee and scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy as he followed up documents with Nabcor’s staff. He, however, said that the two were introduced to him on different occasions.

Javellana said it was a certain Boy Harmin, a Department of Agriculture employee, who introduced him to Napoles.

Guingona asked Javellana if he and Napoles talked about the millions of pesos in PDAF making their way to her NGOs.

“We didn’t talk about PDAF. I briefed her about Nabcor,” Javellana said.

Upon Guingona’s pressing questions, Javellana said he and Napoles talked about Nabcor’s corn processing center during their second meeting.

“It’s a project of Nabcor,” Javellana said.

Rhodora Mendoza, the former vice president for finance of Nabcor, also admitted meeting Napoles during a thanksgiving event at the Discovery Suites. She said she was invited to the occasion by Luy, who also introduced her to Napoles.

“There were too many people,” Mendoza said when asked if she and Napoles talked about anything during their initial meeting.

Mendoza told the committee that she knew Luy because he personally followed up transactions related to the NGO he headed, the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundations, Inc./Senior Reporter Dale Israel and Inquirer