Detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles had received advance information that the Arroyo administration was planning to release money from the multibillion-peso Malampaya Fund, according to whistle-blower Benhur Luy.
Napoles was tipped off in July 2009, three months before Malacañang issued the directive releasing money from the Malampaya Fund, according to Luy.
Devastation wrought by Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” in September 2009 provided the Arroyo administration with the justification to release P900 million from the Malampaya Fund for disaster relief and rehabilitation in October of the same year.
The P900 million, however, ended up in bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) of Napoles via the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to supposedly help storm victims.
Government placed the damage to agriculture, infrastructure and property from Ondoy at P11 billion. The damage caused by Pepeng was estimated at P27 billion.
Luy said Napoles had called a meeting of her JLN Corp. staff in their office at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City in July 2009 because she had found a new funding source for their “racket”—the Malampaya Fund, royalties from the gas project off the west coast of Palawan province.
“Present at the meeting were Madame Janet Lim-Napoles, myself, Merlina Suñas, Evelyn de Leon and Ronald Lim. Madame Janet Lim-Napoles told us that she could get funds from the DAR where her contacts were Secretary (Nasser) Pangandaman and Undersecretary (Narciso) Nieto,” Luy said in an affidavit.
The four JLN employees—Luy, Suñas, De Leon and Lim—were among the heads of dubious nongovernment organizations formed by Napoles that tapped P10 billion in pork barrel funds in exchange for kickbacks for senators, representatives, their staff and heads of conniving agencies.
Ermita letter
Luy’s revelation showed Napoles’ deep ties with the Arroyo administration. She came to know of its plan months before then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita gave agencies the green light on Oct. 13, 2009, to use the Special Account in the General Fund (Fund 151) of the Department of Energy (or the Malampaya Fund).
Ermita directed the agencies to use the Malampaya Fund “in such amounts as may be necessary for relief operations, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and other works and services to areas affected by natural calamities.”
Napoles’ scheme to access the Malampaya Fund went into motion nine days later when Nieto formally requested a P900-million budget “to provide directly to our farmer-beneficiaries the necessary inputs to help them recover from their losses ” in a letter dated Oct. 22, 2009, to then Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya.
“Based on our past experiences, we realized that providing the farm communities the means to do this would be the best way to help them accelerate recovery from these two calamities,” said Nieto, who placed the damage to communities of agrarian reform beneficiaries from Ondoy and Pepeng at P10 billion.
The Arroyo administration ended up spending P14 billion from the Malampaya Fund supposedly for storm-ravaged areas.
Ghost recipients
Luy and Suñas, a fellow whistle-blower, said that there were zero deliveries for the DAR livelihood projects as the signatures of town mayors were forged and the names of the recipients on the list were fake.
Suñas said she acted as project coordinator for JLN Corp., the Napoles company, with the DAR for the Malampaya operation.
In her affidavit, Suñas said the signatures of Nieto and the heads of the NGOs in the tripartite memorandum of agreement for the distribution of the P900 million were genuine but those of local government officials “were forged.”
The local government units were supposed to be the recipients of the agricultural kits that were to have been supplied by the Napoles NGOs. “But no delivery was ever made, all the receipts were manufactured for the liquidation of the funds,” Suñas said.
Funds remitted to Napoles
Suñas said the amounts of money received by the NGOs were all remitted to Napoles.
Based on the liquidation report, the P900 million was released to 12 Napoles NGOs:
Abundant Harvest for People’s Foundation led by Vanessa Eman (P75 million); Bukirin Tanglaw Foundation led by Gertrudes Kilapkilap (P75 million); Dalangpan Sang Amon Utod Kag Kasimanwa Foundation led by Jesus Castillo (P75 million); Ginintuang Alay sa Magsasaka Foundation led by John B. Lim (P77.5 million); Gintong Pangkabuhayan Foundation led by Eulogio D. Rodriguez (P82.5 million);
Karangyaan para sa Magbubukid Foundation led by Simplicio Gumafelix (P82.5 million); Kasaganahan para sa Magsasaka Foundation led by Genevieve Uy (P75 million); Kaupdanana para sa Magsasaka Foundation led by John Raymund de Asis (P75 million); Masaganang Buhay Foundation led by Ronald Lim (P55 million); Saganang Buhay sa Atin Foundation led by Lilian Español (P80 million); and Tanglaw para sa Magsasaka Foundation led by Nova Kay B. Dulay (P62.5 million).
Excuse
Luy’s testimony showed that Ondoy and Pepeng were just excuses that the Arroyo administration made up along the way as it implemented its plan to dip into the Malampaya Fund for purposes other than energy
development.
Ondoy struck Metro Manila and nearby areas on Sept. 26, 2009 and Pepeng hit northern and central Luzon in the first week of October. The back-to-back storms killed about 930 people.