Marcos: For nth time, I’m not involved in pork scam

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: Sick and tired. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday expressed exasperation over persistent reports linking him to the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam and questioned releases under the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Marcos was reacting to an Inquirer report on Monday that said a former undersecretary in the National Anti-Poverty Commission had served as the conduit between himself and alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles in the funneling of pork barrel funds to fake nongovernment organizations.

He expressed “shock and disbelief” over the allegation that he had endorsed P24.25 million worth of livelihood projects in Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental in 2011 to the Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (Mamfi), one of the Napoles-linked NGOs.

The article was based on the testimony of ex-Napoles employee turned whistle-blower Marina Sula.

“[Let] me reiterate for the nth time that I have never met [Napoles] nor have I ever authorized any person to deal with her or any nongovernment organization which she allegedly has control of—whether on my behalf or on behalf of my office,” Marcos said in a statement.

“I am sick and tired of my name being dragged into this controversy,” he said.

Marcos said that as shown on the website of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the only project funded with his PDAF in the Davao area in 2011 was the construction and improvement of a drainage canal in Barangay (village) Rafael Castillo, Agdao, Davao City.

Marcos said the sum of P300,000 was allocated to the project, with the Department of Public Works and Highways-Davao City District Engineering Office as the implementing agency.

According to Marcos, he had asked his staff to look into the report and it found no document or record pertaining to any transaction or endorsement from his office involving Mamfi for any period, including the year 2011.

Nor did his staff find any document or record pertaining to a PDAF release in the amount of P24.25 million to the provinces of Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental, he said.

As for his supposed connection to alleged conduit Catherine Mae “Maya” Santos, Marcos’ staff “once again” said Santos was engaged as a consultant by the congressional commission on science and technology and engineering from January 2012 to December 2012.

The staff added that Santos was thereafter engaged as a consultant by the joint congressional oversight committee on cooperatives from January 2013 to June 2013.

“Ms. Santos was detailed to my office by the above committees during this period. However, in March 2013, she ceased to be connected to my office and I have not seen nor heard from her since,” Marcos said.

He indicated that instead of being swayed by what he called a trial by publicity, the public should “understand what’s happening by taking stock of what we know so far.”

“We know that there is a syndicate that has been involved in shady transactions involving the misuse of government funds for over 10 years now,” he said.

“We know that the people behind this scam have implicated several other unwitting members of the legislature who, until recently, were not even aware of these questionable releases and disbursements through the PDAF and DAP,” Marcos said.

RELATED STORY:

Marcos: I never funneled funds to fake NGOs