Malampaya scam next on Senate list
Next on the list of the Senate blue ribbon committee is the alleged misuse of the Malampaya Fund.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, head of the committee, said he would call a hearing on the alleged diversion of proceeds from the gas project off Palawan to spurious beneficiaries after the inquiry into the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“We will have to do the others also. Next one on the list would be the Malampaya,” said Guingona.
This coming Thursday, the committee is set to hear Napoles’ testimony on her alleged racket of converting billions of pesos in pork barrel into kickbacks, as well as those of her former employees-turned-whistle-blowers.
Whether Napoles talks or not, the committee has a “pretty good idea” of how the racket, involving senators and House representatives, was carried out for 10 years based on the whistle-blowers’ testimonies, Guingona said.
The senator, however, hasn’t indicated a date for the completion of the inquiry into the pork scam.
Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano had earlier filed a resolution seeking an investigation of the alleged embezzlement of P900 million in Malampaya Fund in 2009. The fund was coursed through the Department of Agrarian Reform.
The amount, allotted for the rehabilitation of farms after devastation of powerful storms in 97 towns, was allegedly siphoned off to questionable nongovernment organizations, mostly associated with Janet Lim-Napoles.
The government collects royalties from the project which involves the extraction of natural gas from the waters off Palawan beginning 2002.
The outstanding P136-billion balance from the fund is lodged in a special account in the general fund, Treasury officials said.
Napoles and several others are facing two separate complaints for plunder at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel scam and misuse of the Malampaya Fund.
After Napoles’ appearance, Guingona said the committee has to decide whether to summon the chiefs of staff of senators who were also implicated in the scandal.
