More plunder cases to be filed
Levito Baligod, lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam (in photo), told reporters that plunder or malversation cases will be filed against more lawmakers in connection with the misuse of public funds using nongovernment organizations controlled by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and other similar racketeers. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Plunder or malversation cases will be filed against more lawmakers in connection with the misuse of public funds
using nongovernment organizations (NGOs) controlled by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and other similar racketeers, according to lawyer Levito Baligod.
“Five more batches of cases of plunder or malversation of non-PDAF funds will be filed against lawmakers who used Napoles- and non-Napoles-controlled NGOs,” Baligod, lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam, told reporters at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters.
The PDAF refers to the Priority Development Assistance Fund, a lump-sum fund that finances pet projects of lawmakers. The Supreme Court recently declared the PDAF unconstitutional.
Baligod said that apart from the original whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy, who testified against their former employer, Napoles, three new whistle-blowers were willing to come forward.
The new whistle-blowers had executed sworn statements against former and incumbent public officials who were their former bosses.
Baligod said there were lawmakers and local executives who also received kickbacks through funds from “congressional insertions, department budgets and as members of the Commission on Appointments.”
“Based on the records and statements of the whistle-blowers, there were also non-PDAF funds that used Napoles and non-Napoles NGOs,” the lawyer said.
He described two of the three whistle-blowers as middle-grade government employees and the third one as head of a general services office.
“Apart from their sworn statements, the new whistle-blowers also provided several boxes of documents, some of them original copies and some were photocopies of the original,” Baligod added.
Based on the first affidavit of the whistle-blowers, they filed a complaint regarding the anomaly in the Commission on Audit (COA) “but these (what they uncovered) were dismissed and their findings set aside.”
As to the filing of the second set of charges in the Office of the Ombudsman against at least 10 lawmakers for the misuse of their PDAF allocations, it was again deferred, Baligod said.
Among the 10 to be charged are former Representatives Arthur Pingoy of South Cotabato province, Maite Defensor of Quezon City, Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur province and Isidoro Real of Zamboanga del Sur province, according to a list that Baligod earlier provided the Inquirer.
He also said four lawmakers—not six as earlier reported—were not included in the case because they are dead.
“The charges against the lawmakers would be malversation and not plunder because the government funds involved did not reach the threshold for plunder of P50 million,” Baligod earlier told the Inquirer in an interview.
Malversation is a bailable offense unlike plunder that is nonbailable and is punishable with life imprisonment.
Auditors included
Baligod said the filing of malversation charges against at least 10 lawmakers first scheduled for Wednesday had to be delayed due to new instructions from Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to include COA resident auditors who were assigned to the implementing agencies, like Technology Resource Center (TRC), National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) and National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor).
“Justice De Lima, who is hands on in the review of the cases, pointed out that resident auditors should be included in the charges in the Ombudsman for their negligence,” Baligod said.
“These auditors have approved liquidation documents knowing well that there was no bidding involved in the projects, which itself is negligence on their part for allowing the misuse of public funds,” he said.
In his affidavit and testimonies at the Senate blue ribbon committee, Luy said the liquidation documents of Napoles-controlled NGOs were mostly forged.
Baligod declined to name the resident auditors but said certifications were being obtained from COA records.
He said that based on the statements of the whistle-blowers, “auditors received 10 percent of the 10-percent kickback of the implementing agency.”
“The whistle-blower did not personally witness delivering or handling money to these auditors unlike some lawmakers and their staff, but they are participants of the scam because they allowed questionable liquidation documents to pass, which sometimes were the bases for the release of the next tranche of cash,” Baligod said.
He said he and the others would request the COA to conduct a special audit of PDAF and non-PDAF allocations for 2004 to 2006 and then those for 2010 to 2012 in preparation for the next set of cases.
First set
The first set of charges was filed by the NBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sept. 16 in the Office of the Ombudsman.
Plunder and other charges were filed against 38 people, including Napoles, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr., former Representatives Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, Edgar Valdez, Rodolfo Plaza, Samuel Dangwa and Constantino Jaraula, and their senior staff, department heads and other agency officials for the misuse of the PDAF.
On Oct. 3, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, three of her Cabinet secretaries and 20 others were also charged with plunder in connection with the alleged theft of P900 million from the Malampaya gas fund meant for storm victims in 2009.
Among those charged in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged theft of the Malampaya Fund were alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Napoles, her brother Reynald Lim, nephew John Lim and longtime assistant Evelyn de Leon.
Baligod said that like the first set of PDAF cases, the second set would have the NBI and DOJ use as evidence the testimonies and documentary evidence submitted by the whistle-blowers, who are former employees of Napoles, led by principal witness Luy.
Others on the charge sheet were Jessica Lucila Reyes, Enrile’s former chief of staff; Richard Cambe, Revilla’s senior staff member; Ruby Tuason, Enrile and Estrada’s liaison officer; Pauline Labayen, Estrada’s former appointments secretary; Jose Sumalpong, Lanete’s chief of staff; Jeanette de la Cruz, Lanete’s district staff member; Erwin Dangwa, former Representative Dangwa’s chief of staff; and Carlos Lozada, Dangwa’s staff member.
The former heads of government corporations charged were Alan Javellana, former president of Nabcor; Gondelina Amata, president of NLDC; Antonio Ortiz, former director general of TRC; Dennis Cunanan, former deputy director general and now director general of TRC; and Salvador Salacup, former head of ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp.
Originally posted at 8:29 pm | Thursday, November 28, 2013
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