Xerox gang in DBM bared

By: Gil C. Cabacungan, Nancy C. Carvajal - 11 years ago

Two suspected members of a syndicate engaged in producing photocopies of special allotment release orders (Saros) were connected with the office of Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos (shown in photo), according to a source involved in investigating the racket. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Two suspected members of a syndicate engaged in producing photocopies of special allotment release orders (Saros) were connected with the office of Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, according to a source involved in investigating the racket.

The Inquirer has the names of the two suspects belonging to the “Xerox gang” but is withholding their identities on the request of investigators. The group is operating in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Sources at the DBM confirmed that the two were connected with the office of Relampagos.

A Saro is a DBM document that paves the way for the issuance of a notice of cash allotment (NCA), which, in turn, triggers the release of funds from, say, the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), a pork barrel for lawmakers.

The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into 12 fake Saros for farm-to-market road projects worth P879 million that were supposed to be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said that among the fake Saros for the farm-to-market road projects were meant for Regions II (Cagayan Valley), IV-A (Calabarzon) VI (Western Visayas) and XII (Soccsksargen).

Several DBM employees, subpoenaed by the NBI, have appeared before the bureau accompanied by their legal counsels. They have given their statements to the investigation team that was earlier briefed on the step-by-step process leading to the approval of a Saro.

DBM logbook

The employees showed the NBI pages of a logbook that recorded the Saros that were released and received in their division, Bureau E, which is under the Budget and Management Operations Group.

Under Bureau E were the DA, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, National Water Resources Board and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development staff.

Both the fake and genuine Saros were identical in format, security code, date and amount, according to De Lima.

The source said the two members of the Xerox gang were earlier identified by Emmanuel Raza, who is on the staff of Zamboanga City Rep. Lilia Nuño, as the persons who gave him the fake Saro.

Raza, now believed to be in hiding, was said to be the link to the syndicate in the DBM.

“They were named the source of the photocopies of the Saro and they have access to Usec Relampagos,” the source said of the two suspects.

The source said the pair could be in cahoots with other DBM employees “but they have yet to be identified.”

Modus operandi

The gang’s modus operandi is to photocopy an “unsigned Saro, forge the signature of the person in charge and then give it to a contact from the House of Representatives, who also knows the local executives,” the source said.

“The local executive, when showed the copy of the Saro, will, in turn, show it to a contractor who will advance at least 20 percent of the cost of the project,” the source explained.

The contractor will be awarded the project and get paid upon the issuance of the NCA, according to an Inquirer source in the DBM.

The fake Saro worth P161 million was hand-carried by Enrico Arao, aide to Cagayan Rep. Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, to the Cagayan Valley office of the DA in October.

It was the DA regional office that sounded the alarm on the fake Saro scam.

Of the 12 fake Saros that the NBI is investigating, at least four have surfaced, the source said.

In these cases of the fake Saros, however, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Budget Secretary Butch Abad said no funds were released.

House secretariat staff

The Saro that Arao brought to the DA regional office came from Joel Badong, a member of the secretariat staff of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Badong told the NBI that Raza was the source of the fake Saro.

In an interview at NBI headquarters, Arao told the Inquirer that he got the Saro from the House secretariat staff. “I thought it was genuine,” he said.

As the NBI tagged more congressional aides in the trail of fake Saros, Belmonte on Wednesday said no House member had been declared a suspect in the Saro scam.

“They (NBI) are not investigating any congressman. They are trying to get the statement of some employees but the congressmen, they appear to be and I’m very certain, perhaps potential victims themselves,” Belmonte said in a press conference.

Haresco’s consultant

This was echoed by Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr. who confirmed that his consultant, Mary Anne Castillo, received a fake Saro from an individual whom he did not identify.

Belmonte was not aware that Haresco’s staff was also under probe by the NBI at the time of the briefing.

“We are the victims here. We are not the perpetrators,” Haresco said in a statement.

“The document was examined and on its face the Saro appeared to be authentic and legitimate, bearing not only the details of a regular Saro but also a serial number, bar code, reference number, and the signature of a DBM official (with an initial at the bottom),” Haresco said.

Road project in Aklan

He noted that among the projects to be funded by the Saro was the P10-million farm-to-market road project in Balet, Aklan.

Haresco said NBI agents visited his office on Nov. 28 after Alcala ordered the P879 million worth of Saros invalidated because DA regional officers had gotten hold of a fake Saro.

He said his consultant cooperated with the NBI probe.

Belmonte said he had no plan of ordering a probe of the matter although one of the implicated congressional aides, Raza, was a no-show at the NBI on Tuesday.

Old hand at House

He said Raza had “been around,” being a longtime staff member of then Zamboanga City Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian and other lawmakers before he was retained on the staff of Nuño, a neophyte lawmaker.

“He (Raza) is somebody who should come out and tell us. I asked the NBI to look for him and not just await his promise coming or showing up in an interview,” said Belmonte who would rather let the NBI handle the probe.

The Speaker said the “NBI apparently has it under control. As I said, so far, this is a small portion of the whole thing. But rest assured we will get to the bottom of it here in the House.”

Belmonte refused to call those linked to the fake Saros members of a syndicate of the DBM and Congress employees, who demanded advances from contractors and local officials for the release of their Saros with the fake documents used as proof of their influence in the DBM.

But he conceded that the scam would not work without an insider from the DBM.

“The Saro is there inside the DBM, and they are the only ones who issue it—no other office can issue it,” the Speaker said.

Belmonte has ordered the transfer of Badong, a House appropriations committee employee, to the Office of the Secretary General pending the NBI probe. The appropriations committee is the gatekeeper of pork barrel releases in the House.

No damage done

In a statement, Alfonso also downplayed the fake Saro scam. “It is such a big puzzle to me why this incident was blown out of proportion when in fact this practice was a regular undertaking.”

“In fact, it is not an isolated incident because similar copies of Saros covering their respective, identified projects were also handed [over] to other regions,” Alfonso said. “If the said Saro was fake, there was no damage that was incurred by the government because no money has been expended to implement the same.”

Alfonso noted that only P30.6 million of the P161 million Saro for Region II was meant for her district, with the balance for Quirino, Isabela and Batanes, the home province of Abad.