Suspects in fund release order scam may turn state witnesses – De Lima

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Several suspects in the faking of special allotment release orders or SAROs at the Department of Budget and Management may become state’s witnesses after charges are filed in court, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has said.

De Lima, in an interview Friday, said the National Bureau of Investigation was trying to convince several individuals to turn state’s witness in the scam involving P879 million in farm-to-market road projects in several regions.

The NBI team investigating the fake SARO scam is set to submit its findings and recommendations on the matter by January 31. De Lima assigned the probe to the NBI following a request from Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“I anticipate that part of the recommendations is the filing of charges against those who had knowledge in the issuance of fake SAROs. They already have identified DBM personnel and congressional staff involved,” De Lima said.

She declined to elaborate on what the possible state witnesses would be testifying on and whom they would be testifying against, saying such a disclosure might derail the process on convincing the witnesses to testify.

De Lima also lauded the DBM for abolishing the SARO system.

“That is a big step, actually, and that is, I think, the best way to eliminate those malpractices which until now we have not yet confirmed how long they’ve been happening, especially this SARO peddling, because of the desire to make money out of it through supposed commissions or shares in the projects. That would really be a reform initiative on the part of the DBM,” she said.

De Lima said that a group of DBM employees, in collusion with lawmakers’ staff, were behind the scam.

The DBM insiders would photocopy SAROs and make them look like the original by forging the signatures of the releasing officials. The fake SAROs were then turned over to congressional staff who reportedly negotiated for kickbacks from the implementing agencies and contractors of the projects.

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