‘Lowly’ employee in plunder case blames Revilla, DBM

By: Gil C. Cabacungan - 11 years ago

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A self-described “lowly” government employee implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam has accused Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. of dictating the terms and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) of abetting the National Livelihood Development Corp.’s (NLDC) forced role in the release of state funds to fake foundations.

The NLDC handled P1 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and P370 million in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) from 2008 to 2012, but Alexis Sevidal, head of the firm’s Accounts Servicing and Asset Management Group, claimed that his agency’s role was limited to documentation and liquidation.

“The responsibilities of ensuring that the NGOs (nongovernment organizations) are legitimate and capable of implementing the projects and ensuring that the projects will be implemented according to plans, will rest upon the lawmakers,” Sevidal said in his counteraffidavit to the plunder case filed against him in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Sevidal is among the nine government employees named in the plunder and malversation cases filed last September by the National Bureau of Investigation, principally against businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Revilla, and former Representatives Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, Edgar Valdez, Rodolfo Plaza, Samuel Dangwa and Constantino Jaraula.

“Personally, I dare say that I and the other respondents are victims of a faulty system which creeps in both houses of the Congress and the executive department,” he said.

“There are inherent or unwritten rules in the bureaucracy that everyone should follow, otherwise one will get the ire of powerful politicians. A lowly government employee like me receiving a meager salary only sufficient enough to feed my family’s hungry stomach, just like anyone else including the Board of Trustees of the NLDC, must follow those unwritten rules,” Sevidal said.

Revilla’s role

He said his role in the processing of the PDAF in his agency was purely “ex-officio” as the NLDC had already been picked as implementing agency, the project’s nature and cost had been predetermined, the NGO had been named, the special allotment release order (Saro) approved by the DBM and the project cleared by the NLDC Board.

Although there were other senators and lawmakers who tapped the NLDC as go-between for their pork, Sevidal zeroed in on Revilla.

“From the foregoing narration in the (NBI) complaint, it is crystal clear that the coconspirators in the planning, identification of the project, determination of the project cost, choice of the NGOs and even in the choice of the implementing agencies, are Senator Revilla Jr. and Napoles only. Not even the NLDC as an institution is a part of the conspiracy,” Sevidal said.

Sevidal presented as evidence Revilla’s missive to NLDC chair Gondolina Amata in which the actor identified the projects, their costs (combined P135 milion) and the NGO beneficiaries.

In his Aug. 17, 2009 letter, Revilla pointed out that the DBM had already released the notice of cash allocation (NCA) for these projects and that he had appointed his chief of staff, Richard Cambe, “to monitor and assist in the implementation thereof and act and sign in my behalf all other documents needed to smooth the progress of the same.”

Revilla named Agri and Economic Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (P45 million), Social Development Program For Farmers Foundation Inc. (P40 million), Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (P30 million), and Agricultura para sa Magbubukid Foundation Inc. (P20 million) “as our partners in the implementation of the program.”

DBM role

These four NGOs were among the 20 foundations that whistle-blower Benhur Luy claimed were bogus and controlled by his former boss Napoles.

Sevidal presented a Sept. 8, 2009, letter of then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile endorsing Revilla’s pet projects.

Sevidal also said that while the DBM was supposed to be the only agency in “direct communication” with Congress on fund releases of lawmakers, it directed NLDC to communicate directly with legislators “in violation of the systems flow of the Philippine Budget System.”

“The NLDC can only surmise that the DBM does not want to defy the holders of the power of the purse that is Congress,” he said.

Sevidal said that NLDC did not want to take part in implementing the PDAF and the DAP first in 2008 and second in 2011 but that the DBM denied the request for exclusion.

He noted that the abuse of NLDC carried over to the Aquino administration and even extended to DAP funds, supposedly “savings” of agencies realigned to other projects to stimulate the economy, some of which found their way to pet projects of senators.