Focus pork scam probe on Philforest–Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest) should be the focus of investigation in the alleged diversion to dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) of P100 million worth of pork barrel funds, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said on Tuesday.

Belmonte told reporters that authorities should investigate the Commission on Audit (COA) report that found that Philforest had released the funds to eight NGOs that were either ill-equipped for the projects given to them or could not be found in their addresses.

But Belmonte also gave the benefit of the doubt to claims that allocations—ranging from P210,000 to P13.45 million—under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Malacañang’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) went to these organizations.

“The appropriate authorities should investigate, but I think a lot of the congressmen were in good faith. The IA (implementing agency) should of course be the center of the investigation,” Belmonte said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad washed his hands of any culpability in the alleged scam. “How a project is implemented,” he said in a text message to the Inquirer on Tuesday, “is wholly up to the implementing agency, or Philforest in this case.”

Members of the House of Representatives have an annual allocation of P70 million under the PDAF, which was augmented after the creation in 2011 of the DAP, an impounding mechanism for government savings purportedly used to pump prime the economy.

The COA has said that the PDAF- and DAP-funded projects coursed through Philforest should have been awarded to NGOs through mandatory bidding instead of being contracted out.

The P100 million came from 22 lawmakers consisting of two senators and 20 House members, mostly from party-list groups.

Umali recollection

In an earlier phone interview, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, one of those mentioned in the COA report, said he remembered choosing an NGO to implement his project upon the prodding of Philforest, which has a list of its accredited groups.

“My recollection is we were made to choose from among those groups,” Umali said. He surmised that this was the procedure because Philforest was a small agency that was unable to handle all of the lawmakers’ projects.

But he also said that the project he funded under Philforest was implemented. The main beneficiary of the funds, which the COA said amounted to P13.5 million, was his Unified Tree of Life Program that intended to plant 12,012,012 trees.

So far, some 3 million trees have been planted in his district, he said. The program, launched on Dec. 12, 2012, continues up to today, he added.

Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco, who was Kasangga party-list representative in 2012, also said Tuesday that the implementers of his projects came from the Philforest list.

Haresco said that his small office had nothing to do with accrediting these groups. The P1.05 million he coursed through Philforest was for the reforestation of areas devastated by Tropical Storm “Sendong” in 2011, he added.

Tañada denial

Former Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III denied allegations that P7 million of his PDAF funds went to a “ghost project” and asserted that Philforest implemented in 2012 the planting of trees in the Maulawin Watershed.

According to Tañada, he and local officials of the municipality of Guinayangan, Quezon province, along with residents, farmers, and students were present when the project was implemented to provide livelihood projects and produce fruit-bearing trees. The project also involved planting propagules to rehabilitate the mangrove area in Guinayangan, he added.

“I am willing to cooperate with the COA to help clarify questions they may have on this matter,” he said.

The other lawmakers whose funds Philforest released to supposedly questionable NGOs were Senators Gregorio Honasan II and Lito Lapid, and Representatives Raymond Democrito Mendoza, Fatima Dimaporo, Isidro Q. Lico, Antonio Alvarez, Michael Angelo C. Rivera, Salvador P. Cabaluna III, Rodolfo G. Valencia, Jose S. Aquino II, Ponciano D. Payuyo, Hadjiman Hataman-Sulliman, Joel Roy R. Duavit, Nelson Dayanghirang, Nicanor M. Briones, Jose Benjamin Benaldo, Maria Isabelle G. Climaco, Yevgeny Vicente B. Emano and Robert Raymund Estrella.

There has been greater scrutiny on the role of NGOs in implementing public projects following disclosures that P10 billion in pork barrel funds ended in kickbacks and phantom projects.—With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan

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