Former TRC exec now gov’t witness

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday confirmed that former Deputy Director General of Technology Resource Center Dennis Cunanan, one of the respondents in the pork barrel scam case, is now a government witness.

At a press conference, De Lima said Cunanan has been admitted to the government’s Witness Protection Program provisionally subject to further evaluation and approval by the Office of the Ombudsman.

TRC is one of the four implementing agencies (IA) implicated in the pork barrel scam since it was through the IAs that certain Napoles non-government organizations were endorsed by lawmakers as implementors of government projects.

De Lima said Cunanan’s testimony belies claims of senators that they have no knowledge in handpicking the non-government organizations that were beneficiaries of their pork barrel funds and that their or their chiefs of staff’s signatures were falsified in these deals.
“I distinctly remember a certain occasion when we tried to verify a PDAF-funded project initiated by the Office of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., by calling the officially listed telephone number of his office to check if a certain Atty. Richard A. Cambe is indeed an authorized signatory for and in behalf of Senator Revilla,” Cunanan said in his affidavit.

“Said verification turned out ‘positive’ because not only was I able to talk to Atty. Cambe, Senator Revilla himself even took the call at that instance and confirmed to me that he authorized Atty. Richard Cambe to coordinate and facilitate the implementation of his PDAF-funded projects.”

Cunanan said Revilla even admonished him and told him that after verifying, the projects should proceed expeditiously.

“I merely replied to him that I am just doing my job,” Cunanan said.

With regards to Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile, he said he was able to talk to his chief of staff Atty. Gigi Reyes who told him that she was duly authorized by Enrile.

Cunanan said not only Revilla but Senator Jinggoy Estrada also admonished him for purportedly delaying the projects.

“Both Senators Revilla and Estrada insisted that the TRC should honor their choice of the NGO, which they selected to implement the projects, since the projects were funded from their PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund),” he added.

De Lima expressed confidence that Cunanan’s testimony would be “essential and corroborative of the testimonies of whistle-blowers especially Benhur Luy.’’

De Lima added that this was the first time an official from the government implicated in the scam appeared and belied the statements of Estrada, Enrile and Revilla.

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