Levito Baligod, lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The lawyer of pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy said Friday that two employees of an implementing agency linked to the scam were willing to spill the beans on the alleged conspiracy among agency heads, legislators and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
Lawyer Levito Baligod told Inquirer Radio 990AM in an interview that Victor Cacal and Rodhora Mendoza, employees of the National Agri-business Corp. (Nabcor), were willing to issue their sworn affidavits on how then Nabcor president Alan Javellana conspired with lawmakers and Napoles to convert billions of solons’ funds to kickbacks, lawyer Levito Baligod said.
“(P)agpapatunayan nila na nakipagsabwatan talaga ang kanilang mga hepe para mabigyan ng pabor sina ginang Napoles at mga legislators,” Baligod said.
(They would prove that their superiors conspired with Napoles and legislators.)
The two employees alleged that Javellana signed the checks for Napoles’ projects without supporting documents and signatures of other authorized subordinates, Baligod said.
Nabcor, a government-owned and -controlled corporation under the Department of Agriculture, was tagged as an implementing agency for the ghost projects coursed through Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations. It was later abolished due to the scam.
Baligod said Cacal and Mendoza would not yet apply for witness protection program as the Office of the Ombudsman has yet to determine if they are most guilty in the scam.
The lawyer said though the two Nabcor employees received kickbacks from Napoles, they had “reservations” in signing the vouchers and checks.
“If the Ombudsman thinks they have no criminal liability, we can use them later on to testify,” Baligod added in Filipino.
Cacal, Mendoza and Javellana were among the respondents in the plunder and malversation charges filed before the Ombudsman over the pork racket.
Napoles, senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, two former district representatives and other agency and NGO heads were also charged.
The pork scam is an elaborate scheme of funnelling the lawmakers’ priority development assistance funds (PDAF) meant for their constituents to bogus non-government organizations of Napoles. The funds were allegedly split into kickbacks among agency heads, employees, solons and Napoles.
Napoles is now detained over serious illegal detention charges of principal whistle-blower Luy.