MANILA, Philippines—They just couldn’t wait.
In violation of Commission on Audit (COA) rules, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam submitted liquidation reports that showed full project completion shortly after they received the first fund installment, according to a former official of the state-owned National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor).
Vicente Cacal, former Nabcor general services chief, said the NGOs resorted to this approach to speed up the release of the rest of the funds.
“They could not wait for the funds to be released in tranches, so they submitted to Nabcor documents that showed the whole project had been completed. We later found out that the projects had ghost beneficiaries after Benhur Luy came forward and exposed their illegal activities,” Cacal said.
Luy is the primary whistle-blower in the pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles.
Based on the findings of the COA, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, the schedule of fund releases, provided in the memorandum of agreement (MOA) among the foundations, Nabcor and the Department of Agriculture, was not followed.
Schedule
The MOA stated that the release of funds should be on a staggered basis:
15 percent upon the signing of the MOA.
35 percent upon submission of the physical accomplishment report and disbursement.
40 percent upon the completion of the total projects activities and submission of reports, approved and validated by Nabcor and the office of the legislator.
10 percent upon submission of the terminal report.
But actual releases were 15 percent upon the MOA signing and 85 percent upon the project “completion.”
Cacal said the most favored NGOs were Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI) and Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (Mamfi), both of which were formed by Napoles.
Biggest porkers
SDPFFI and Mamfi were the recipients of the biggest pork barrel allocations from Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.—a combined P392 million.
Cacal said the full liquidation “seemed in order because it was accompanied by required documents based on the regulations of the Commission on Audit and as noted by the representatives of the senators.”
Senators’ representatives
Cacal identified the senators’ representatives as lawyer Richard Cambe for Revilla; Pauline Labayen for Estrada; and lawyer Jose Evangelista for Enrile.
Cacal said Nabcor head Alan Javellana would specifically instruct the Nabcor staff to “fast track releases of (funds for the) Napoles NGOs because the projects had supposedly been completed, based on the documents submitted to us.”
He said the liquidation reports were accompanied by a reimbursement report, an independent auditor’s report, a project accomplishment report and a list of beneficiaries.
NGO auditors
Cacal named Susan Victorino and Noel Macha as the regular auditors of the Napoles NGOs.
“Despite our reservations on the full release of the cost of PDAF-funded projects, we were forced to submit to the order of our head of agency,” Cacal said, referring to Javellana.
He said there was no more need to follow the release of tranches in the proper order because the projects had been “fully completed,” with the certification issued by the offices of senators.
‘Preferential attention’
Cacal said the subsequent releases of funds were allowed under COA rules only after liquidation of earlier releases.
“But the NGOs, particularly those of Napoles and those chosen by the three senators, were always given preferential attention by the head of the agency,” he said.
Berated
In one instance, Cacal said, Javellana even berated him for not acting immediately on the release of the P65-million allocation of Revilla’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), divided between Mamfi and SDPFFI.
He said it was also around that time that he saw Cambe in the Nabcor office at Tektite Towers in Pasig City.
The PDAF releases from 2007 to 2009, coursed through Nabcor, amounted to P1.7 billion
Cacal has applied to become a state witness, along with Dennis Cunanan, director general of state-owned Technology Resource Center, and alleged Napoles bagman, Ruby Tuason.
The Inquirer was furnished original documents, vouchers, checks and pertinent records that detailed how billions of pesos worth of projects that passed through Nabcor were released by Cacal and Rhodora Mendoza, former Nabcor vice president for finance.