Three women—(from left) Gondelina Amata, Ophelia Agawin and Zenaida Ducut—have managed to hang on to their government posts despite being implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines–Three women—Gondelina Amata, Ophelia Agawin and Zenaida Ducut—have managed to hang on to their government posts despite being implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles.
Amata, an accused conduit of Napoles in funneling pork barrel funds into bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs), has kept her post as president of state-owned National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) despite President Aquino’s appointment of her replacement more than two-and-a-half years ago.
She’s now a coaccused in the graft cases against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada. She’s also in the Bureau of Immigration Hold Departure Order.
Agawin, allegedly Napoles’ point person at ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp. (ZREC), is still an agriculture assistant secretary, while Ducut, allegedly a Napoles agent, remains the head of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Ducut is among those to be charged with malversation in the third batch of pork barrel respondents to be filed shortly by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Official documents obtained by the Inquirer showed that Aquino named Josaias T. de la Cruz, vice president of BPI Globe Banko (the microfinancing arm of the Ayala Group), the replacement of Amata, who was appointed to her post in 2005 by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
On Nov. 11, 2011, Aquino signed the appointment papers of De la Cruz as acting member of the NLDC’s board of trustees in place of Raymund R. Sabarre.
In a letter to Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima on the same day, Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. said, “I am pleased to inform you that the President has approved the nomination of Hon. Josias T. de la Cruz as acting president of the National Livelihood Development Corp. vice Gondelina G. Amata.”
Purisima wrote a marginal note on the letter with a side note: “For appropriate action.”
The documents were received by NLDC two months later or on Jan. 12, 2012.
A source at NLDC, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak for the firm, said De la Cruz’s takeover, who had planned to move in on March 2012 to give him more time to wrap up his duties at the bank, did not push through as he was informed in February 2012 that his appointment had been put on hold.
Amata did not reply to the Inquirer’s calls or text messages for clarification. The Inquirer tried to get De la Cruz’s side but his bank’s official spokesperson did not return calls as of press time.
Sabarre has left NLDC, leaving Malacañang with no representation on its board following De la Cruz’s decision to return to BPI Globe Banko.
Agawin was ZREC treasurer and director from 2006 to 2010 when she facilitated the disbursements of a total of P282 million in pork barrel funds of Senators Estrada and Bong Revilla, and former Representatives Edgar Valdez of Apec and Rene Velarde of Buhay to Napoles’ NGOs.
Alcala assistant
Agawin was transferred to the Department of Agriculture when Aquino took over Malacañang and resumed her role as a Napoles’ conduit under Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
She was named head of the agriculture department’s committee tasked with accrediting NGOs to be tapped as recipients of the agency’s funds for livelihood programs.
Ducut, who was then Pampanga representative, was among several lawmakers who were listed in 2002 as recipients of P407 million worth of computers and communication equipment purchased by the Department of Transportation and Communications from Napoles’ company, Jo Chris Trading.
The project is under investigation as Napoles was believed to have made ghost deliveries of the computers and communication equipment.
Ducut is also among the 34 people (including former Muntinlupa Rep. and Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon) charged by the Office of the Ombudsman with plunder and graft in its second batch of pork barrel scam cases.
Ducut was accused of getting a 5-percent commission for brokering the transfer of pork barrel funds of Biazon and five other former representatives (Arthur Y. Pingoy Jr., Salacnib Baterina, Douglas R. Cagas, Marc Douglas CM Cagas IV and Arrel Olano) to the Napoles NGOs.
The Arroyo appointee has kept her post despite her poor performance as the head watchdog of the power industry.
DAP fund
The NLDC source pointed out that following De la Cruz’s aborted takeover, Amata facilitated the release of P375 million in funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to four senators—Estrada, Revilla, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vicente Sotto III.
Amata has been charged with graft in each of the cases filed against Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Revilla and Estrada in the Sandiganbayan for acting as a conduit in the release of millions of pork barrel funds dating back from 2009.
The NLDC source claimed that Napoles lobbied to retain Amata because she was a vital cog in her pork barrel scheme.
Both the special allotment release order and the notice of cash allocation for the P735-million DAP allocation were released in March 2012 or in the middle of the Senate’s impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona.
All senator-recipients, except for Marcos, voted to impeach Corona on May 29, 2012.
Rejected by DAR
Documents with the Inquirer showed that DAP funds were originally part of the P475-million DAP allocation rejected by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in December 2011.
At the time, the DAR was being pressed to explain unliquidated funds it released the previous years to NGOs that were found to have been bogus. The balance of P100 million in DAP funds was allocated to Enrile (P50 million) and Sen. Loren Legarda (P55 million). The Inquirer could not verify from where these funds were realigned.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad had previously revealed that Marcos “wrote Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile through Sen. Franklin Drilon on Nov. 23, 2011, requesting an endorsement of his request … then he wrote the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) on Feb. 8, 2012, requesting that the implementing agency be changed from DAR to NLDC.”
Marcos has denied endorsing DAP funds for Napoles NGOs, claiming that the signature on his supposed endorsement letters were forged. “That’s the senator’s contention but that’s not what our records show,” Abad said of the Marcos allegation.
In a previous interview, Amata said that she resisted the use of NLDC as a conduit for pork barrel fund releases, claiming that this hampered the firm’s core function of lending to poor entrepreneurs.
The DBM, however, has refused to remove the agency from its list of accredited implementing arms for pork barrel funds.
The principal whistle-blower in the pork barrel scam, Benhur Luy, said in his affidavit that Amata was among Napoles’ close associates.
Luy noted that Napoles gave Amata money to cover the hospital expenses of Amata’s ailing husband.
Curiously, Napoles left out Amata on her list of agency contacts in her affidavit, which was part of requirements in her failed bid to be granted state witness protection.
RELATED STORIES
Call Agawin to Senate–Escudero
In the Know: Ophelia Agawin, ‘conduit’ of Napoles NGOs
Ducut got P40M as agent for lawmakers