Bong Revilla got P9M ‘rebate’, Benhur Luy tells Sandigan

Senator Bong Revilla. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. got a P9 million “rebate” or kickback from a multimillion-peso transaction by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles with one of the government-owned and -controlled corporations that channeled lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations, a witness told the Sandiganbayan Thursday.

During a hearing for Revilla’s bail petition, Benhur Luy, a former employee of Napoles, said lawyer Richard Cambe, Revilla’s staff, would regularly go to Napoles’ office to claim the senator’s alleged commission from the P40 million deal with the National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor), which channeled the lawmaker’s pork barrel to ghost livelihood projects from 2006 to 2010.

In the previous bail hearing‎, Luy said that the now detained senator allegedly received 50 percent of the total cost from Napoles’ livelihood projects.

“Paulit-ulit ang punta ni Cambe para kunin ang commission ni Senator Revilla [Cambe would repeatedly go to get Senator Revilla’s commission],” Luy, who was wearing a bullet proof vest, told the court.

He said Cambe would deliver the documents, including the project’s endorsement letter, notice of cash allocation of Revilla’s PDAF, special allotment release order (Saro) and copies of memorandum of agreement.

But Lawyer Stephen David‎, counsel of Napoles, questioned why Luy, being the president of the fake NGO Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc., allowed Napoles to transact with Nabcor without the Special Power of Attorney.

A special power of attorney is used when a person assigns someone to act in his behalf in specific situations.

“I did not know that. Madam (Napoles) is my boss and I only follow her instructions,” he said.

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