MANILA, Philippines—What assistance?
Five former and incumbent mayors on Friday told the Sandiganbayan that their towns did not receive farm inputs and livelihood kits supposedly purchased out of the P345 million in pork barrel allotments of detained Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.
Testifying at the bail hearing of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, the local chief executives told the antigraft court’s Third Division that their signatures were forged on several documents pertaining to the projects carried out by Napoles-linked foundations.
Napoles’ defense lawyers tried in vain to thwart the testimonies of the local officials, claiming that their testimonies were irrelevant to the case of their client.
In their stipulation, prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman said the mayors would corroborate the testimonies of the whistle-blowers regarding the alleged “ghost” deliveries of agricultural supplies purportedly distributed by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) founded by Napoles.
Among those who took the witness stand was Mayor Florencio Bentrez of Tuba, Benguet, who said he was not even aware that his municipality, an agricultural town near Baguio City, was a recipient of Enrile’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), officially known as the congresional pork barrel.
During the cross-examination handled by Napoles’ counsel Dennis Buenaventura, Bentrez said Ombudsman field investigators went to his office to ask him several questions regarding their investigation into the P10-billion PDAF scam.
The mayor said he was shown copies of delivery receipts and certification of acceptance for the P5 million worth of livelihood projects for poor farmers in Tuba.
“I told them it’s not my signature,” Bentrez replied when asked by Buenaventura what he told the Ombudsman investigators when they inquired about his signature on the supposed proof of receipt for the project.
He said he also asked his municipal agriculture officer to check if Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. had indeed turned over livelihood assistance for the local farmers.
“My municipal agriculture officer said we did not receive anything. It’s my duty as mayor to ask for verification for that supposed project,” he said.
Former Mayor Jose Ginez of Sta. Maria, Pangasinan, said he had no knowledge of the supposed implementation of a P10-million livelihood program carried out by Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic and Development Foundation Inc., another Napoles-linked NGO, in 2009.
He vehemently denied that his municipality received 289 sets of “agricultural packages” funded by Enrile’s PDAF and implemented through the National Livelihood Development Corp.
“I never signed such documents. I’m also not aware of the program of that NGO,” the former mayor said.
As in previous hearings, the prosecutors nearly fell flat on their faces after Buenaventura objected to Special Prosecutor Wenceslao Caoayan’s handling of his direct examination of Ginez.
At one point, presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang had to warn Director Lalaine Benitez of the Office of the Special Prosecutor from intervening on Caoayan’s behalf.
“Let him fight his own battle,” Tang told Benitez, eliciting laughter from those inside the courtroom.
Turning her attention to Caoayan, Tang ordered the boyish-looking public prosecutor, “Just read the questions as it appeared on (Ginez’s) affidavit. It will make your life easier.”
Mayor Sheila Mae Cebedo of Bacuag, Surigao del Norte, also testified that her town did not receive P5 million worth of “farm implements” from Enrile’s office through the Technology and Livelihood Center in March 2007.
“I am not aware of any financial grants emanating from the PDAF of Senator Enrile… I also have no knowledge of any farm implements and/or livelihood materials given to (my) municipality,” Cebedo said in her sworn affidavit.
In their separate testimonies, former Mayor Elyzer Chavez of Passi City, Iloilo, and Mayor Benito Siadto of Kibungan, Benguet, denied that they received a total of P9.85 million worth of “agriculture production packages” from Napoles-owned NGOs.