New graft raps filed vs 2 ex-lawmakers

Office of the Ombudsman. NOY MORCOSO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the filing of new graft charges against former Representatives Candido Pancrudo Jr. and Marc Douglas Cagas IV in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, according to a statement released on Monday by her office.

Pancrudo, former representative of the first district of Bukidnon province, was accused of allegedly funneling P49.2 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation, purportedly for training and livelihood seminars, to ghost projects from November 2007 to June 2008.

Cagas, former representative of the first district of Davao del Sur province, was charged with allegedly coursing P6 million of his 2008 PDAF to anomalous livelihood projects.

Pancrudo was slapped with eight counts of graft, four counts of malversation, and four counts of malversation through falsification of public documents.

The funds were earmarked for training and livelihood seminars. These were channeled through the now-defunct Technology Resource Center (TRC) and National Agribusiness Corp. as implementing agencies, with Farmerbusiness Development Corp. (FDC) and Uswag Pilipinas Foundation, Inc. as the partner nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

The Ombudsman cited the Commission on Audit’s report that there was no evidence that the funds were used for their intended purposes.

Morales also flagged anomalies in procurement and liquidation, such as the lack of public bidding in the NGO selection process and the unusually quick approval of PDAF releases in one day.

“These repeated, illegal transfers of public funds to FDC’s control, purportedly for projects which did not exist, and just as repeated irregular disbursements, represent quantifiable pecuniary losses to the government,” Morales said.

Co-respondents

Pancrudo’s fellow respondents include former officials of TRC: Director General Antonio Ortiz, Deputy Director General Dennis Cunanan, group managers Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana and Francisco Figura, chief accountant Marivic Jover, and budget officer Consuelo Lilian Espiritu. Also impleaded were Pancrudo’s project consultant Jesus Esmeralda, as well as FDC representative Johanne Edward Labay and project supplier Aileen Carrasco.

Pancrudo was previously indicted in March for two counts of graft, malversation and falsification, over the anomalous release of his P8.2-million PDAF in 2008.

The Ombudsman said the P6 million from the 2008 PDAF allocation of Cagas was earmarked for business clinics, market development and technology transfer through trainings and seminars. TRC also served as the implementing agency for this project, with FDC as the NGO partner.

The Ombudsman found the project documents submitted by FDC to be fabricated.

The signatures in the registration forms were also found to be forged, as the supposed beneficiaries denied having received any training. On-site field verification also showed that the training kits never reached their intended beneficiaries.

Charged with Cagas were project consultant Vanie Semillano; TRC officials Ortiz, Cunanan, Lacsamana, Jover and Espiritu; FDC’s Labay; supplier Carrasco; and Arnolfo Reyes.

PDAF misuse

Cagas was indicted in April on two counts each of graft and malversation for the alleged misuse of his P11-million PDAF for agricultural and livelihood projects from 2007 to 2009.

The Ombudsman noted that according to the records of whistle-blower Benhur Luy, Cagas received at least P5.5 million in kickbacks from the PDAF projects.

The P10-billion pork barrel scam was exposed in a series of Inquirer investigative reports published in July 2013.

Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles was accused of masterminding the elaborate scheme to misuse lawmakers’ PDAF allocations by diverting them to ghost projects and foundations under her control.