Ombudsman indicts Honasan in P29-M pork case

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the filing of graft charges against Sen. Gringo Honasan and nine others in connection with their alleged misuse of P29.1 million of his pork barrel in 2012.

Honasan is set to be indicted in the Sandiganbayan on two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) over alleged irregularities involving a nongovernment organization (NGO) tapped for a livelihood project targeting Muslim communities in Metro Manila and Zambales.

The Ombudsman also indicted Honasan’s political affairs/project coordinator chief Michael Benjamin and six officials of the National Council of Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), which was the implementing agency for the project.

The indicted NCMF executives were its secretary Mehol Sadain, acting chief accountant Fedelina Aldanese, director III Galay Makalinggan, chief Sania Busran, acting chief Aurora Aragon-Mabang and cashier Olga Galido.

Also charged were Giovanni Manuel Gaerlan and Salvador Gaerlan, officers of Focus on Development Goals Foundation Inc. (Focus), the NGO tapped as the conduit for the small- and medium-enterprise project.

Released in two tranches

Honasan allegedly approved the release of P29.1 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel to Focus in two tranches, according to a statement by the Ombudsman media bureau on Monday afternoon.

An in-depth investigation showed that Honasan endorsed Focus as NGO partner without complying with government procurement regulations, the Ombudsman said.

Documents showed that the May 30, 2012, check and disbursement voucher were prepared in favor of Focus even before it was informed on June 4 of that year that it was qualified to handle the project.

 Government losses

“The repeated illegal transfers of public funds to the NGO, resulted in the quantifiable, pecuniary losses to the government, thus constituting undue injury within the context of Section 3(e) of RA No. 3019,” Morales said.

Honasan failed to submit a counter-affidavit to rebut the criminal complaint during the preliminary investigation of the case. Morales’ resolution, approved on Sept. 21, is still appealable through a motion for reconsideration.

The case stemmed from a Commission on Audit (COA) report released on March 2014 concerning NCMF’s anomalous transactions with dubious NGOs involving nearly P515 million in pork barrel allocations. These transactions occurred during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.