The Malampaya gas platform located 80 kilometers northwest of the coast of Palawan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Plunder cases were filed against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and 23 others in October 2013 in connection with the diversion of P900 million from the Malampaya Fund, government royalties from the Malampaya gas project.
The money, meant for victims of back-to-back typhoons in 2009, was allegedly funneled to fake nongovernment organizations of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who is believed to have masterminded the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
Begun in 2002, the Malampaya project involves the extraction of natural gas from the waters off Palawan. The government share from the operation of the gas wells was supposed to be used for energy projects, but this was expanded to finance programs authorized by Malacañang.
During the Arroyo administration, the diversion of the fund to victims of Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” in 2009 marked the first time that the Malampaya Fund was used for a project other than those related to energy development.
Before this, then Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman authorized the release of P300 million from Land Bank of the Philippines to 12 foundations controlled by Napoles, government documents showed. —COMPILED BY ANA ROA, INQUIRER RESEARCH
Source: Inquirer Archives