Former N. Cotabato solon indicted for graft in P9.6-M pork barrel case
Gregorio Ipong, former North Cotabato representative and dismissed vice governor, has been indicted for graft and malversation for his alleged misuse of his P9.6 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2007.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor charged Ipong and four others with one count each of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Malversation of Public Funds.
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Ipong’s was indicted for allegedly endorsing the nongovernment organization Aaron Foundation Philippines, Inc. (AFPI), which served as a conduit-implementor of livelihood projects that it was not financially capable of implementing.
Also charged were three executives of the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) – namely, Antonio Ortiz, Dennis Cunanan, and Marivic Jover – and Alfredo Ronquillo of AFPI.
According to the charge sheet, the respondents acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence when it caused undue injury to government and gave undue benefit to AFPI.
Prosecutors said Ipong endorsed AFPI without the benefit of a public bidding and even though the NGO was not accredited and qualified to implement his pork barrel projects.
The officials of the TLRC which acted as a conduit prepared the disbursement vouchers without checking the qualifications of AFPI.
Meanwhile, AFPI’s Ronquillo failed to submit liquidation reports despite demands by the Commission on Audit (Coa), “to the damage and prejudice of the Republic of the Philippines.”
According to the malversation graft charge, Ipong and the other respondents misappropriated the PDAF which ended up in projects that are ghost or non-existent.
The prosecutors recommended bail amounting to P30,000 for each count of graft and P40,000 for each count of malversation.
In indicting the officials, the Ombudsman found out that Ipong’s PDAF was released in 2007 for livelihood projects in the second district of North Cotabato.
Documents showed that Ipong endorsed and identified AFPI as NGO-partner with TLRC as implementing agency.
Field investigators from the Office of the Ombudsman said Ipong’s PDAF was fully released in a single tranche “despite the AFPI’s non-submission of any project implementation and disbursement reports.”
The Office of the Ombudsman also said the AFPI had a dubious record and was not qualified to implement livelihood projects: It had no business permits from 2004 to 2009; its listed business address is located in a vacant lot used as equipment storage; its capital stock was only P68,000; and that its net saving and net losses in 2006-2007 reflected the amounts of P750 and P5,840, respectively.
Ipong denied the charges and said “the amount was coursed through AFPI based on the national ten-point agenda of the government at that time” and that “he was not in charge of the subject funds but a mere endorser of the livelihood project.”
But Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales cited Supreme Court jurisprudence that “under the Congressional Pork Barrel System, it is the legislator that exercises actual control and custody of the PDAF share allocated to him by appropriations statute.”
Under Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, graft is a criminal offense of causing undue injury to any party, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.
Meanwhile, under the Revised Penal Code, malversation is a criminal offense of misappropriating public funds through abandonment or negligence.
Ipong had been indicted in two other sets of criminal charges over the pork barrel scam.
The Office of the Ombudsman earlier ordered Ipong’s indictment for graft and malversation this time involving P5 million PDAF which was spent on ghost projects in 2007 also involving AFPI.
He was also separately indicted with Esperanza Cabral, the former secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health of then President Gloria Arroyo, in connection with the alleged anomalous use of his P9.4 million ghost pork barrel projects.
The Office of th Ombudsman dismissed Ipong from office last November. /atm/rga
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