What Went Before: Pork barrel scam
In July 2013, the Inquirer exposed the alleged diversion of billions of pesos in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations of senators and members of the House of Representatives to bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) set up by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
Several government-owned and -controlled agencies were allegedly used as conduits in channeling PDAF funds to ghost livelihood projects of the fake NGOs.
In August of the same year, the Commission on Audit (COA) released a report that named government agencies that facilitated the release of P6.156 billion in PDAF funds to ghost NGOs from 2007 to 2009.
The agencies identified in the COA report included Technology Resource Center (TRC), which handled P2.613 billion in PDAF funds, National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), which facilitated the release of P1.299 billion and National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), which handled P1.265 billion.
This led to proposals in Congress to abolish the agencies linked to the pork barrel scam.
The Aquino administration scrapped the government-owned and -controlled corporations as part of a crackdown on “nonperforming” and “unnecessary” state companies. Among those abolished were TRC, NLDC and Nabcor.
Further, investigations on the misuse of the PDAF resulted in the filing of charges of plunder, malversation, bribery and graft and corrupt practices in the Sandiganbayan against Napoles and several legislators and government officials, including former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, for their alleged involvement in the controversy. —Inquirer Research
Sources: Inquirer Archives, gcg.gov.ph
