Six of 9 pork scam witnesses related to Napoles

Benhur Luy. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The first six whistle-blowers are relatives or former employees of JLN Corp. Three others have declined to be identified for now including the latest to surface on Thursday.

In the sworn affidavits they prepared with their lawyer, Levito Baligod, and submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation, they stated that JLN Corp., with offices on the 25th floor of Discovery Center in Ortigas Center in Pasig City, had defrauded the government of billions of pesos in ghosts projects involving the creation of at least 20 bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

These NGOs were supposedly the ultimate recipients of the state funds, but the money went to Napoles and lawmakers’ commissions.

Benhur K. Luy, the principal witness to the scam, is a distant cousin of Janet Lim-Napoles and her personal assistant in JLN Corp. Luy began working for his cousins in September 2002.

Luy was said to have been kidnapped last Dec. 19, 2012 after Napoles reportedly learned that he wanted to engage in the same racket she was in. He was rescued by an NBI special task force on March 22 from a condominium unit in South Wings Gardens of Pacific Plaza Tower in Bonifacio Global City.

According to Luy, Napoles offered to lawmakers commissions equivalent to 40 to 60 percent of the amount of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in exchange for the right to determine the implementing agency and fund beneficiary.

Apart from senators and congressmen, Napoles has also connections in almost all branches of government, friends in the right places and lawyers who do her bidding, according to Luy.

Five others who had worked in JLN Corp. corroborated the account of Luy, detailing the activities of Napoles. One of them was a project coordinator and another was a nanny who was made president of a dummy NGO. The rest were clerks and support staff.

Merlina P. Suñas worked for the JLN Group of Companies for 15 years. She registered for Napoles dummy companies and NGOs with the Securities and Exchange Commission and was assigned by Napoles as president of People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation Inc.

Suñas claimed that apart from being assigned as head of the dummy NGO, she also acted as the project coordinator of JLN and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the Malampaya Fund project.

She also implicated the office of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala as a key facilitator in funneling government funds to at least two dummy NGOs.

Suñas said she personally attended to the accreditation of several Napoles NGOs but only one passed the agriculture department’s scrutiny: Kaupdanan Para sa Mangunguma Foundation Inc. led by John Raymund de Asis, another Napoles staff member.

The other whistle-blowers are:

— Arthur Luy, brother of Benhur, claimed that among the tasks he did for JLN Corp. was fabricating names of recipients as well as forging their signatures to complete the paperwork.

— Gertrudes K. Luy, mother of Benhur and former nanny of Napoles’ son, claimed she was made president of Bukirin Tanglaw Foundation Inc.

— Annabelle Luy is a sister of Benhur and a signatory in the joint statement of the six whistle-blowers.

— Nova Batal Macalintal of North Cotabato stated in her sworn affidavit that she was appointed by Napoles as president of Tanglaw para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. and the papers for registration were prepared for her by a certain Evelyn de Leon. She also said that she never opened an account for the NGO she supposedly headed, but she was asked to sign withdrawal slips.

On Aug. 9, two new whistle-blowers showed up, but did not wish to be named publicly for now. They said that they were designated president of one of 20 bogus NGOs. One of the witnesses is now an overseas worker.

Source: Inquirer Archives