Ombudsman to charge 2 Napoles kids, too

Two children of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles will be included in the charges to be filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged plunder of the P900-million Malampaya Fund, according to a source privy to the complaint.

Twenty-two individuals, including Napoles, have been charged with the plunder of the Malampaya Fund. The others include former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and three members of her Cabinet—then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, then Budget Secretary turned Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya and then Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman.

“The two children will be impleaded as respondents in the misuse of the gas funds based on the affidavits submitted by the whistle-blowers to the Ombudsman,” said the source who talked to the Inquirer  on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority to speak on the matter.

Family help, too

The source said that apart from the Napoles siblings, the family’s drivers and house help who took part in the alleged scam would also be charged.

The source said the Ombudsman panel investigating the Malampaya Fund scam wrote the Department of Justice seeking the inclusion of Jo Christine and James Christopher Napoles in the charge sheet.

The whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy and Merlina Sunas said the siblings were involved in the falsification and liquidation of documents used in the scam.

“The sworn statements of the witnesses stated that the two older siblings participated in the scam and also forged signatures of ghost beneficiaries,” the source said.

Napoles’ youngest child, Jeane, who has been charged with tax evasion by the Bureau of Internal Revenue after she was listed as the owner of an expensive condominium in Los Angeles, California, despite not having a visible means of income, will not be included in the plunder case.

Mere recipient

Luy in his affidavit said Jeane was only a recipient of her mother’s largesse as she was a student in the United States.

Luy said it was Jo Christine who received the funds remitted to the dubious nongovernment organizations of her mother whenever the latter was not at home at the Pacific Plaza Tower in Taguig City.

Suñas said Jo Christine and James Christopher held office on the 25th floor of the Discovery Center in Pasig City and were present in the meeting where their mother and her employees plotted on how to profit from the P900-million Malampaya Fund earmarked for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Luy noted that the P900-million in Malampaya funds intended for the DAR was the second time Napoles raided the department’s funds.

In 2007, Napoles’ NGOs took P200 million from DAR funds intended for land reform beneficiaries, he said.

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