4 more ex-lawmakers face raps over ‘pork’

MANILA, Philippines - Four former lawmakers were ordered charged yesterday with plunder, graft, and malversation of public funds before the Sandiganbayan after the Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause in  allegations that they misused their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations amounting to P244.29 million.

Charged were former Reps.Rizalina Seachon-Lanete (Masbate), Samuel Dangwa (Benguet), Rodolfo Plaza (Agusan del Sur), and Constantino Jaraula (Cagayan de Oro). Lanete is the current governor of Masbate

The anti-graft agency will file the same charges against Janet Lim-Napoles, her nephew John Raymund de Asis, Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officials Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare.

Other respondents are the officers and representatives of implementing agencies and   four allegedly bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) where PDAF funds were allegedly channeled for the implementation of ghost projects.

The Office of the Ombudsman identified them as director-general Antonio Ortiz and deputy director-general Dennis Cunanan, department manager Francisco Figura and chief accountant Marivic Jover of the Technology Resource Center (TRC); president Alan Javellana, paralegal Victor Roman Cacal, General Services Unit head Romulo Relevo, bookkeeper Maria Ninez Guañizo, chief accountant Ma. Julie Villaralvo-Johnson, and director for Financial Management Services Rhodora Mendoza of the National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR); and president Gondelina Amata, division chief Gregoria Buenaventura, director Emmanuel Alexis Sevidal, chief financial specialist Sofia Cruz and department manager Chita Jalandoni of the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC).

The officers and representatives of Napoles-linked NGOs to be charged belong to the Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic and Development Foundation (CARED), Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI), Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI), and the Social Development Program for Farmer Foundation, Inc. (SDPFFI).

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said the complaints against the four lawmakers and their co-respondents arose from the separate charge sheets that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Field Investigation Office had filed.

“Many of the names appearing on the lists as farmer-recipients were neither residents nor registered voters of the place where they were listed as beneficiaries, were fictitious or had jumbled surnames, while others were already deceased. In other words, these livelihood projects were ghost projects,” she said.

A Commission on Audit (COA) special audit report backs the findings of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Morales said she has referred the cases to the Anti-Money Laundering Council for action on possible violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. 

The Office of the Ombudsman said government funds were anomalously used for livelihood projects, financial assistance to farmers, farm inputs and farm implements, skills training and distribution of livelihood kits in nail care, wellness, massage and candle-making.

The Office of the Ombudsman has given Lanete, Dangwa, Plaza, Jaraula, Napoles and   other respondents 10 days to appeal after official receipt of the decision.

‘Bum steer’

Former House speaker Prospero Nograles said yesterday the Office of the Ombudsman might have fallen victim to a “bum steer” after he and other former and incumbent lawmakers were subjected to investigation for alleged involvement in the pork barrel fund scam.

Nograles was commenting on a report that he and former lawmakers Candido Pancrudo and Thomas Dumpit Jr., and Bohol Rep. Arthur Yap will undergo preliminary investigation for alleged misuse of a total of P163.2 million in PDAF funds from 2007 to 2009.

“(The report has the  makings) of a kuryente (bum steer) just like the earlier attempt to link me to Janet Lim-Napoles that turned out to be a joke,” he said.

Nograles said the PDAF projects that were supposed to be the subject of the alleged case were in Misamis Oriental, not in his congressional district of Davao City.

The Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) for the PDAF mentioned in the report were issued during the incumbency of the  Misamis Oriental Rep. Danilo Lagbas, who died in 2008, he added.

Nograles said as a matter of procedure, he became caretaker of Lagbas’ district but that by then the SARO documents had already been released. 

“We hope that the news report on this supposed case against (Nograles), now a private citizen, is only an ‘honest mistake’ and not a highly damaging PR demolition job which the web report tends to indicate,” he said.

 “It is also worthy to note that there is a provision in the Ombudsman Law that prohibits publication of cases prior to preliminary investigation or actual Sandigan court filing to protect the reputation and name of respondent. This too seemed to have been violated.” 

Yap said he has not received any notification from the Office of the Ombudsman.

“I have not received a complaint from the Ombudsman so much as I would like to answer their charges, I cannot,” he said. “Even so, let me state that I did not malverse any PDAF funds of legislators.”  

Benhur Luy’s house of solitude

A defense witness told Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 yesterday that Benhur Luy  stayed in a house in Makati that Napoles owns   for “solitude.”

Testifying in the serious illegal detention case against Napoles, Abelardo Hernales, a secretary of Monsignor Josefino Ramirez, said he saw Luy while he was staying in the “Bahay ni San Jose” at No. 52 Lapu-Lapu St., Magallanes Village, Makati.

Luy was allegedly illegally detained in that house on orders of Napoles.

Several Chinese priests, reportedly friends of Napoles, also stayed in the House.

Hernales told the court Ramirez told him that Luy would be temporarily staying in the house for “solitude.”

During his stay in Bahay ni San Jose, Luy would spend time reading the Bible or writing in his notebook, he added.

He saw Reynald Lim, Napoles’  brother and co-accused, fetched Luy several times, Hernales said.

Napoles’ lawyers have presented in court two security officers of Pacific Plaza Towers to testify that they heard Luy telling NBI agents who rescued him on the night of March 22, 2013 that Lim had not kidnapped him, and that he refused to go with them.

Lawyer Bruce Rivera told reporters that they  are ready to present 18 witnesses, including several Chinese priests to prove that Luy was not illegally detained in the Bahay ni San Jose. – With Paolo Romero, Mike Frialde