Baligod dared to name COA execs involved in ‘pork’ scam

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Levito Baligod is being dared to name the Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner and three auditors that he is accusing of involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza said she is willing to help expose these persons if Baligod’s allegations are backed by evidence.

“I think we must be ready with evidence at hand because on our part, we can assure the public that we are open to any investigation and the public can be assured that we will not cover up or sweep aside these allegations,” she said in Filipino.

“For the sake of the remaining 8,237 employees, we must make clear that our duties are sensitive. The nation has high expectations from us, and the commission has really a lot of work.”

Accusing four COA auditors, including a commissioner must not be just a bluff as COA has 8,241 employees auditing 100,820 agencies, she added.

Mendoza said it is possible that some auditors might get tempted to do wrong once in a while, but that COA has reforms and measures in place to stop and punish them.

“But I would like to reiterate that a bluff cannot just be made and accuse four employees,” she said in Filipino.

“We have a sacred principle, we auditors and investigators, that once you open your mouth, you must be ready with the evidence.

“I can categorically and with confidence, speak that whoever that commissioner who he claims to be involved in the PDAF (scam), he is no longer with the current commission proper.”

Mendoza said she is willing to help Baligod if he can show documents and evidence because she can assure him that no current commissioner is involved in the scam.

Last Wednesday, Baligod filed new charges of malversation of public funds against 20 incumbent and former lawmakers before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Among those charged for the alleged misuse of their PDAF  from 2007 to 2009 were Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and former senator Edgardo Angara.

PDAF funds amounting to almost P500 million allegedly misused were supposed to have been released to non-government organizations (NGOs) not linked to Janet Lim-Napoles.

‘No hand in murder’

Meanwhile, the wife of San Jose del Monte Rep. Arturo Robes has denied any link to the 2013 killing of Chief Inspector Romeo Ricalde, the husband of a whistle-blower in the new P500-million PDAF scam case now before the Office of the Ombudsman.

She had no motive to have Ricalde killed, Florida Robes said in a statement sent yesterday to reporters at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Robes denied claims of the whistle-blower that they had a conversation on the transactions of WorkPhil and Sagip-Buhay People Support Foundations, the two non-government organizations   being linked in the diversion of the  PDAF to National Agribusiness Corp.

“Assuming but without admitting that such a recorded conversation had, at all, taken place, I can’t find at all any logical connection between, say, the Sagip Buhay Foundation, and the possibility of me staging or directing his ambush,” she said.

“I categorically and vehemently deny any involvement in the death of the former police officer,” she added.

Robes recalled meeting the Ricalde couple prior to the husband’s ambush, but that she could no longer recall what they talked about.

Robes said Ricalde was with the drug enforcement unit prior to his death, and he was tasked to run after drug syndicates, not after operators of fake NGOs. – With Edu Punay