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Ombudsman finds Honasan, 9 others liable in PDAF scam

Philstar.com

September 26, 2016 | 5:32pm

MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday found probable cause to hold Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II and nine others liable for the alleged misuse of P29.1 million from the scrapped Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the filing of Informations against Honasan and the following officials:

Political Affairs/Project Coordinator Chief Michael Benjamin
National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Secretary Mehol Sadain
Acting NCMF Chief Accountant Fedelina Aldanese
NCMF Director Galay Makalinggan
NCMF Chief Sania Busran
Acting NCMF Chief Aurora Aragon-Mabang
NCMF cashier Olga Galido
Focus Development Goals Foundation Inc. officers Giovanni Manuel Gaerlan and Salvador Gaerlan

Honasan and the nine officials will face cases at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court for allegedly violating the Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019).

The Ombudsman, through its investigation, discovered that, in April 2012, the Department of Budget and Management released P30 million as part of the Honasan’s PDAF with the NCMF as implementing agency.

The money was intended to finance small and medium-scale enterprises and livelihood projects for the benefit of Muslim Filipinos in communities in the National Capital Region and Zambales.

The Ombudsman said that documents from June 2012 show that Honasan endorsed Focus Development Goals Foundation, Inc. as partner NGO for the project without complying with procurement requirements. A disbursement voucher and a check allegedly shows that Honasan and the other respondents facilitated the payment via two tranches amounting to P29.1 million.

“The check, dated 30 May 2012, and disbursement voucher approving the payment were prepared by public respondents in favor of Focus even before (1) the NGO was informed that it was found qualified to undertake the project on 04 June 2012; (2) the MOA was signed by the Office of Senator Honasan, NCMF and Focus; and (3) Honasan authorized the release of funds to Focus,” an excerpt of the Ombudsman’s resolution approved on Sept. 21, 2016 read.

Honasan also failed to submit his counter-affidavit during the investigation despite the issuance of an order to do so.

“The repeated illegal transfers of public funds to the NGO, resulted in the quantifiable, pecuniary losses to the government, thus constituting undue injury within the context of Section 3(e) of R.A. No. 3019,”Morales said.

In August 2015, the National Bureau of Investigation also filed malversation, bribery and graft complaints against Honasan for the alleged misuse of PDAF in illegal transactions with suspicious NGOs linked to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles’. Honasan was accused of taking home P1.750 million kickback.

Honasan, in January, called the allegation ridiculous. He said that the kickback that he supposedly received from the scam was so small that he could have gotten more money had he asked his friends for cash.

The senator, who ran for vice president in the May elections, has denied the allegations as early as 2013.

“All records regarding use of development funds being managed by my office are subject to accounting and auditing procedures according to law,” Honasan said then.

“Any allegations, insinuations of irregularity must be backed up by evidence in the proper courts of law subject to due process and not politically motivated, suspicious or malicious trial by publicity,” he added. — Rosette Adel