NCotabato LGU worker incorporator of Napoles-linked NGO?

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines - A utility worker of a local government unit in a hinterland town of North Cotabato province nearly fainted when he received a summon from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for him to shed light on his being a “key incorporator” of a non-government organization (NGO) linked to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Even local officials in Magpet town, including Vice-Mayor Efren Piñol, were stunned on how their LGU’s gardener and utility worker, Efren Sidemo, was tagged by the NBI as an “incorporator” of the Saganang Buhay sa Atin Foundation, believed to be one of the ghost NGOs of Napoles.

Sidemo has been working at the Magpet municipal hall for 18 years now, according to the municipal police office.

“I almost fainted in disbelief. I was so shocked receiving a letter from the NBI asking me to submit myself for questioning,” Sidemo said in the Cebuano vernacular.

Sidemo said he only knew of Napoles as an employer of his sister-in-law, Lilian Española, who works for her as a maid.

Sidemo told reporters that he and a certain Lolito Abarquez received a letter from NBI Director Nonato Cesar Rojas asking both of them to appear to the bureau’s central office and shed light on their alleged participation in the pork barrel scam involving Napoles.

“How can this be?  How can an ordinary almost unknown LGU gardener and utility worker, who only maintains and beautifies the surroundings of Magpet’s town hall got implicated in such a scam,” Sidemo said.

Piñol, who had served as a three-term mayor in Magpet prior to his election as vice-mayor during the May 13, 2013 polls, volunteered to accompany Sidemo the other day to the office of the NBI in Region 11 in Davao City to speak to investigators.

Sidemo said he does not know who Abarquez was.

“And I don’t personally know Janet Napoles either,” Sidemo said. “I could have become very rich if I was involved in that scam.”

Sidemo only earns a measly P300 daily pay from the Magpet municipal government.

Sidemo said her sister-in-law takes care of the ailing matriarch of Napoles.

"She told us she takes care of the ailing matriarch of an employer she calls Ma'am Janet," Sidemo said.

He added that Española has been living a lavish lifestyle.

“She would host a banquet for her relatives and friends whenever she visits Magpet,” Sidemo said.

He said Español had, in fact, procured contiguous patches of farm lands in Magpet.