Pork scam: Ex-North Cotabato lawmaker gets 27 years

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has sentenced former North Cotabato second district representative Gregorio Ipong to up to 27 years in prison for graft and malversation in connection with the alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel amounting to P4.9 million in 2007.

In a 52-page decision promulgated on Tuesday, the anti-graft court’s sixth division found Ipong guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.

Also convicted were Dennis Cunanan and Marivic Jover, deputy director general and chief accountant, respectively, of the defunct state firm Technology and Livelihood Resource Center.

They were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for graft and 17 years for malversation.

Ipong, Cunanan and Jover were also ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office and to pay a fine of P4.9 million each, equivalent to the amount of public funds that have been malversed.

The court said the amount is on top of another P4.9 million that Ipong, Cunanan and Jover must jointly pay the Bureau of the Treasury as civil liability, with an interest rate of six percent per annum, reckoned from the finality of the decision until fully paid.

In filing the case in 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman said Ipong unilaterally endorsed the non-government organization AFPI to implement the livelihood projects for his district, funded by his PDAF, without public bidding.

The ombudsman said AFPI also lacked the accreditation and qualification to carry out the projects.

Field investigation revealed that the projects were “non-existent.”

“Their actions were all directed toward the attainment of a common objective, that is, the unlawful release of government funds to AFPI, which turned out to be a sham foundation,” the court ruling read.