Ex-lawmaker detained over ‘pork’ scam

MANILA, Philippines - A former lawmaker facing charges over the pork barrel fund scam spent the night in a detention cell at the Sandiganbayan after he surrendered to the police on Tuesday.

Former APEC (Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives) party-list group representative Edgard de Leon Valdez had to be detained at the anti-graft court’s basement detention cell because the magistrates could not yet rule on his motion to be detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Valdez, who has also filed a petition for bail, turned himself in to the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) after the Sandiganbayan issued a warrant for his arrest on Monday.

Valdez was among the lawmakers implicated in the misuse of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and John Raymund de Asis.

Ordinarily, the anti-graft court almost immediately issues a commitment order directing where Valdez should be detained, but because Fifth Division magistrates are out of town for a hearing in Cagayan de Oro, he had to spend time in the building’s own jail cell where the other co-accused, Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s former chief of staff, was also held until her transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa.

Valdez is accused of pocketing P57.7 million in so-called kickbacks or commissions for funneling his PDAF allocations to Napoles-controlled non-government organizations that implemented ghost projects.

Last week, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division also ordered the arrest of Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, who is also facing plunder charges.

Lanete, who served as representative of Masbate, was ordered jailed at the Taguig City Jail female dormitory inside Camp Bagong Diwa where Reyes and Napoles are currently detained.

Valdez and Lanete’s plunder cases are similar to those against Senators Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada where Napoles is also a co-accused.

The lawmakers were charged for allegedly acquiring or accumulating ill-gotten wealth through the scheme of misappropriating or misusing PDAF funds.

Enrile is currently under hospital arrest at the PNP General Hospital while Revilla and Estrada are at the PNP Custodial Center.

Valdez is asking that he also be committed to the PNP Custodial Center, citing his medical condition.

Valdez filed a petition for bail in arguing that there is no strong evidence against him and that he is not a flight risk. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe