Chiz: Ex-officials of 2 GOCCs feigned ignorance of gov‘t rules

MANILA, Philippines - Criminal and administrative charges should be leveled against former officials of two government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) for allowing the funneling of over a billion pesos in pork barrel funds into fake non-government organizations (NGOs), Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero said yesterday.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup, former head of the Zamboanga del Norte Rubber Estate Corp. (ZREC), and Allan Javellana, former president of National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), feigned ignorance of government rules on procurement when they testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on Thursday to explain the channeling of the funds to questionable NGOs, Escudero said.

The NGOs turned out to have links to detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, widely considered the mastermind in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

The congressional pork barrel is officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The two officials claimed they had no knowledge of the rules and that they just relied chiefly on the endorsement letters sent by the legislators for the NGOs they had chosen as recipients of their PDAF.

Escudero said under the Government Procurement Policy Board’s Resolution No. 12-2007 containing the guidelines for NGO participation in public procurement, only two modes of awarding a project to an NGO are allowed – public bidding and negotiated procurement.

Salacup and Javellana admitted that they had merely relied on documents submitted by the NGOs such as the Securities and Exchange Commission registration, Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government unit permits, and some financial documents.

Asked by Escudero why he had relied only on those documents alone, Salacup said he was just following a policy inherited by ZREC.

“It is very incredible for these officials to feign ignorance of the existing procurement law which has been in place since 2007. I asked them about this because they have been totally ignoring the laws governing procurement,” Escudero said.

“If it’s a negotiated procurement, the NGO is required to come up with the performance, security or bond equivalent to the amount of the project,” he said.

Escudero said requiring performance or security bond from NGOs dealing with the government would ensure their accountability if problems arise.

“Now in clear violation of existing laws and regulations, these line agencies simply awarded funding to the seemingly favored NGOs. As long as there are endorsements from legislators, as they admitted, they funneled funds hook, line and sinker,” Escudero said.

At the very least, Escudero said the two officials should be held liable for administrative charges.

He said it was clear that the two violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by giving undue advantage to particular NGOs.

Escudero said with the appalling wastage of public funds from PDAF, he wanted to examine if there were remaining or ongoing PDAF-funded projects to be implemented by NGOs.

“No matter how late it may seem, we might be able to preclude further depletion,” Escudero said.

He said Blue Ribbon committee members want Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to give them an inventory of such projects.

Meanwhile, the senators named in a Commission on Audit report as having given PDAF to questionable NGOs have not changed their mind about not attending Senate hearings on the issue.

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had stated they would inhibit from the Senate Blue Ribbon probe.

Blue Ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III said they would not compel them to attend the hearings.