Noy, 2 Cabinet men charged over Malampaya funds

MANILA, Philippines - A militant farmers’ group yesterday filed a plunder complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against President Aquino, two Cabinet officials and several others for alleged misuse of P125 million in Malampaya funds.

Aside from Aquino, named respondents in the complaint filed by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) were Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Also named in the complaint were Agrarian Reform Undersecretaries Narciso Nieto and Jerry Pacturan, Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, and private individuals Teresita Reyes, Ashley Baul, Simplicio Gumalfex, John Raymund de Asis, John Lim and Benhur Luy.

The private respondents were presidents of non-government organizations which had proposed projects to the Department of Agrarian Reform to be financed using Malampaya funds. Luy is under the witness protection program for spilling the beans on the pork barrel scam.

The KMP said it hopes to use the Ombudsman’s findings for possible filing of an impeachment complaint against Aquino.

In its 16-page complaint, the KMP said President Aquino approved the release of P125 million from the Malampaya Fund in 2011 to finance the “preposterous” purchase of earthworms purportedly for various organic farming projects.

The officials, the KMP said, should also be held liable for graft, malversation of public funds, violation of the procurement law, violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees, and grave misconduct, and serious misconduct.

“His acts of approving the release of the funds to projects or purposes not related to those which the law, specifically Presidential Decree 910, so provides lead to the plunder of the funds by bogus NGOs in conspiracy with the officials of the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and the DAR,” the farmers’ group argued, referring to Aquino.

PD 910 allows the use of the Malampaya funds only for energy resources development. But a clause in the decree allows the use of the fund for other purposes as determined by the president.

The KMP noted that under the Constitution, the Office of the Ombudsman has the power to investigate a sitting president and allow the use of its findings as bases for the filing later of an impeachment complaint against him or her.

De los Reyes was made a respondent in the case because it was “under his watch that the pillage of public funds, in hundred millions of pesos, happened.”

The KMP said the declared recipients of the P125 million were mostly ghost projects in Licab, Nueva Ecija; Vintar, Ilocos Sur; Marcos, Ilocos Norte; Dingras, Ilocos Norte; Bangui, Ilocos Norte; Paombong, Bulacan; Samal, Bataan; San Pablo, Isabela; Porac, Pampanga; Soliven, Isabela; Infanta, Quezon; Calasiao, Pangasinan; Dinalupihan, Bataan; San Nicolas, Batangas, and Umingan, Pangasinan.

“All of these projects were funded from the Malampaya funds. But they are not related in any way with the exploitation, development, and utilization of energy resources in violation of PD 910,” the KMP said.

“More importantly, those projects were never implemented. Thus, the millions of pesos released to the NGOs were squandered,” the group said.

“Worse, the project proponents were using the predicament of the hapless farmers and their miserable situation as justification for the release of the public funds they have squandered,” KMP said. “Equally revolting is the fact that these agencies of the government, the DBM and the DAR, in one way or another, facilitated, abetted and even consciously misinterpreted the law, rules and regulations to ensure the successful pillage of public funds,” it added.

In a statement issued after the filing of the case, the KMP said “allocating hundreds of millions for red wigglers, white worms and other earthworms is not only preposterous but revolting.”

“Obviously, (President) Aquino and his political lieutenants colluded with fake NGOs to deliberately plunder the Malampaya funds,” Mariano said.

An earlier plunder complaint filed by the KMP against Aquino and some of his officials including Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala was in connection with the pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

The first plunder complaint alleged that “the systematic and deliberate pillage of public funds, in billions of pesos, happened” under Alcala’s watch at the DA, while Abad was named respondent because he had “blindly (signed) and (released) the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) and Notice of Cash Allocation to the DA without conducting thorough review of the requests for issuance of SARO and NCA.”  â€“ With Ding Cervantes