JPE, Jinggoy, Bong face plunder raps

MANILA, Philippines - After more than five months of investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday announced the filing of plunder charges in court against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada over the pork barrel fund scam.

The ombudsman said it has found probable cause to indict the three senators for plunder and multiple counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan for pocketing some P597 million in kickbacks or commissions from their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The anti-graft agency, in three separate decisions approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, also directed the filing of plunder or graft cases against businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, Enrile’s chief-of-staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, Revilla’s chief-of-staff Richard Cambe, Enrile and Estrada’s alleged representative Ruby Tuason, Estrada’s staff Pauline Labayen, Technology Resource Center (TRC) director general Dennis Cunanan, and a number of other government officials and employees of non-government organizations (NGOs).

“After a careful study of the case and the evidence presented, it was decided the answer of the respondents was not sufficient to overturn the complaint and there was sufficient evidence to show that they committed the offense,” Assistant Ombudsman and spokesman Asryman Rafanan told reporters in Filipino during a press conference.

Through three joint resolutions, Rafanan said the ombudsman approved the recommendations of the five-member special panel that conducted the preliminary investigation of the separate complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and lawyer Levito Baligod on Sept.16, 2013 and by the Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Office of the Ombudsman on Nov. 18, 2013.

The announcement from the ombudsman came just hours after Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, announced in a separate briefing that his panel has recommended the filing of plunder charges against the three senators, also in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The cases stemmed from the testimony of principal whistle-blower Benhur Luy exposing Napoles’ scheme to siphon off the pork barrel funds of lawmakers through fake NGOs.

Rafanan said the special panel cited as basis for the finding of probable cause the sworn statements of Luy and his fellow whistle-blowers Marina Sula and Merlina Suñas, the Commission on Audit (COA) special audit report covering the years 2007 to 2009, and the reports on the field verification that secured sworn statements of local government officials and the purported beneficiaries of the supposed projects which turned out to be inexistent.

Rafanan said such pieces of evidence, after the conduct of a thorough probe, “either remained uncontroverted by mere denials or dovetailed with the affidavits of some respondents.”

On the plunder charges, Rafanan said the joint resolutions concluded Enrile, Revilla and Estrada took undue advantage of their official position to illegally divert, in connivance with certain respondents, their respective PDAF allocations to the Napoles NGOs, in exchange for kickbacks and/or commissions amounting to more than P172 million, P242 million and P183 million, respectively.

Such was allegedly achieved as pork barrel funded projects turned out to be “ghost” projects under a modus operandi of a combination and series of overt criminal acts repeatedly taking place over a number of years.

The ombudsman said the offense of plunder under Republic Act 7080 is punishable by life imprisonment and forfeiture of the ill-gotten wealth in favor of the government.

On the graft charges, Rafanan said the joint resolutions uniformly found the respondents and their co-accused conspired in causing undue injury to the government in the amounts of P345 million, P517 million and P278 million from the PDAF of Enrile, Revilla and Estrada, respectively, by receiving kickbacks or portions of the diverted amount.

He said the three senators were manifestly partial in selecting the NGOs of Napoles and the conduit implementing state agencies (IAs).

This resulted in an advantage to Napoles’ NGOs that were chosen, without the benefit of public bidding, for their ghost projects.

In the case of Enrile, the Ombudsman said a 144-page joint resolution found probable cause that the senator, Reyes, Tuason, Napoles, Ronald John Lim and John Raymond de Asis, both presidents of the NGOs of Napoles, committed the crime of plunder.

In the case of Revilla, a 140-page joint resolution found probable cause that the senator, Cambe, Napoles, Lim and De Asis also committed plunder.

And in the case of Estrada, a 120-page joint resolution found probable cause that the senator, Labayen, Napoles, Tuason and De Asis also committed plunder.

“The joint resolutions describe the common scheme adopted by respondents in committing the offenses wherein each of the respondent-senators repeatedly received sums of money from Napoles for indorsing her NGOs to implement the projects funded by the senators’ respective PDAF,” Rafanan said.

Rafanan said the respondents on the cases – including Enrile, Revilla and Estrada – have five days to file a motion for reconsideration upon official receipt of the copies of the joint resolutions.

He said such appeals, if any would be filed, will have to be resolved first before criminal cases or complaints are finally filed before the Sandiganbayan.

Rafanan said Tuason, despite being an applicant for state witness for the prosecution, was among those ordered charged for plunder and multiple graft counts because her application for immunity is yet to be resolved.

He explained that before immunity can be given to Tuason, her liability must first be established.

In the case of Cunanan, Rafanan said the TRC official has apparently not formally applied yet for immunity of state witness status even though he has already been supposedly taken into the witness protection program (WPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

‘A first step’

Malacañang hailed the ombudsman’s decision to indict the principal players of the scam.

“This upholds the major points in the complaint filed by the Department of Justice and the NBI in September 2013. The wheels of justice are moving forward,” Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said.

“We share our people’s fervent hopes on the final resolution of these cases,” he added.

The DOJ also lauded the ombudsman in indicting the three senators and the others involved in the pork barrel scam.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the ombudsman’s finding of probable cause on the complaint against the three senators, Napoles and the others is an affirmation of the results of the probe conducted by the NBI.

“This is a first step, a major one, towards making those involved accountable for their plunder and misuse of the people’s money,” De Lima said.

“We laud and respect the ombudsman’s resolution. It puts focus again on the legal side of this narrative after emotions ran high in the (Senate) Blue Ribbon hearings,” she added.

Guingona, for his part, announced the Blue Ribbon committee has concluded its inquiry into the pork barrel scam and recommended the filing of plunder charges against the three senators.

Guingona said the 122-page committee report came out just hours before the ombudsman made the announcement.

Its members, however, did not sign the committee report.

“All in all, Napoles and her group orchestrated a scam that deprived the Filipino people of millions of pesos in public funds,” the committee said.

“The committee’s findings would show that there have been reckless disregard of standard operating procedures, a cavalier violation of laws, rules and regulations and other government issuances and a systemic, endemic and orchestrated pillaging of the national treasury in the use of the PDAF,” the report stated.

Based on the committee report, the legislators concerned should have, at the very least, verified the legitimacy of the NGOs of Napoles.

However, instead of doing this, “these legislators vigorously and consistently endorsed (them) as recipients of their PDAF.”

“This glaring act of carelessness, be it deliberate or not, made possible such NGOs to be utilized as instruments of a grand scale misappropriation of the PDAF,” the report stated.

“The disbursement of millions upon millions of taxpayers’ money is imbued with public interest. Failure to verify the legitimacy of these NGOs is no less than a breach of duty to the public,” it added.

In the report, it was emphasized that the committee did not go into the inquiry with the intention of determining the guilt or innocence of the individuals accused of being involved in the scam.

However, it was noted the flight of some of the accused contradicts their claims of innocence.

“Fleeing after being accused of a crime suggests culpability,” the report stated.

The staff of the three senators accused of plunder alongside their principals all left the country and have not given any indication that they would be coming back to face the charges.

Expulsion

While the case would now be formally submitted for trial, the Blue Ribbon panel recommended the Senate committee on ethics and privileges conduct its own investigation on the accusations of plunder against the three senators.

“Allegations of plunder reflect deplorably on the dignity, integrity and reputation of the entire Senate as an institution. This committee, having jurisdiction over all matters relating to the conduct, rights, privileges, safety, dignity, integrity and reputation of the Senate and its members, is duty bound therefore to conduct a hearing to discipline its members,” the report stated.

Among the actions that could be taken by the ethics committee against a senator is to expel him from the institution.

The committee also recommended that the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Supreme Court undertake disbarment proceedings against the senators accused in the pork barrel scam.

“In order to preserve its reputation and integrity, the legal profession must be free from those who use their knowledge and skills to perform or facilitate criminal activity,” the report stated.

According to the committee, the modus operandi carried out by Napoles and her conspirators “serves as a relevant illustrative example of how the PDAF was pilfered from its rightful recipients in order to feed the insatiable greed of a few.”

Guingona noted the legislators were involved in the scheme in different stages and that they received kickbacks from Napoles for the use of their PDAF.

The committee noted Napoles approached certain legislators to entice them to grant a portion of their respective PDAFs to the foundations, which she created specifically for the purpose of diverting these funds.

“The enticement comes in the form of kickbacks for the legislators, which would be obtained from the PDAF itself,” the report stated.

“In some cases, the legislators themselves would come up to Janet Lim-Napoles to offer their own PDAF,” it added.

Of the total amount received from each legislator, the committee noted the lawmaker involved would receive 50 percent as kickback.

The chief of staff of the legislator would get five percent, the government implementing agencies would get 10 percent, while Napoles would get 35 percent.

Guingona pointed out the supposed beneficiaries of the PDAF projects got nothing at all.

“This splitting of the loot among Janet Lim-Napoles, the legislators, the chiefs of staff of the legislators and the implementing agency effectively dispossessed the beneficiaries of what is due them,” the report stated.

According to some of the government implementing agencies such as the TRC, the legislators took several steps to ensure their PDAF went to their chosen NGOs.

This includes the sending of endorsement letters to the agencies and in some cases, the legislators would personally call up the heads of the implementing agencies to follow up on these projects.

“This allegation of legislators going the extra mile to ensure that their respective PDAFs will be transferred to their chosen NGOs is illuminating in terms of the extent of the participation of and the undue influence exerted by legislators in the overall disbursement of the PDAF,” the report stated.

All three senators have refused to cooperate in the inquiry conducted by the Blue Ribbon committee and did not provide any reply or position paper as requested.

“Accountability can only be achieved by offices that are able to efficiently and effectively manage, monitor and evaluate projects and their funding. This PDAF scam demonstrates to the public that the legislators were either unwilling or unable to meet this obligation,” the report stated.

“Without this accountability, they should not be the proper offices to recommend such projects in the first place. The foremost task of the legislator is to make laws and not to implement government projects,” it added.

Once members of the committee sign the report, Guingona said it would be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Supreme Court, IBP, the Senate ethics committee and the other concerned offices. – Marvin Sy, Aurea Calica, Edu Punay