Commission on Appointments funds misused – Janet

MANILA, Philippines - If alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles is to be believed, the legislators who had dealt with her since 2000 did not only use their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations for unlawful activities, but even other items in the national budget – particularly funding for the Commission on Appointments.

In her 32-page affidavit submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee last Monday, Napoles named 13 incumbent and former congressmen and senators who managed to divert funds intended for the CA to other agencies and eventually to non-government organizations set up by Napoles.

Of the 13 cited by Napoles, two were senators, namely Manuel “Lito” Lapid and former senator Robert Jaworski.

Lapid allegedly provided P5 million to the Department of Agriculture (DA) from the funds of the CA. Napoles did not mention for what the funds were intended, but she noted that the agent who transacted with her on behalf of Lapid was former Pampanga congresswoman and now Energy Regulatory Commission chairperson Zenaida Ducut.

In the case of Jaworski, Napoles claimed that he made available P10 million from the CA’s funds for a project in 2004.

Based on the affidavit of Napoles, the other legislators who allegedly used CA funds for their transactions with her were former congressmen Antonio Roman (Bataan), Marcelino Libanan (Eastern Samar), Clavel Martinez (Cebu), Narciso Monfort (Iloilo), Jurdin Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin), Eduardo Veloso (Leyte), Raul del Mar (Cebu), Prospero Amatong (Compostela Valley), Manuel Ortega (La Union), Rodolfo Albano (Isabela) and Abdullah Dimaporo (Lanao del Norte).

Roman, according to Napoles, had a project with the DA-National Agriculture and Fishery Council (NAFC) in 2005 for a CA member.

Napoles claimed that a certain Ruth Allen Ruste and Mayor Payumo collected P1.75-million commission for the late congressman.

Libanan was represented by Catherine Mae “Maya” Santos, who supposedly was his agent in transactions with Napoles.

In the affidavit, Napoles also claimed that Martinez had also served as the agent of Amatong, Del Mar and Ortega.

In 2004, Napoles said Martinez went to her office to collect funds allocated for the CA.

She also claimed that Martinez collected a cash advance of P2 million from her for Monfort, which was taken from the funds of the CA.

Napoles also said Romualdo had a P10-million project with the DA-Regional Field Unit 10 and P5 million with the DA-NAFC and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) sourced from CA funds.

Napoles claimed that Romualdo also asked for a 50 percent rebate and took some of her personal vehicles, including a Ford Expedition with plate number JGN-999 and a Toyota Camry.

Veloso allegedly provided P5 million to the DA-NAFC and P3 million to the DOTC from CA funds.

Napoles also said Dimaporo provided P2.5 million for a DOTC project.

Incomprehensible

Senate President Franklin Drilon, who serves as chairman of the CA, said that while he has not yet read the affidavit of Napoles, he said he could not comprehend how the budget of the CA could have been used for the purposes mentioned by Napoles.

Drilon, who was a long-time chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said that the budget of the CA is not that significant and is just enough to shoulder the salaries of its personnel or what is referred to as maintenance and other operating expenditures (MOOE).

“So I cannot understand that portion. I haven’t read the affidavit but the CA, there is no PDAF, only MOOE and salary,” Drilon said.

He clarified that there is no allocation for individual members of the CA because what is allocated is only for the salaries of the staff.

Drilon added that there are no projects being financed by the CA and that the body is not allowed to realign its budget.

Meanwhile, the allegations made by Napoles in her expanded affidavit against 20 incumbent and former senators were met with denials and condemnation from the lawmakers yesterday.

In her 32-page affidavit submitted last Monday to the Department of Justice and the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, Napoles claimed to have had shady dealings with 120 senators and congressmen beginning in 2000.

Sen. Cynthia Villar denied using her PDAF for a P3.74-million computer acquisition project implemented by the DOTC. She said the 20 computers were given to her constituents. She said she would not have accepted the computers had she known they had come from Napoles.

She also denied Napoles’ claims in her affidavit that her husband former Sen. Manuel Villar received campaign funds from the businesswoman for his presidential bid in 2010. Mrs. Villar said her husband did not accept campaign contributions from donors not known to him.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano also denied dealing with Napoles or profiting from a project implemented by the DOTC using his PDAF. He also denied receiving campaign contributions from Napoles at the Slice Restaurant owned by his senator sister Pia.

“I’d like to absolutely deny that I have any dealings with her even that DOTC project,” he said.

“I categorically deny, in the strongest terms, allegations that I had any dealings with Ms. Napoles or any of her group. I have never dealt with them and have never even heard of their foundations. Above all, I have never received monetary or any form of illegal benefit from my PDAF or its equivalent at any time,” Sen. Loren Legarda, for her part, said. “I have never authorized anyone in my staff or outside of my office to transact with anyone. I never endorsed any NGO to benefit from my PDAF,” she added.

Napoles claimed Legarda’s former chief of staff Maya Santos brought to her three projects amounting to P79 million to be implemented by the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC). Santos reportedly took a P39.5-million rebate for Legarda, representing 50 percent of the total given to Napoles.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also said he had never spoken to or engaged Napoles in any business or personal dealings.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said his mother former senator Loi Ejercito was surprised to find her name in Napoles’ affidavit. He said his mother had never misused her PDAF.

On Napoles’ accusation that former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. had entrusted his PDAF to her – through a certain Mon Arcenas – for a P14-million project for local government units, the former senator said “no one, not Arcenas or anyone else, was my agent in the use or misuse of PDAF.”

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III denied Napoles’ allegation  that his ex-wife Jewel Lobaton took P4 million in cash advance for a P10-million project.

Pimentel’s response: “Of course although separated na kami, I asked her and she denied it. The affidavit is deceptively presented such that all of the sudden, Louie Cruz, who is the friend of Napoles, is now being labeled as my agent,” he said. “So that is really a grand deception, part of strategy to say that she is not the most guilty.”

Sen. Francis Escudero also denied that he met Napoles at a Chinese restaurant at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel where she gave him funds for his presidential bid. 

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, for his part, belied Napoles’ claim that a certain attorney Danny, supposedly his chief of staff, took P3.75 million for one project.

“In his 17 years in office, at the Senate, he has not employed anyone who goes by the name Atty. Danny,” a statement from Honasan read.

Former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said he had never dealt with Napoles even for his project for marginalized farmers in Bohol in 2003.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III, meanwhile, said Napoles’ story does not deserve his attention.

Slow pace

 At the House of Representatives, members of the independent bloc at the House of Representatives assailed the Department of Justice for not doing enough to freeze the assets of Napoles.

“Obviously, if there is a move to freeze her assets, it should be immediately implemented,” Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, leader of the bloc, said.

He cited the earlier promise from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to recover the alleged stolen assets but up to now, no progress has been reported to the public.

“All these delays on how she is being handled started on day one; how she was escorted by Press Secretary (Edwin) Lacierda to the Palace. There is quite something fishy about all these and I would hate to see that there would be a cover up,” he said.

“If you want to come down hard, you will be very strict and spare no quarters. It appears they’ve a take your time attitude,” he added.

Reps. Lito Atienza and Jonathan de la Cruz, also members of the bloc, said the freezing of the assets should have coincided with the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. is again asking the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Office of the Ombudsman from implementing an order rejecting his plea to be furnished copies of 19 counter-affidavits submitted by his co-respondents in a plunder case filed in connection with the pork barrel scams.

In a 38-page petition filed yesterday, Revilla asked the high court through lawyer Joel Bodegon to immediately issue a temporary restraining order on the ombudsman’s ruling issued last May 7. On May 15, the probe panel issued another joint order – even without an appeal from the senator – approving the release of only six of the 19 counter-affidavits being sought. – With Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edu Punay