‘No evidence that Bong got money from Janet, but...’

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) does not have any evidence that Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. or his former chief of staff Richard Cambe received money from suspected pork barrel fund scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles.

Assistant Commissioner Susan Garcia, former head of COA’s special audits office, said voluminous documents studied by state auditors revealed irregularities but nothing to prove that Revilla and fellow respondents facing plunder and graft charges pocketed public funds.

COA had conducted an investigation into the pork barrel fund scam and came out with a special report detailing how government funds were misused by the accused.

Garcia was responding to Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada of the Sandiganbayan First Division, who yesterday asked if COA, based on its investigation, had any evidence to show that Revilla and Cambe received any money from Napoles.

Garcia, testifying for the prosecution in a bail hearing, also told the anti-graft court that no document in their possession has the name of Napoles.

Garcia, however, maintained that Revilla and Cambe had allegedly misused the pork barrel funds in choosing non-government organizations (NGOs) identified with Napoles as beneficiaries of the senator’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Napoles was accused of siphoning off the PDAF of lawmakers by putting up fake NGOs while giving them kickbacks or commissions.

Garcia explained Revilla told implementing agencies to allow his identified NGOs to handle the implementation of his pet projects and designating Cambe as his representative.

“What’s your evidence to that statement?” asked Ponferrada, which allowed the COA official to point to Revilla’s supposed endorsement letters identifying Napoles’ NGOs as recipients of his PDAF.

When Ponferrada asked whose names actually appeared in the documents looked into by COA if Napoles’ is not even there, Garcia said Benhur Luy and other names came out as presidents and incorporators of the fake NGOs.

First Division chairman Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz asked Garcia if the memoranda of agreement allegedly entered into by Cambe, the implementing agencies of government, and the Napoles NGOs had Revilla’s signatures, she said no.

Garcia, however, stressed the supposed endorsement letter of Revilla identifying Cambe as his authorized representative showed participation in the irregularity.

Garcia said Revilla himself confirmed the authenticity of his signatures in some 168 documents sent to him for verification during the COA investigation.

Defense lawyer Joel Bodegon said he would have the signatures examined by a handwriting expert.

Bodegon said the defense were denied access to the original documents and were only provided photocopies.

Revilla was escorted by a small group of policemen on his bail hearing at the Sandiganbayan. – Michael Punongbayan, Cecille Suerte Felipe