Napoles, others get 10 years over PDAF scam

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has sentenced detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, her former employee Evelyn de Leon and two officials of an abolished state firm to up 10 years in prison for graft in connection with the alleged misuse of P1.17 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel of then party-list representative, now Sen. Joel Villanueva in 2008.

In a 111-page decision promulgated on June 5, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division found Napoles, De Leon, as well as Dennis Cunanan and Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, deputy director-general and group manager, respectively, of the defunct state-owned firm Technology Resource Center (TRC), guilty of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

They were sentenced to six up to 10 years of imprisonment and were ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The Seventh Division, however, found no civil liability on the part of De Leon, Cunanan and Lacsamana and instead, solely ordered Napoles to return to the government a total of P1.17 million, equivalent to the amount of public funds proven to have been illegally disbursed.

The court, on the other hand, acquitted Napoles, De Leon, Cunanan and Lacsamana of malversation of public funds as well as of the complex crime of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents “for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

Meanwhile, the cases against four other accused – TRC director-general Antonio Ortiz and private individuals Noel Macha, Ronald John Lim and Wilberto de Guzman – were ordered temporarily archived as they remain at large. The court said this was without prejudice to the cases’ revival upon their arrest or surrender.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2022, the cases stemmed from the alleged misuse of P1.17 million out of the P1.3 million in PDAF of Villanueva in 2008 when he was still a representative of the Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption.

The ombudsman said the TRC officials awarded to Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI), a non-government organization (NGO) allegedly owned by Napoles, the agricultural livelihood project of Villanueva, without the benefit of public bidding.

Furthermore, the ombudsman said the TRC officials awarded the project to MAMFI in exchange for kickbacks from Napoles, without reviewing the NGO’s qualifications and capacity to carry out the project.

The ombudsman said the project was never implemented but the TRC officials, in conspiracy with Napoles and officials of MAMFI, falsified several supporting documents such as accomplishment reports, delivery receipts and acceptance reports and list of recipients of the project, among others.

Villanueva was not charged in the cases.

In convicting Napoles, De Leon, Cunanan and Lacsamana, the Seventh Division said the totality of the evidence presented by the ombudsman’s prosecution panel was able to sufficiently establish their conspiracy to defraud the government and give unwarranted benefit to MAMFI.

“Without doubt, the concerted acts of accused Cunanan, Lacsamana, Napoles and De Leon caused undue injury to the Philippine government and at the same time, extended unwarranted benefits to MAMFI, an NGO created by accused Napoles herself and/or upon her instruction,” the Seventh Division’s decision read.

“In these cases, it was established that not even a single centavo of the total amount of P1,170,000.00 under the two SAROs (Special Allotment Release Orders) made its way to any legitimate government project, as intended. This amount is the undue injury caused to the government by the accused,” it added.

De Leon, Cunanan and Lacsamana are currently out on bail while Napoles is detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City following her conviction of plunder in December 2018 in connection with the misuse of P517 million in PDAF of outgoing Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.