“My town got nothing from Malampaya fund”

JAGNA, BOHOL, Philippines -- Former Mayor Exuperio "Exam" Lloren the other day issued a statement denying that this bustling port town, during his administration, received P5 million from the Malampaya special fund, as reported by the Commission on Audit.

Lloren, in an exclusive interview with The Freeman last Friday night, reacted to the COA report mentioning his town as one of five in Bohol as recipients of Malampaya Fund via non-government organizations.

COA reported that the towns of Jagna, Garcia-Hernandez, Pilar, Loboc and Maribojoc received P5 million each of the Malampaya special fund.

The money was reportedly released on January 26, 2010 through NGOs, namely, "Kaupdanan" for Garcia-Hernandez town, "Micro-Agri" for Pilar and "Ginto" for Loboc, COA said.

Then on May 18, 2010, Jagna allegedly got its share of the fund via "Micro-Agri" and Maribojoc's allegedly from "Bukirin Tanglaw."

These NGOs were allegedly created by Janet Lim Napoles, who was the suspected mastermind of the pork barrel fund scam, which siphoned off the fund to various bogus organizations, which the COA however did not indicate their location and officers.

The COA report said the funds were sourced out from the "Malampaya Fund to JLN Foundations" allegedly owned and managed by Napoles, from November 2009 to May 2010.

Malampaya oil funds, amounting to P900 million managed by the Office of the President under the watch of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, were proceeds of the oil mine off Palawan, reports said.

Lloren, who served as mayor for three straight terms until 2010, said he checked with local office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), of which the fund was allegedly coursed through.

He said the DAR denied having any knowledge of such money, prompting him to declared that COA, before publishing such report, should have double-checked first and get the side of the LGUs concerned to avoid embarrassment and damages. 

Earlier on, Maribojoc town Mayor Leoncio Evasco also denied having received such amount from Malampaya, saying that he did not even know about it. He added that, for as long as he is still the mayor, he would not allow his town to receive bogus funds from questionable sources.

Former Mayor Leon Calipusan of Loboc, for his part, said in a text message to The Freeman that he had no knowledge about the fund in any way. (FREEMAN)