COA: Pork barrel anomaly bigger than P10 B

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MANILA, Philippines - Both administration and opposition senators and congressmen gave pork barrel funds to questionable non-government organizations (NGOs) in an amount far bigger than P10 billion from 2007 to 2009, the Commission on Audit (COA) bared yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with The STAR, COA Chairperson Ma. Grace Pulido-Tan said the audit report on the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) of lawmakers that would be released next week will identify more legislators and more questionable NGOs that received government money.

“Whoever will be hit will be hit, what can we do,” she said, noting she does not play politics and that the list of lawmakers who gave away their PDAF to shady groups include even those from the administration party who are not being mentioned in the P10-billion scam recently exposed by whistleblower Benhur Luy.

“I think the P10 billion being mentioned is over a period of 10 years. Our PDAF report is only for a period of three years, 2007 to 2009, and more than P10 billion, definitely,” she said.

Tan said the report is still being finalized and hopefully it will be released next week.

She noted that the NGOs mentioned in recent news reports are also in the audit report, along with many other NGOs.

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She stressed, however, that Luy’s expose had nothing to do with COA’s investigation since the probe was started in 2010 when Reynaldo Villar was still COA chairman.

Luy had told the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that his distant relative and former employer, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, owner of JLN Corp., is the head of the racket that allegedly skimmed about P10 billion from the pork barrel fund of several senators and congressmen.

The businesswoman has been linked to an alleged scam involving the diversion of pork barrel funds of several lawmakers into dummy NGOs purportedly for ghost projects worth over P10 billion.

Napoles has denied any wrongdoing. She even claimed that she did not deal with any of the five senators and several House members whose names have been dragged into the alleged P10-billion PDAF scam.

Tan, opting not to use the word bogus, said the NGOs involved in the PDAF anomaly are questionable because either they were found to be legally nonexistent or the groups had already closed.

Some of the groups’ incorporation papers or permits to operate could not be found, nor could they be located at their listed addresses.

She explained that when she was appointed to COA, they continued the investigation already being conducted and saw a pattern, which is why the audit was intensified.

“On top of that special audit, which is really a nationwide audit, we also started looking at the individual agencies that were often linked to the modus operandi,” she said.

Tan said the PDAF audit investigation covered three big agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Agriculture (DA) and four agriculture-related government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

The audit even covered several local governments units (LGUs) like five cities in Metro Manila and several others from the provinces.

Tan said the audit and its results that she personally supervised, reviewed, and edited, go beyond politics and political parties.

“This is a very sensitive issue, many names were implicated, so we want to proceed very cautiously because we would like to avoid anyone being unfairly treated,” Tan said.

According to her, COA’s findings recommended full investigations by the concerned agencies and copies would be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for proper action.

Tan said the manner by which the PDAF was released to questionable NGOs is much like how ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp. (ZREC), an attached agency of the DA, released P194.97 million to Pangkabuhayan Foundation Inc. (PFI) in 2009 and 2010.

A COA report on the agency revealed that the money came from the PDAF of former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. and Buhay party-list Rep. Rene Velarde for the implementation of livelihood projects.

Sen. Gringo Honasan, former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, and former Oriental Mindoro Rep. Alfonso Umali Jr. also gave more than P30.1 million of their pork barrel allocations to two questionable foundations in 2011 for supposed agriculture projects, a separate COA report later bared.

The PDAF releases were coursed through the National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), a GOCC acting as the corporate arm of the DA, to Sagip-Buhay People Support Foundation Inc. (SBPSFI) and Kaagapay Magpakailanman Foundation Inc. (KMFI).

COA said public funds released to the PFI should be refunded after it found evidence of fabricated documents and forged signatures in the liquidation report submitted by PFI.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. suggested yesterday that lawmakers be prohibited from spending their pork barrel funds beyond their respective congressional districts to minimize corruption.

Belmonte issued the statement as the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman are separately investigating the alleged P10-billion scam involving the use of the PDAF of senators and congressmen through bogus NGOs.

He said spending the congressman’s PDAF in his or her district would make it easier for agencies and their constituents themselves to keep track of disbursements.

Each senator has P200 million a year in PDAF while each member of the House of Representatives receives P70 million.

“It’s still possible for a person to use the PDAF outside his district as long as there is consent from the congressman of that district. Personally, I would like that the PDAF be used in your own district only,” Belmonte told reporters.

He said he would discuss his proposal with Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who is expected to submit to the House the proposed national budget for 2014 soon.

credit to source

[Prime™]

10 years? No wonder. Eh alam naman natin kung sino ang naka upo noon. The great enabler.

Anyway It's best to get these guys, pero sa totoo lang whenever I see this sa news, wala na masyadong effect. Wala na yung wow and shock factor na gustong iparamdam sakin ng media. I'm so disappointed and disensitized na siguro sa mga nanyayayari dito nawawalan na ako ng gana.

This is the problem ng Pinas. Madaming gustong tumulong and may magandang intention, pero kung ganito ng ganito ang nahahalal eh nakaka walang gana.

This whole thing is a scam, a fraud, their favorite word sarsuela. This will blow over and the whole thing will keep on happening. It will never change. Not unless one day mag quantum leap ang lahat ng pinoy mentally at hindi na tanggapin itong mga ganitong klase ng pamamahala.

I'm not a Noy-Noy fan, I think he is overhyped and have much to prove. Pero this guy is far better than what we've had last time. That's how bad the last one is. Anyone doing their job even half assed is so much better than the last one. The last one made a mockery of a whole country. If we have someone like that nanaman, which is hindi malayo dahil iisa lang naman ang bituka ng karamihan jan sa mga yan, what then?

The last president though incredibly dirty and corrupt as her administration may be, cannot possibly do it alone. Below the head is a full functioning body to carry out all this crap. Every presidential election, ulo lang ang napapalitan, and kadalasan galing pa doon sa katawan na saksakan ng corrupt at dumi. What changes can you expect?
That whole functioning body is still there, still the body, and still functioning!

Mahirap na nga, nanakawan ka pa. Nakakatawang nakakabwisit hindi ba? May mga batang tumatawid ng ilang ilog at gubat para lang makapasok sa escuela, why? Walang pondo. San naron? Ask your goddamned leaders. Calling them leaders makes me sick to my stomach. A great insult to the ones deserving of the term, but alas this is how things are in this country. Everything for show, pakitang gilas and bullshit marathons and lip service to the highest and lowest of degrees.

Things like this will keep on happening. This is the sad part. Ewan ko ba kung ingrained dito yan oh kung ano, pero one thing I can say eh nakakasuka na. Pwe. 

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nice insight sir prime... kung iisipin nga natin ang mga pangyayari, hindi na naubos ang ganitong anomalya, at kahit katakot takot na ingay ang ginagawa ng medyo, yung mga nakaupo sa pwesto.. They will just deny it at ganun lang, parang walang nangyari.

I can't really see a solution to this problem kasi cancer na ito, though mabawasan pero mayroon pa ring lalabas na bad seed...minimizing it will still take a lot of years....i hate to admit it but its becoming a hopeless case.
+karma sa iyo sir prime