Ombudsman files raps vs. ex-Davao del Norte solon over ‘pork’ scam

The Office of the Ombudsman has formally filed criminal charges against former Davao del Norte Rep. Arrel Olaño over his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

In separate charge sheets filed with the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday, the Office of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) charged Olaño with three counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, another three counts of malversation of public funds as defined under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and one count of direct bribery under Article 210 of RPC.

The cases stemmed from Olaño’s allocation of a total of P7.72 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel for 2007 to two of the fake non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by Janet Lim-Napoles, the supposed mastermind of the pork scam.

The OSP said Olaño received “personally/and or through an agent” the total of P3.175 million kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for the allocation of his PDAF to the latter’s NGOs.

Aside from Napoles, named as Olaño’s co-accused in the graft and malversation charges were the following:

• Department of Budget and Management (DBM) former undersecretary Mario Relampagos
• DBM former budget and management specialist Rosario Nuñez
• DBM former administrative assistants Marilou Bare and Lalaine Paule 
• Technology Resource Center (TRC) former director general Antonio Ortiz
• TRC former deputy director general Dennis Cunanan
• TRC former group managers Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana and Francisco Figura
• TRC former internal auditor Maurine Dimaranan
• TRC former budget officer Consuelo Lilian Espiritu
• TRC former chief accountant Marivic Jover

Also named as co-respondents in the graft and malversation charges were private individuals Mylene Encarnacion, Evelyn De Leon and Eulogio Rodriguez.

Olaño was the sole accused in the direct bribery case.

Based on the information of the cases, Olaño has recommended the allocation of P8.500-million of his PDAF for 2007 to two of the Napoles-linked foundations, namely, the Countrywide  Agri and Rural Economic Development Foundation Inc. (CARED) and the Philippines Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI).

The OSP, however, said that based on the checks and disbursement vouchers it obtained, only a total of P7.72 million of Olaño’s PDAF was actually released to CARED and PSDFI.

The PDAF allocation was for the supposed implementation of Olaños’ three livelihood projects in the First District of Davao Del Note.

The first disbursement was allegedly made to CARED in January 2007 involving P1.890 million, the second disbursement was allegedly made to PSDFI in February 2007 involving P3.830 million and the third and last disbursement was allegedly made also to PSDFI in October 2007 involving.

The OSP said Olaño had personally chosen and endorsed CARED and PSDFI implement his PDAF-funded projects without the benefit of a public bidding required under the Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

The OSP said the DBM and the Technology Livelihood and Resource Center (TLRC) which was later renamed as TRC, processed the allocation and disbursement of the funds to CARED and PSDFI without verifying first if these NGOs were accredited and qualified to carry out the projects.

“By their above acts, accused public officials allowed Napoles and themselves to take possession and thus misappropriate PDAF-drawn funds, instead of implementing the PDAF-funded projects which turned out to be non-existent,” the case information read.

As for Napoles and the other private respondents, the OSP said they “participated in the preparation and signing of the acceptance and delivery reports, disbursement reports, project proposals and other liquidation documents to conceal the fictitious nature of the transactions.”

The OSP recommended P30,000 bail bond for each count of graft charge, P40,000 bail bond for each count of the malversation charge and P20,000 bail bond for the direct bribery charge. — RSJ, GMA News