PNoy ally, customs chief Biazon among 34 names in new pork case

By MARK MERUEÑAS
GMA News

(Updated 11:40 p.m.) Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said Friday that although he has yet to see documents on graft complaints filed against him and 33 others over the alleged misuse of “pork barrel” funds, he is ready to face the charges.

“I welcome the opportunity to clarify and answer the accusations whether before the National Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman or the courts,” he said on his personal website.

He said he had “always exercised prudence and fidelity” while congressman for Muntinlupa City and that he pursued projects that benefitted his constituents.

“But as we have seen in some instances, the processes involved have been vulnerable to abuse by certain parties,” he said.

Biazon, Muntinlupa representative from 2001 to 2010 and a party-mate of President Benigno Aquino, was the most surprising name among the 34 individuals comprising the second batch of criminal complaints, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima at a press briefing on Friday morning.

BOC chief Ruffy Biazon

Among the 34 respondents in the malversation, direct bribery and graft and corrupt practices complaints are seven former congressmen, three heads of implementing agencies, two presidents of non-government organizations linked to trader Janet Lim-Napoles, as well as seven other officials and employees of implementing agencies. Also to be charged are 12 state auditors.

Napoles, already a respondent in the first pork barrel scam-related complaint, was once again slapped with a complaint for malversation, bribery, graft and corrupt practices, and corruption of public officials.

Aside from Biazon, who allegedly earned a kickback of P1.95 million, the other former lawmakers in the new complaints are:

1. Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur (P9.3 million)
2. Salacnib Baterina of Ilocos Sur (P7.5 million)
3. Marc Douglas Cagas IV of Davao del Norte (P5.54 million)
4. Arrel Olano of Davao del Norte (P3.175 million)
5. Arthur Pingoy Jr of South Cotabato.(P7.055 million)
6. Rodolfo Valencia of Oriental Mindoro (P2.4 million)

Also included in the complaints filed Friday afternoon before the Office of the Ombudsman were individuals who acted as “representatives or agents” of the seven former lawmakers:

1. Zenaida Cruz-Ducut (former congressman of Pampanga and incumbent chairperson of the Energy Regulatory Commission)
2. Celia Cuasay, representative of ex-Rep. Valencia

The heads of agencies charged with malversation, bribery and graft and corrupt practices are:

1. Alan Javellana, former president of the National Agribusiness Corp (Nabcor)
2. Antonio Ortiz, former director general, Technology Resource Center (TRC)
3. Dennis Cunanan – former deputy director general (now director general), TRC

Javellana, Ortiz, and Cunanan are also respondents in the first pork barrel scam-related complaint.

Heads of Napoles’ NGOs were likewise included in the complaints for charges of corruption of public officials. They are:

1. Mylene Encarnacion of the Countryside Agri and Rural Economic and Development Foundation Inc (CARED)
2. Evelyn de Leon of the Philippine Social Development Foundation, Inc. (PSDFI)

Meanwhile, the implementing agency officials and employees charged with malversation, bribery, and corrupt practices are the following:

1. Victor Cacal, NABCOR
2. Romulo Revelo, NABCOR
3. Ma. Ninez Guanizo, NABCOR
4. Ma. Julie Villaralvo-Johnson, NABCOR
5. Rhodora Mendoza, NABCOR
6. Francisco Figura, TRC
7. Marivic Jover, TRC

The resident COA auditors named as respondents are:

1. Annie Recabo, state auditor IV, team leader
2. Rebecca Aquino, state auditor III, member
3. Bella Tesorero, state auditor II, member
4. Susan Guardian, state auditor II, member
5. Elizabeth Savella, state auditor IV, team leader
6. Merle Valentin, state auditor IV, team leader
7. Diana Casado, state auditor III, member
8. Aida Villania, state auditor II, member
9. Laarni Lyn Torres, state auditor I, member
10. Herminia Aquino, state auditor V, supervising auditor
11. Jerry Calayan, state auditor IV, team leader
12. Sylvia Montes, state auditor V, supervising auditor

Not politically motivated

Like in the first batch of charges filed in September, De Lima said the filing of the new set of criminal charges was not politically motivated.

“Hindi nagiging criterion ang political affiliation. Nalalaman na lang namin ang affiliation kapag kumpleto na ang ebidensya,” she said.

Asked why no senators were included in the fresh charges this time, De Lima said no Senate members this time qualified in the four “standards” investigators used in determining who to be charged, namely:

- those who used Napoles non-government organizations
- those who used the Priority Development Assistance Fund
- those who have knowledge of the scam and the whistleblowers
- supporting documents from the COA

De Lima maintained the government’s position that all the respondents are considered “co-conspirators with varying degrees of participation.”

“These (complaints) covered 2007 to 2009 kasi ito ang covered ng COA (Commission on Audit) kaya mas madali kami nakakuha ng dokumento,” she said.

The National Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the alleged scam and was a co-complainant along with Levito Baligod, legal counsel for the whistleblowers, said the implicated lawmakers coursed their pork barrel, or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) through the Napoles NGOs using either the TRC or the NABCOR as implementing agencies.

The NBI said the lawmakers received their kickbacks from Napoles through Cruz-Ducut. Investigators said Pingoy’s kickback was deposited in the Metrobank account of Ducut in San Fernando, Pampanga.

“The lawmakers took advantage and abused their official position and authority as congressmen of the Republic, thereby unjustly enriching themselves at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the people and the Republic,” the NBI said in its executive summary.

“The act constituting the offenses were performed willfully, deliberately, and maliciously with the legislators knowing fully well that their act of receiving the large amounts of cash from Napoles for their private use resulted in the corresponding diminution of the funds actually expended for the public purpose intended by law,” it added.

During the press briefing, De Lima said there was a “possibility” that the government would issue a lookout bulletin order and once again ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel the passports of the respondents in the second batch, just like what the Department of Justice did in the first batch of implicated people.

Palace defers commenting

Malacañang, for its part, deferred from commenting on the filing of charges.

“I would not have any comment on that for the moment. My instructions are to defer until such time that I have been able to discuss this with the President,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said during a press briefing on Friday.

But the Palace official, quoting Aquino, said that “you go where the evidence takes you.”

“We have always said that there is no partiality. I think that has been repeated, not just by the President, but by the investigators themselves, by the Secretary of Justice. And, you know, people will interpret things according to how they see it but these are the facts,” she said.

Asked whether they are disappointed that no senators were included in the second batch of those who will be charged, she said they leave the matter with the DOJ and the Office of the Ombudsman.

“There is a process that we have to follow. And, while we in the Executive understand the import of these cases, I would assume that the Ombudsman also would not want to be peppered with allegations of ni-railroad… There is a process that has to be followed and, of course, we should allow time for that,” she said.

Why the delay?

Explaining why the filing of the second batch got delayed, De Lima said: “Nung una gusto namin i-cover maski ‘di covered ng 2007 at 2009 so therefore may dagdag sa pitong former congressmen na ito pero nahihirapan kumuha ng dokumento outside 2007 and 2009.”

De Lima said there were supposed to be 11 former congressmen to be charged in the second batch, but the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) trimmed it down to seven because four of the lawmakers have already passed away.

“It’s not gonna be fair (to name them) because they are no longer around to defend themselves,” she said.

Earlier reports quoted Baligod, legal counsel for whistleblowers in the fund scam, as revealing former congressmen Pingoy of South Cotabato, Maite Defensor of Quezon City, Cagas of Davao del Sur and Isidoro Real of Zamboanga del Sur as being charged with malversation.

De Lima, frustrated over the supposed “leak,” refused to confirm at that time if the former lawmakers were indeed among the respondents.

The complaints were filed in connection with the supposed diversion of money from the PDAF to spurious projects supposedly implemented by NGOs linked to Napoles.

Government officials allegedly ended up splitting the money with Napoles.

The new string of complaints came more than two months after the first batch of PDAF-related criminal charges were lodged against 38 individuals, including Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr, and Jinggoy Estrada, as well as alleged fund scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The four were charged with plunder, along with incumbent Masbate Governor Rizalina Seachon-Lanete (P108.4 million), a former lawmaker, and former APEC party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez (P56.09 million).

Meanwhile, three former congressmen were charged with malversation, direct bribery, and other graft and corrupt practices:

- former Rep. Rodolfo Plaza (P42.1 million)
- former Rep. Samuel Dangwa (P26.77 million)
- former Rep. Constantino Jaraula (P20.84 million)

The following staff members of the lawmakers are also facing charges:
- Atty. Jessica Reyes – Enrile’s former chief of staff
- Atty. Richard Cambe – Revilla’s staff
- Ruby Tuason – representative of Enrile and Estrada
- Pauline Labayen – Estrada’s staff
- Jose Sumalpong – chief of staff of Lanete
- Jeanette Dela Cruz – district staff of Lanete
- Erwin Dangwa – chief of staff of Dangwa
- Carlos Lozada – Dangwa’s staff

Also named respondents were a number of officials and personnel and various government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government agencies, as well as officials of Napoles’ non-government organizations.

As requested by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the Court of Appeals in August ordered that the accounts of Napoles, her family, relatives, employees, and her non-government organizations be frozen.

The CA would also later freeze the accounts of former congresmen Valdez, Plaza, Dangwa, and Jaraula, as well as those of the implicated staff of Enrile, Estrada, and Revilla.

On top of the PDAF-related complaints, the government has likewise lodged with the Ombudsman separate plunder charges against Napoles, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 20 others over the P900-million Malampaya gas fund mess. — with a report from Kimberly Jane Tan/KG/HS/KBK/JDS/ELR, GMA News

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