The Daily Tribune
A peasant group branded as a “triad” the group of President Aquino, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes whom it accused of plundering not only the Malampaya funds but also funds recovered from the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, saying “all pieces of evidence point to the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) Fund 158 as the source of money paid to fake non-government organizations (NGOs).”
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) issued the statement after the DAR and the DBM denied their involvement in the Malampaya fund misuse, saying the funds were released and used in 2009, again putting the blame on the administration of former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo.
The KMP last Tuesday filed a plunder complaint against Aquino, Abad, De los Reyes, alleged P10-billion pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, and 10 others on the alleged misuse of the P125-million Malampaya Funds.
KMP chairman Rafael Mariano said “pieces of evidence point to Fund 158 as source of payments by the DAR to fake NGOs in February and March 2011 under the Aquino administration.”
The peasant group cited evidence involving a DAR check amounting to P10 million, DAR obligation request stamped with FUND 158 – PAID, a DAR disbursement voucher stamped with FUND 158, and DAR certificate of availability of funds also stamped with FUND 158. All of the documents were dated February 24, 2011 and issued to WorkPhil Foundation Inc. as payee amounting to P10 million, and an official receipt issued by WorkPhil Foundation Inc. to the DAR of the same amount dated February 25, 2011.
The KMP explained that Fund 158 was created by Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) Resolution 88-4-2, signed by PARC chairman and then President Corazon Aquino on January 22, 1988, which was the first year anniversary of the Mendiola massacre.
Mariano noted that the PARC Resolution directed the Bureau of Treasury to consolidate the receipts of sale of recovered ill-gotten wealth to Fund 158 stating the “need to consolidate all monies recovered from the sale by the (Presidential Commission on Good Government) PCGG of ill-gotten wealth into Fund 158 of the Bureau of the Treasury intended for use of the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program), for better monitoring and control.”
He said “even the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last October 3, 2013 against former President Arroyo, former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, former Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Napoles, and 20 others, clearly demonstrates that the Malampaya fund was mixed up with the Marcos ill-gotten wealth.”
In page 20 of its complaint, the NBI said “investigation reveals that SAGF 158 of the DAR had available funds prior to the release of the P900 Million from the Malampaya Fund. The same fund under DAR LBP Trust Fund 158 with Account No. 00020-70900-04 was the source of the fund for 32 checks issued on November 26, 2009 and December 3, 2009. The total amount of the checks issued on said dates is P300 million.
“It must be noted that the NCA was issued only on December 21, 2009, or almost a month after the first batch of checks was issued to the NGOs controlled by Napoles. This means that DAR actually advanced P300 million to the Napoles NGOs using funds coming from DAR LBP Trust Fund 158 before the release of the NCA for the DAR Malampaya Fund projects on December 21, 2009,” the complaint further stated.
“This clearly shows that the Malampaya funds were mingled with Fund 158, a fund created for the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. At the time the Aquino government’s DAR released the funds to fake NGOs in February and March 2011, Fund 158 was composed of both the Marcos ill-gotten wealth and the Malampaya Fund,” Mariano said.
“However,” the KMP leader said, “regardless of whether the money came from the Malampaya Fund or not, the fact remains that the P125 million was plundered from Fund 158, the account created for the Marcos ill-gotten wealth, by the Aquino-Abad-Delos Reyes Triad.”
“The Filipino people did not topple the Marcos dictatorship only for Aquino and Abad to plunder the ill-gotten wealth intended for the victims of martial law,” Mariano stressed.
The KMP also lashed out at Abad for saying that the plunder case filed by the peasant group was a product of “hyperactive imagination.”
“As a former DAR secretary, Abad is too familiar of the DAR’s accounts. The plunder of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth and the Malampaya Funds is a product of Abad’s criminal mind,” he said.
“Abad cannot simply get away with plunder. He will pay dearly for rubbing salt to the wounds of martial law victims,” the peasant group warned.
“We are now preparing to file a supplemental complaint to include the plunder of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth by Aquino, Abad, and Delos Reyes,” the KMP said.
A Commission on Audit (CoA) Observation Memorandum dated March 25, 2013 stated that: “In February and March 2011, the DAR entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with WorkPhil Foundation, Samahang Magsasaka sa Kapatagan Foundation, Inc. as implementers of various projects and with the 17 municipal mayors as project beneficiaries with a total of P170 million.”
DAR, however, claimed that none of the Malampaya funds flowed through the agency at any time within the term of the present administration.
DAR spokesman Undersecretary Anthony Paruñgao, however, added that there were indeed fund releases back in late 2010 and early 2011 alleged to have been misused by supposed fake NGOs.
This was covered by an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) issued by the COA in March 2013 but Paruñgao said DAR’s own internal investigation was initiated in 2012, months prior to the issuance of the AOM, and has already been referred to the DOJ.
“This 2010-2011 fund release issue was in fact already in the news late last year,” Paruñgao pointed out. Last October 24, 2013, the DAR issued a press statement reporting its ongoing investigation on the matter.
Initial investigation reports show that the reportedly anomalous funds released in 2010 and 2011 were part of DAR’s 2010 appropriations which was prepared during the term of Arroyo. The funds were released to thirteen NGOs in partnership with LGUs.
Paruñgao pointed out that some of the DAR officials who were part of the 2010-2011 fund releases were also implicated in the 2009 DAR Malampaya Fund scandal.
“As we have mentioned to the press last year, the investigation on the 2010-2011 fund release issue had started as early as July 2012 upon the initiative of the Secretary,” Paruñgao stated.
Paruñgao relayed to the public the Secretary’s assurance that the DAR is committed to get to the bottom of the issue, that it will not hesitate to take other actions once culpability is clearly established, and it will fully cooperate in any and all investigation related to this matter.
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RELATED STORY:
Janet asked to reveal Noy’s ‘involvement’ in Malampaya fund misuse
By Michelle Zoleta
The Philippine Star
The Philippine Star
MANILA, Philippines – The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) yesterday urged alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles to spill the beans on the supposed involvement of President Aquino and other officials in the misuse of Malampaya funds, which were reportedly coursed through her bogus NGOs.
In a statement, Pamalakaya vice chairman Salvador France said the new plunder case filed by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) against the President, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes and other officials over the Malampaya funds misuse should compel Napoles to reveal her dealings with the administration.
“For the sake of truth, justice and transparency, Mrs. Napoles is hereby required by the Filipino people to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Mrs. Napoles, it is time to tell all, bare all,” he added.
France also noted that the Malampaya funds misuse shows that the Aquino administration merely continued the high crimes of corruption of the previous administration in collusion with Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations.
“The KMP plunder cases against Aquino and the rest of the ruling gangland in Malacañang manifest the high involvement of Aquino and company in murderous crimes of plunder of taxpayers’ money, which are more revolting and more devastating compared to the plunder crimes of the past,” he added.
In a 16-page complaint, KMP said Aquino committed plunder when he approved the release of P125 million in Malampaya funds for projects or purposes not in accord with the law. Also included in the complaint are whistle-blower Benhur Luy, former Department of Agrarian Reform undersecretary Narciso Nieto; DAR Undersecretary Jerry Pacturan of the department’s Support Services Office; Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Mario Relampagos; Teresita Reyes; Ashley Baul; Simplicio Gumafelex; John Raymund de Asis; John Lim, and Nemesio Pablo Jr.
DAR and was used in 2009, prior to the transition of administration in mid-2010.
Parungao also stressed that the present DAR administration took the initiative to look into the apparent exploitation of the funds even before it came out in the news.
“After receiving reports that some of the supposed beneficiaries of the Malampaya Fund denied having received any financial assistance or support from the DAR back in 2009, the Office of the Secretary directed its Internal Audit Service on November 2012 to conduct an investigation, which began the following month,” he said.
He said that the DAR then turned over copies of the documents it collected both to the Commission on Audit, which conducted its own special investigation on the matter, and to the National Bureau of Investigation.
“The DAR has shown its readiness and willingness to cooperate in any investigation on the Malampaya fund issue,” Parungao said. “Incidentally, there were fund releases back in 2011. – With Rhodina Villanueva
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