A "must" read, friends. See you tomorrow at "EDSA Tayo". DBM releases pork sans solons’ OK to fake NGOs Written by Angie M. Rosales and Charlie V. Manalo Tuesday, 10 September 2013 08:00 font size decrease font size increase font size Print Be the first to comment! From all accounts, it is the Department of Budget and Management releasing the legislators’ Priority Development Assist-ance Funds (PDAF) without their know-ledge and consent to various agencies of the executive department and funneled to the bogus non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the case of Sen. Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos, at least his one-half year-long pork barrel appropriation, or some P100 million was said to have been downloaded by the state-owned National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), all of which ended up in the hands of bogus non-NGOs, using falsified documents. It has been testified to by some agency heads that whatever documents allegedly from senators have been submited personally by the so-called whistle-blower, Ben Hur Luy and other so-called whistleblowers under the custody of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and her National Bureau of Investigation. In much the same way, with the congressional probers on the alleged pork barrel scam zeroing in on the legislators’ supposed participation on the multibillion- peso rip-off, recent developments seem seem to point out to the operation of a well-organized syndicate operating in the very premises of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in connivance with certain officials of the implementing agencies and their cohorts masquerading as non-government organization (NGO) representatives, preying on the unsuspecting lawmakers. This was discovered after a source provided a select group of reporters a copy of former Camarines Sur Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella’s special allotment release order (SARO) involving P5 million of his priority development assistance fund (PDAF) which had expired December last year, but the DBM managed to release Fuentebella’s PDAF’s corresponding notice of cash allocation (NCA) in January this year, weeks after the expiration of the said SARO. In the case of Marcos, the senator’s signature as well as that of his office chief of staff, Ramon Cardenas, appearing in the memorandums of agreement (MoA) they had supposedly entered into in “endorsing” the grant of Marcos’ priority development assistance fund (PDAF) last year, have been “forged.” Marcos yesterday categorically denied any involvement in the so-called pork barrel scam, saying that records of his office will bear him out that no such “transaction” had transpired. The senator himself discovered this after he had ordered a review and an investigation into the supposed fund releases to NLDC, reported to have been used as a conduit for an estimated P1 billion worth of pork barrel funds of five senators and eight congressmen that was allegedly received by NGOs controlled by the alleged brains of the scam, Janet Lim Napoles. This was after his office received last Wednesday, Sept. 3, a letter from CoA supervising auditor Magno Oasan inquiring about the authenticity of the supposed various papers on his funds said to have been released by NLDC, an agency under the management of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) that supposedly is the lending source of poor farmers in remote areas. In his reply letter to Oasan, Marcos pointed out that his signature was falsified and that he never authorized his chief of staff, Cardenas, to deal with the NLDC on his behalf. “When this scandal broke out, I purposely kept quiet — even when my name was constantly being dragged into this controversy. Instead, I instructed my office to conduct an investigation because I wanted to be very sure about what I would say since I didn’t want to misinform nor mislead the public,” he said. Marcos added, “conducting our internal investigation was not an easy task, especially since we were never given any documents regarding the transactions my office was allegedly involved in. Fortunately, when we received the CoA letter asking us for confirmation, we were able to make some sense of what was going on.” Based on their internal investigation, the documents in the possession of CoA, that included the NLDC endorsement letter letter Mar. 16, 2012 showing the senator’s had beem falsified and such letter does not appear in the “docket system” which was implemented in Marcos’ office beginning January 2011. The purported MoAs to the four NGOs that bore Marcos’ and Cardenas’ signatures “are of dubious origin because they were allegedly notarized by a certain ‘Atty. Antonio M. Santos’ in Makati City.” A check by Marcos’ office to the office of the Clerk of Court in Makati City, “Atty. Antonio M. Santos” was not commissioned by the Regional Trial Court of Makati City as notary public for the years covering 2011 – 2013 and per the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the IBP lifetime number of the said notary public belongs to another individual. The above findings, among others, were included in an investigative report which Marcos’ office transmitted to CoA yesterday in the hope that it could aid the agency with its audit. “In my nine years as a legislator, both as a congressman and now as a senator, I have steered clear of any controversy. I have always exerted due diligence to ensure that every centavo for my projects is being ised well and that these would be of benefit to the Filipino peoplem” he explained. Further investigations regarding this issue are ongoing and they will continue until the truth is ferreted out. News reports regarding the NLDC attributed some P75 million as supposedly infused by the senator using his pork barrel to fund some agriculture-relate projects in 2012. In this latest turn of events, Marcos is seen to have managed to beat the move of the blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, in hearing the same allegations from the so-called whistleblowers on Thursday, when the probe on the alleged pork barrel scam resumes at 10 in the morning. Guingona sent out yesterday letter-invitations addressed to Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Leila de Lima as well as those “whistleblowers” currently under the custody of the agency and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). No specific names were indicated in the letter-invitation addressed to the whistleblowers that was coursed through the DoJ chief. “In this connection, may we request your presence during said hearing and bring with you all documents relevant to your testimony,” Guingona said in his letter to so-called “Mr. and Ms. Whistleblowers.” Last week, former deputy speaker Fuentebella revealed that the DBM, in 2011, released a SARO involving his PDAF supposedly intended for the implementation of High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) to the Department of Agriculture without his knowledge.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:36:45 +0000
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