Ex-Napocor president in plunder raps

Plunder charges were filed with the Ombudsman over the weekend against former National Power Corp. (Napocor) president Jesus Alcordo for allegedly bribing congressmen a total of P470 million to pass the Electric Power Industry Act last May.

Employee watchdog group Crusaders Against Graft and Corruption in Napocor (CAGCN) filed the complaint against Alcordo and Napocor corporate secretary Alberto Pangcog, who also faces charges of falsification, graft and malversation.

The group recognized that Alcordo can no longer be sanctioned administratively since he has already resigned "for health reasons," but the group asked Ombudsman Aniano Desierto to preventively suspend Pangcog.

In their graft charge, CAGCN lawyer Cesar Jimenea said a disbursement voucher for P470 million was released by Napocor without the benefit of approval by its board of directors.

The funds were released four days after Congress’ special session on May 28 and allegedly used to fund electrification projects in congressional districts under the "O Ilaw" program of jailed former President Joseph Estrada.

Under the "O Ilaw" program, the National Electrification Administration (NEA), after proper evaluation, can ask Napocor to reimburse the costs of finished countryside electrification projects.

The complainants claimed there were 149 pending congressional requests for rural electrification under the program.

Records show that on May 31 the P470 million was remitted to the NEA account at the Development Bank of the Philippines’ Commonwealth Ave. branch in Quezon City, Jimenea said.

"The disbursement voucher for the remittance of (Napocor) Electrification Fund for the projects as well as the chilling circumstances in the processing and approval of the remittance to the NEA are self-evident of a conspiracy of plunder," Jimenea said.

"The lightning speed in the processing of the transaction involving a gargantuan amount in a period of four days is highly incredible as it is dubious. The fact that it was remitted to another agency didn’t make it licit because the payment was illegal," the lawyer added.

The CAGCN claimed Alcordo and Pangcog are equally liable because the voucher, which included a certificate signed by Pangcog, appeared to have been "made, prepared and submitted upon the request of Alcordo."

Worse, the complainants alleged the disbursement voucher "was personally hand-carried by Pangcog to the various residences of Napocor officials, including some (CAGCN) members, to solicit their initials."

"They were reportedly hounded in their homes by Pangcog who made them sign the documents under duress," the group said in a press statement.

DOF, oil firm officials face P131-M plunder case

Meanwhile, three former officials of the Department of Finance (DOF), two Petron and Shell executives and six businessmen are now facing plunder charges for their allegedly fraudulent use of 40 tax credit certificates worth P131.2 million from 1994 to 1997.

Charged were former Finance Undersecretary Antonio Belicena, former executive director Federico Andutan, tax specialist Rowena Malonzo, Pilipinas Shell taxation general manager Pacifico Cruz and Petron general manager Celso Legarda.

Six officials of Diamond Knitting Corp., which closed in February 1993, were also charged. They were Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe, Catalina Bautista, Winston Cingkow, Amante Res and Reynato Andaya.

Presidential Task Force 156 (TF 156), created by President Estrada to investigate the tax credit scam, conducted the probe and filed the charges.

The task force said the respondents are liable for plunder because Belicena signed the tax credit certificates while his deputies facilitated its processing. Diamond Knitting also made it appear that it was buying petroleum products from Petron and Shell.

"It was impossible for these oil companies to have made deliveries to Diamond for the simple reason that it did not have any operations and therefore, had no use for petroleum products," TF 156 said in a press statement.

TF 156 probers also stressed that the "purported trade relationship between Diamond and the oil companies was similarly non-existent. The deeds of assignment were executed to make it appear that Shell and Petron were suppliers," the task force said.

The complaint was signed by TF 156 head DOF Undersecretary Cornelio Gison, with the signatures of deputy executive director Ernesto Hiansen, senior state prosecutor Pamela Lazatin-Escobar and National Bureau of Investigation anti-graft chief Jose Justo Yap.

Diamond claimed it received 26,388,520 liters of oil from both Shell and Petron over a period of 40 months, which translates to an average delivery of 659,713 liters every month – a claim TF 156 found preposterous.

"It was impossible for Diamond to receive monthly deliveries of this quantity for the simple reason that it did not have the facility to store, or capacity to consume this volume of oil during the same period," they said.

The Chingkoe Group of Companies, allegedly using 12 "fictitious" textile and garment firms, received 604 spurious tax credit certificates resulting in revenue loss of some P2.5 billion for the government.

Nine other companies, according to Desierto, received 444 fake tax credit certificates, increasing government losses to P3.6 billion.

The Ombudsman filed charges against the DOF officials and oil firm executives but was dismissed by the Sandiganbayan in August for the government’s "failure to prosecute."