15 senators: Why they were mentioned in COA report

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan said only 12 senators gave portions of their pork barrel to questionable non-government organizations (NGOs), but the 135-page special audit report mentioned 15 linked to the misuse of public funds or at least funded hard or soft projects that ended up being misused. 

Former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile was mentioned five times – for receiving excessive pork in 2008 and 2009 in the amount of P347.5 million, for having signatures though he denied their authenticity in documents submitted by NGOs; for requesting transfer of his pork to the same NGOs; for funding projects later found to be deficient or poorly constructed, and for providing financial assistance to local government units (LGUs) where the transactions violated the procurement law and were supported by questionable documents. 

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was mentioned for receiving excessive PDAF in 2008 and 2009 of some P401 million and requesting the transfer of his PDAF funds to the same NGO at least three times, in the amounts of P204.6 million, P90.4 million, and P172.1 million. 

Sen. Bong Revilla reportedly received excessive PDAF in 2008 and 2009 of P269 million and requested transfer of his PDAF funds to the same NGO at least three times in the amounts of P130.2 million, P118.3 million and P106.4 million.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan reportedly funded transactions violating the procurement law and projects not covered by the PDAF and requested the Department of Agriculture to give his pork to a congressman. 

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago reportedly exceeded her PDAF allocation by P26.5 million in 2008, allocated P14.7 million of her PDAF to fund a deficient or poorly constructed project in Tarlac and provided financial aid to LGUs in Tarlac and Taguig in the values of P37.2 million and P17.3 million, respectively, where the transactions arising from the same had procurement law violations and were supported by questionable documents. 

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano reportedly provided financial assistance to Taguig worth P2.6 million.

Sen. Lito Lapid, former senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Francisco Pangilinan and Ramon Magsaysay Jr. provided financial assistance to LGUs in the amounts of P5 million, P1 million, P11 million and P1.6 million, respectively.

Lapid’s PDAF also exceeded allocation by P13.6 million in 2008. 

Former senator Edgardo Angara was mentioned for allocating P14.4 million to an NGO called Kalusugan ng Bata, Karunungan ng Bayan Inc. where he or a relative was an incorporator. 

Former senator Rodolfo Biazon reportedly allocated his pork to purchase P5 million worth of granular fertilizers without a public bidding because the contract was awarded to a supposed exclusive distributor, which COA said was not in compliance with the procurement law, and for writing the DA for the transfer of his PDAF to one Redentor Gatus in Pampanga for implementation of his priority projects. 

Former senator Manuel Villar allocated his PDAF to fund what ended up as deficient or poorly constructed projects in Las Piñas worth P4.1 million and for funding financial assistance to Las Piñas worth P66.1 million, which resulted in transactions in violation of the procurement law and supported by questionable documents. 

Former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri reportedly provided financial aid to Iriga City worth P9 million and P1.6 million to Manila. Former senator Juan Flavier was said to have given P900,000 to Taguig.