MANILA, Philippines - Former officials of two Department of Agriculture subsidiaries admitted being duped by dubious non-government organizations (NGOs) that were revealed by the Commission on Audit (COA) report on alleged pork barrel irregularities from 2007 to 2009.
During the resumption of the Senate probe into the alleged pork barrel scam on Thursday, former Zamboanga Rubber Estate Corp. (ZREC) head Salvador Salacup said the agency has to file cases against the dubious NGOs that received lawmakers' funds through ZREC.
"The current management of ZREC will have to concur with the directions the COA is leading to," Salacup told the Senate Blue committee on Thursday.
According to the COA, 82 NGOs received the PDAF of nearly 200 lawmakers from 2007 to 2009. Several of these organizations were dubious and linked to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
Most of the PDAF that went to the Napoles-linked NGOs funded livelihood projects that were supposed to be implemented by the government agencies that include ZREC and the National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR).
Former NABCOR head Allan Javellana said he was surprised to know that the NGOs that they dealt with years ago are actually questionable.
"I was really shocked and surprised finding all these things in the newspapers... Siguro naloko rin kami," Javellana said.
Asked again by senators, Salacup also said: "Yes, naloko po (kami)."
"Yes sir, I feel na naloko rin kami," Javellana agreed.
"Naloko na," Blue committee chair Senator TG Guingona then said in jest after the answers of the two officials.
During Thursday's hearing, former NABCOR vice president for administration and finance Rhodora Mendoza confirmed that one of the questionable NGOs -- the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundations -- was endorsed to them by three senators.
They were identified by Mendoza as Senators Bong Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, and Juan Ponce Enrile.
Related story: 'Revilla, Estrada, Enrile endorsed Napoles-linked NGO'