The pork 'modus operandi,' according to NBI

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation already has an idea of how businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the lawmakers and other players chop up millions of pesos worth of pork barrel funds.

"The scheme starts with an agreement between Napoles and the lawmaker where the latter promises to designate Napoles' (non-government organizations) as the recipient of his PDAF..." the NBI said in its executive summary of the complaints of plunder and malversation of public funds against the businesswoman and the lawmakers.

It said, under the executive summary's "modus operandi" topic, that there is already an agreement that the senator or congressman would get 40 to 60 percent of the cash value of the project as "kickback."

The scheme starts with the lawmaker submitting a list of projects to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which will release the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) and send it to the lawmaker.

The NBI said the lawmaker would then endorse a selected NGO of Napoles to the implementing agency, whose officials would immediately accept the project and the NGO without public bidding. The implementing agency would then enter into a memorandum of agreement with the fake NGO for the project's implementation.

The projects are authorized as eligible under the DBM's menu for pork barrel allocation.

"After all the documentation is completed, the DBM issues a Notice of Cash Allocation to the implementing agency," the NBI said. "Upon receipt of the NCA, the implementing agency issues a check to the Napoles NGO which is deposited by JLN employees and the cash withdrawn and delivered to Napoles."

Paid in advance

The NBI said that the share of the senators and congressmen are paid in advance in two tranches: first upon the submission of the project list to the DBM and second, upon the release of the SARO.

The bureau also found during its investigation that the staff of the senators and congressmen, particularly their chiefs of staff and representatives, also got their share from the plundered public fund.

"The chief-of-staff of the lawmaker or his representative who facilitates documents and follow ups with agencies for the lawmaker and Napoles also get 1 to 5 percent of the project cost, also as kickback," the NBI noted.

For playing their part in the modus operandi, the heads of the implementing agencies get 10 percent of the total cost of the project.

"The rest is pocketed by Napoles after deducting the cost of overpriced supplies such as agricultural kits and training materials procured from a supplier enterprise also owned by her," it added.

Napoles would also get the full remaining amount if there is no delivery made at all.

Janet Inc.

Napoles allegedly has 10 active NGOs that were used as conduits for the scam. The NBI said Napoles incorporated the organizations through JLN employees, relatives, house helpers and drivers.

"These NGOs have interlocking incorporators, common auditors, and notaries public in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents," the bureau said.

The NBI filed the first batch of complaints on Tuesday recommending plunder charges against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla and former Masbate representative Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and former APEC party-list representative Edgar Valdez.

Related: Plunder raps filed vs Napoles, 3 'pork' senators | Summary of plunder, malversation complaints

The five lawmakers were charged with plunder because their supposed kickbacks were more than P50 million.

• Juan Ponce Enrile - P172,834,500
• Ramon Revilla Jr. - P224,512,500
• Jinggoy Estrada - P183,793,750
• Rizalina Seachon-Lanete - P108,405,000
• Edgar Valdez - P56,087,500

Former representatives Rodolfo Plaza (Agusan del Sur Rep), Samuel Dangwa (Benguet) and Constantino Jaraula (Cagayan de Oro City) were charged with the lesser offense of malversation of public funds because their alleged kickbacks were below P50 million.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said another batch of individuals involved in the pork barrel scam will be charged with similar complaints next week.

Where did the NBI get the information?

The NBI said the investigation team gathered documents from the Commission on Audit (COA), DBM, Securities and Exchange Commission and implementing agencies of the questionable PDAF projects.

The bureau also followed the scam through paper trails including the SAROs, DBM notices, the lawmakers' endorsement letters, project proposals, activity reports, project profiles, inspection and acceptance reports, disbursement reports and vouchers among others.

De Lima said that the COA special report on the PDAF released last month was not used as evidence, but as basis to point to leads in the probe.

The testimonies of the whistle-blowers, led by Benhur Luy, were used to corroborate the documentary evidence gathered by the bureau.