NBI probe clears congressmen in fake SAROs

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday cleared members of the House of Representatives allegedly involved in the falsification of special allotment release orders (SAROs).

De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has found no evidence showing possible connivance of any lawmaker with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) gang led by a certain “supremo” that produces fake SAROs by superimposing specimen signatures on photocopied copies of the document.

“So far there is no indication that the congressmen were aware of such scheme. Only those in the level of congressional staffs are involved,” she said.

She said the fake SAROs for two projects in Cagayan and Aklan provinces under Rep. Teodoro Haresco were found to have been manufactured by the DBM gang allegedly in cahoots with a consultant of the lawmaker.

Initial results of the NBI probe showed that the secretary, driver and janitor of DBM Undersecretary Mario Relampagos were involved in the racket.

But De Lima stressed that the NBI has yet to conclude the investigation.

“We are still trying to find out if higher officials were involved. That is what we are looking into,” she said.

De Lima added that probers are in the process of identifying other DBM and congressional personnel who participated in the scam.

She said the NBI would determine how long the group had been operating and whether they were able to get government funds in previous operations.

Earlier, the justice chief confirmed that the NBI had unmasked supremo – apparently a woman – and her cohorts.

But she did not reveal their identities pending further validation.

NBI agents found out that the group kept signatures of approving authorities, which they superimposed on unsigned, photocopied SAROs.

The NBI discovered that the group would photocopy advanced copies of the unsigned SAROs and then superimpose signatures on them before duplicating the documents again. After the SAROs were photocopied several times, the fake signatures would seem to appear authentic.

Of the 12 SAROs being probed by the NBI, it was verified that two from Regions 1 and 6 involving projects worth P161 million and P77 million, respectively, were indeed fake.

But the fake SAROs were not encashed as the projects were cancelled.

The other questionable SAROs involved projects in Calabarzon (Region 4A) and Soccsksargen (Region 12). SARO is a document issued by the DBM for actual release of funds for projects.

De Lima has given the NBI until end of next month to complete the probe.

Except for differences in font styles, the fake SAROs contained the same SARO numbers, codes, amount of money, dates and name of signatories as the authentic ones.

The fake SAROs were discovered last November at the height of the pork barrel fund mess involving businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles who allegedly used nonexistent foundations to divert Priority Development Assistance Fund and Malampaya funds with the help of several lawmakers and implementing government agencies.