‘Bong, Jinggoy lobbied for fake Napoles NGOs’

MANILA, Philippines - Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada personally endorsed and lobbied for the bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, another potential state witness has told government prosecutors.

With this testimony, former Technology Resource Center (TRC) general manager Dennis Cunanan has been accepted as a “provisional state witness” and covered by the witness protection program (WPP), Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

Malacañang, meanwhile, denied Revilla’s accusation that it was behind Cunanan’s decision to offer himself as state witness.

Cunanan, along with Revilla, Estrada and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, is a respondent in the plunder and malversation complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation against dozens of individuals linked to the pork barrel scam. Another respondent – Ruby Tuason – had also been provisionally allowed to turn state witness after admitting to having delivered millions of pesos in kickbacks to Estrada and Enrile.

Tuason was social secretary of Estrada’s father Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada when he was president.

De Lima said Cunanan had shared enough vital information with authorities to make him qualify as state witness. It’s the courts or the Office of the Ombudsman which would ultimately decide on Cunanan’s request for inclusion in the WPP.

“We believe that the data he proffered in his 36-page sworn statement with supporting documents is very important,” De Lima said in a news briefing.

“It provides an important piece to complete the picture. Another angle of the story has been completed,” she said.

Documents submitted by Cunanan showed that Revilla and Estrada had personally handpicked Napoles-run NGOs to implement projects funded by their pork barrel, officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The documents include letter-endorsements signed by Revilla and Estrada identifying the PDAF projects and the corresponding NGOs that would implement them.

There were also memoranda of agreement between the NGOs, the office of the senators and the TRC.

He said the documents showed the two senators’ “expressed acknowledgment” and “expressed warranty” for Napoles’ bogus NGOs.

Voices unmistakable

Cunanan said he even talked to the two lawmakers over the phone in some instances while whistle-blower Benhur Luy, then Napoles’ representative, was doing business with them.

As then deputy head of TRC, he said he was tasked to make the transactions with Luy because then TRC chief Antonio Ortiz was “frequently not around because he was hosting a TV show at that time.”

“I remember vividly how both Senators Revilla and Estrada admonished me because they thought that TRC was purportedly ‘delaying’ the projects… They both asked me to ensure that TRC would immediately act on and approve their respective projects,” Cunanan said in his affidavit submitted to the Ombudsman.

“I was certain I was talking to said senators because I recognized their respective voices, which I am familiar with since they were both actors and public personalities whose voices I have frequently heard and I am very familiar with,” he explained.

As to the alleged involvement of Enrile, Cunanan said it was the senator’s then chief-of-staff Gigi Reyes who made the transactions. He said he had never personally communicated with Enrile.

“But it doesn’t matter to us. It just proves the blanket authority given by Sen. Enrile to Atty. Gigi Reyes,” De Lima commented.

More lawmakers named

Cunanan not only supported the testimony of Luy and other whistle-blowers, he also submitted a list containing the names of some former lawmakers who had transacted with Napoles.

De Lima refused to release the list but confirmed to reporters that it contained the names of former Muntinlupa City congressman and Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon and former Cibac party-list congressman and now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director General Joel Villanueva.

Biazon was among those charged in the second batch of PDAF cases, while it was the first time for Villanueva to be dragged into the controversy. Both are known to be close to President Aquino.

De Lima said she believes in the credibility of Cunanan, who has denied pocketing any kickbacks from PDAF-funded projects.

“For the first time, someone from one of the implementing agencies is belying the claims of the three senators in their counter-affidavits that they had no hand in the selection of the NGOs and that their signatures were just forged,” she stressed.

“Their defense is now being flatly debunked or denied by Mr. Cunanan. His testimony is both essential and corroborative,” the DOJ chief added.

De Lima admitted it had taken them time to consider Cunanan as state witness because they had to wait for him to present more documents to support his affidavit.

She called the documents provided by Cunanan “new evidence” not provided by the whistle-blowers.

The same documents from TRC, however, were already in the possession of the Commission on Audit.

The first candidate for state witness, Tuason, surfaced last Feb.7 and submitted to the Ombudsman a 15-page affidavit she executed in the consular office in California.

Senate appearance

With his willingness to bare everything he knows about the PDAF scam, Cunanan should be invited to the next hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the controversy, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday.

“It is in the public’s strong interest for Cunanan to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s ongoing hearing on the PDAF scam. He can divulge information on the criminal involvement of certain public officials in the scam and how the scam is perpetuated through the exploitation of loopholes in the disbursement of government funds,” Santiago said in a resolution.

Santiago said the more eyewitnesses are made to come forward, “the stronger will be the case for plunder filed by the justice department before the Ombudsman and consequently, the stronger will be the case for plunder filed by the Ombudsman with the Sandiganbayan.”

She said “due haste must be made in order to encourage eyewitnesses to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in order to enlighten and educate the public on the methodologies and strategies of corruption, particularly with respect to the pork barrel, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.”

In an interview yesterday, Estrada said that he has no problem with Cunanan appearing before the Blue Ribbon committee’s future hearings. He had called Cunanan a liar, saying they had never met or talked, much less engaged in dubious transactions involving his PDAF.

He said that it is up to Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III to decide if he still wants to continue hearings on the PDAF scam.

Guingona had previously aired his desire to move on to the Malampaya fund scam, which involves some P900 million in public funds ending up in NGOs of Napoles.

Estrada had accused Guingona of prejudging him during the Senate appearance of Tuason.

Integrity questionable

For Sen. Grace Poe, Cunanan’s role in the pork barrel scam should put his integrity as potential state witness into question.

Poe also recommended that Cunanan be required to return the kickbacks he may have received for facilitating the release of funds to fake NGOs.

“The situation of Cunanan is different from the other whistle-blowers because he is a government employee. Thus, his alleged involvement in the facilitation of the questionable PDAF begs the question of his own impropriety,” Poe said in a text message to The STAR.

She said Cunanan’s decision to turn state witness is an indication of guilt, which should be enough reason for the investigating team to think twice about letting him off the hook.

“We have to remember that Cunanan, unlike Luy, is a ranking government officer who was a conspirator in the scam whose willing participation was indispensable for the plunder of public funds,” the senator said.

“Now, should the DOJ finally consider him as state witness, the immunity agreement must include a mandatory condition that Cunanan shall return all the public funds he raked in from the scam. That should be a minimum requirement,” Poe said. The TRC is one of the implementing agencies tapped by Revilla for his projects.

Poe said she would discuss with Guingona when the committee would resume its hearings.

In the last hearing, Poe had manifested that Cunanan be invited again for further grilling by committee members.

As this developed, Joel Bodegon, Revilla’s lawyer, questioned anew the propriety of admitting Cunanan into WPP.

Bodegon said the DOJ, under the Witness Protection Program Law, may only grant immunity to witnesses in cases under the Prosecution Service’s jurisdiction.

He said the DOJ cannot interfere in cases under the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman, a separate Constitutional entity.

“The DOJ is now intruding into the constitutional domain of the Ombudsman. Surely, the Ombudsman will not allow that. The DOJ must remember that the Ombudsman is a distinct and higher office,” Boodegon said. “Do they want the Ombudsman to be the Executive’s puppet?”

Meanwhile, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. rejected Revilla’s insinuation that Malacañang had a hand in Cunanan’s volunteering to be state witness.

Coloma stressed the administration’s focus is simply on getting concrete evidence in the course of the investigation.

He said it is De Lima’s duty to look into and evaluate all relevant information so that the people would know what actually happened to public funds.

He said there is a process to follow to determine the integrity of a person applying to be included in the WPP. With Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica