‘Cunanan has not yet resigned from TRC’

MANILA, Philippines - Dennis Cunanan has not yet resigned as director general of the Technology Resource Center (TRC).

In an interview on ANC television, Science Secretary Mario Montejo said that Cunanan is currently on leave from the TRC.

“We asked Dennis Cunanan to go on leave after he was linked to the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam,” he said.

However, Montejo said Cunanan is on the way to resignation. “He’s going there.”

Montejo said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has looked into the alleged irregular PDAF-funded   projects that TRC had undertaken.

“TRC did not handle any PDAF-related projects or program supposedly after 2009,” he said.

TRC is a DOST-attached agency offering livelihood training courses and entrepreneurship training, much like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Montejo said TRC served as the DOST’s commercial arm, seeking to find ways to spur businesses through research and development (R&D) of products and innovations.

“TRC has been known for training programs,” he said.

“We are trying to be able to commercialize some of our R&D. That should be the role of TRC.” 

Last September, Cunanan issued a statement that he was going on an indefinite leave of absence in light of news reports involving in the pork barrel controversy.

“I am confident that ultimately my name will be cleared as my actions on this issue will bear me out,” read the statement.

“That being one of my first official actions upon assuming the helm in TRC is to look into the PDAF disbursements.”

Cunanan said since 2010 the TRC has ceased to implement PDAF, and that long before Janet Lim-Napoles made the headlines, the agency had started its own investigation on NGOs that failed to properly liquidate their PDAF funds.

Lifestyle check on Cunanan

In a statement through his lawyer Odessa Bernado, Cunanan said he is willing to submit himself to a lifestyle check, as Sen. Grace Poe had proposed, to prove that he did not pocket kickbacks from the PDAF scam.

“In order to put to rest any doubts about my claim that I did not receive any monetary benefits from the perpetrators of the PDAF scam, I hereby state my unqualified willingness and readiness to undergo a lifestyle check by the Department of Justice (DOJ),” read the statement.

He is  willing to sign a waiver of the bank secrecy law to allow the DOJ to go through all his bank accounts if necessary, he added.

Cunanan said he did not benefit from the PDAF scam since he was only performing his administrative and ministerial duties as TRC deputy chief in approving the PDAF projects awarded to bogus non-government organizations allegedly belonging to Napoles from 2006 to 2009.

“The director general then was Antonio Ortiz. Hence, I had absolutely no discretion to decide whether or not to enter into and/or approve PDAF funded projects. I only participated in the processing of some of the PDAF projects in an administrative and ministerial capacity as a co-signatory to TRC’s checks and vouchers.” 

Cunanan said he had in fact taken measures “to protect and safeguard the interest of the public” in conscientiously reviewing and scrutinizing the documents presented to his office in relation to the PDAF projects of lawmakers.  – With Edu Punay