Gringo faces ‘pork’ raps
Prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman indicted Honasan on two counts of graft for alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations as a lawmaker in 2012. File
MANILA, Philippines - Criminal charges were filed yesterday against Sen. Gregorio Honasan II before the Sandiganbayan stemming from his alleged involvement in the pork barrel fund scam.
Prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman indicted Honasan on two counts of graft for alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations as a lawmaker in 2012.
Also charged were Honasan’s political affairs and project coordinator Michael Benjamin and National Council on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) executives, including secretary Mehol Sadain, acting chief accountant Fedelina Aldanese, Director III Galay Makalinggan, acting chief Aurora Aragon-Mabang and cashier Olga Galido.
The graft cases filed are bailable at P30,000 per count, which means that the respondents can enjoy temporary liberty while undergoing trial by posting a total bail of P60,000 each.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered the filing of the cases against Honasan as early as August last year after investigators found probable cause to charge them.
The Office of the Ombudsman said Honasan gave P29.1 million to a questionable non-government organization (NGO) for the implementation of programs and projects that would benefit Muslim Filipinos in Metro Manila and Zambales.
Investigation showed that in April 2012, the Department of Budget and Management released P30 million as part of the lawmaker’s PDAF with the NCMF as the implementing agency for a project that sought to finance small and medium enterprise and/or livelihood projects.
Honasan allegedly endorsed Focus Development Goals Foundation Inc. as a partner NGO which received the money based on a memorandum of agreement he signed with the NCMF and Focus.
The ombudsman said Honasan and co-accused facilitated and approved the payment in favor of Focus in two tranches totaling P29.1 million.
“The repeated illegal transfers of public funds to the NGO resulted in quantifiable pecuniary losses to the government, thus constituting undue injury within the context of Section 3(e) of RA 3019,” the ombudsman said.
The ombudsman said Focus officers Giovanni Manuel Gaerlan and Salvador Gaerlan are also being named as respondents to the graft cases.
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