MANILA, Philippines — James Christopher Napoles, son of convicted pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles, is vying for a seat in Congress as the first nominee of the Kaunlad Pinoy Party-list in next year's elections.
Kaunlad Pinoy filed its certificate of nomination and acceptance on Saturday, October 5, with James Christopher and two other nominees present.
The group wants to represent small business owners and informal enterprises at the House of Representatives.
On Sunday, the group posted a photo on Facebook showing James Christopher at the launch of its provincial chapter in Negros Occidental, captioned: "Kaunlad Pinoy members and guests in Region VI."
The Comelec lists the following individuals as nominees of the Kaunlad Pinoy Party-list:
- James Christopher Napoles (first nominee)
- Ricky Juab (second nominee)
- Nico Robert Dela Rama Martin (third nominee)
- Washington Plaza
- Zenaida Pama
- Juan Carlos Pagunsan
- Francis Amado Lim
- John Lasugas
- Jodee Dequilla
- Andrew Jimenez
"Kaunlad Pinoy Partylist will be the VOICE, REPRESENTATIVE, and ALLY of every Sari-Sari Store, Carinderia, Fish Ball stand, Kiosk, Stall, Taho and Ice Cream vendor, Online Sellers, and other small and informal businesses that provide livelihood to many Filipinos," the group said on Facebook.
To recall, Janet is the ordinary-businesswoman-turned-scam-operator that orchestrated for 10 years a massive scheme where lawmakers conspired with government officials and private entities to divert public funds for their own benefit.
This scam involved the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF), a discretionary fund allocated to members of Congress for development projects.
The misuse of the PDAF was exposed in 2013 and implicated several lawmakers and private individuals, including Janet. They allegedly diverted around P10 billion meant for public projects into fake non-government organizations and personal accounts.
James Christopher and his sister, Jo Christine, were alleged to have participated in the scheme by receiving the funds that were covertly channelled into the bogus non-government organizations.
Janet is currently serving multiple sentences. She was convicted of plunder on Dec. 7, 2018 and sentenced to reclusion perpetua. The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court upheld her conviction on March 13, 2019.
Janet was further found guilty of four counts of graft and malversation of public funds by the Sandiganbayan in October 2023. She was given another prison sentence of at least 64 years. — Cristina Chi