Pork scam: Ex-Davao Norte lawmaker gets 79 years

MANILA, Philippines — Former Davao del Norte first district representative Arrel Olaño has been sentenced to up to 79 years in prison in connection with the misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel amounting to P7.72 million in 2007.

In a decision promulgated yesterday, the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division found Olaño guilty of direct bribery and three counts each of graft and malversation of public funds.

His co-accused, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the pork barrel scam, and Ma. Rosalinda Lacsamana, group manager of the abolished state firm Technology Resource Center (TRC), were convicted of three counts each of graft and malversation of public funds.

Olaño, Lacsamana and Napoles were sentenced to 18 to 30 years in prison for each count of graft and 22 to 40 years for each count of malversation.

For the direct bribery offense, Olaño was sentenced to four to nine years in prison. He was also ordered to pay a fine of P9.525 million, which is triple the value of the kickbacks or rebates that he received.

Evelyn de Leon, president of Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc.(PSDFI), was convicted of two counts each of graft and malversation while Mylene Encarnacion, president of Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic and Development Foundation (CARED), was found guilty of one count each of the same offenses.

Olaño and his co-accused were also ordered to jointly or individually indemnify the government P7.72 million, which is equivalent to the amount of public funds found to have been illegaly disbursed, aside from P7.72 million in fine.

The court acquitted former Department of Budget and Management officials Mario Relampagos, Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare as well former TRC officials Dennis Cunanan, Marivic Jover, Maurine Dimaranan and Consuelo Lilian Espiritu due to the failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016, the cases stemmed from the allocation of a portion of Olaño’s PDAF to CARED and PSDFI, two of the fake non-government organizations supposedly owned by Napoles, as beneficiaries of his PDAF in exchange for P3.175 million in kickbacks.

Graft probers said field verification showed that none of the supposed projects was ever implemented.

The second division said the ombudsman’s prosecution panel established conspiracy to commit the crime.