Fresh revelations point to large Philippines government agri-scam

Levito Baligod, lawyer for “pork-scam” whistleblower Benhur Luy, said his client had documents, including special allotment release orders (Saro), showing that 11 pet projects of eight representatives in the 15th Congress used Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation Inc (KPMI), which was allegedly set up by Napoles.

At press time, Alcala had not replied to a request for comment on the allegation made by Baligod, whose client blew the whistle on Napoles’ activities in a series of statements earlier submitted to the NBI. Luy’s claims have been backed up by five other whistleblowers.

Napoles has denied any wrongdoing. “I am not Superman,” Alcala said on Wednesday.

“The department has 40 attached agencies and I can’t memorise everything. But in good faith, I do not sign anything that has not passed the scrutiny of my staff,” he said. Alcala has ordered an inquiry into the alleged involvement of a Department of Agriculture official in the activities of dummy non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said to have channelled state funds to ghost projects purportedly masterminded by Napoles.

Alcala said he had sent a memo to Ophelia P Agawin, assistant secretary for finance, to explain why pork-barrel scam whistleblower Merlina P Sunas was implicating his office as a conduit of funds to bogus NGOs.

Asked how well he knew Agawin, Alcala said, “She goes to work religiously.”

“But we can’t base things on appearances. She needs to explain [the issue],” said the former congressman.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Sunas identified at least three livelihood projects worth a combined 16 million pesos that were implemented by a Napoles NGO in Davao City, which used DA funds.

“I don’t know about those [projects],” Alcala said, adding that he had also ordered a “revalidation” of DA-accredited NGOs and projects.

He said he did not remember having signed any of the projects that Sunas mentioned.

Sumas said the three projects were worth 3 million pesos, 5 million pesos and 8 million pesos, respectively, and supposedly involved the distribution of packages that included fertiliser and sprayers.

She said that the 3-million peso project was implemented for show while the other two were mere “ghost deliveries”.

Kaupdanan was one of the 20 dummy NGOs set up by Napoles’ JLN Corp, which has allegedly managed to fleece 10 billion pesos in state funds over the last 10 years in connivance with lawmakers and government officials.

Luy submitted the documents to the National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday, the second day of closed-door hearings called to question officials and incorporators of the dummy companies, Baligod said.