Plunder raps filed vs. House Majority Leader Gonzales

By PATRICIA DENISE CHIU, GMA News

Published November 27, 2014 12:00pm

(Updated 5:02 p.m.) A multisectoral group on Thursday filed with the Office of the Ombudsman graft and plunder charges against House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II over the alleged misuse of the lawmaker's pork barrel funds amounting to P315 million from 2007 to 2009.

“Nais lang namin ulitin ang sinabi ng ating Pangulong Aquino ang kaniyang hangarin na linisin at patalsikin ang tiwaling mga opisyales ng ating gobyerno para sa tuwid na daan. Isa sa mga hakbanging ito ay panagutin ang mga nagkasala hindi lamang ang mga opisyales ng kalaban ng kaniyang administrasyon kundi pati na rin ang mga tiwaling opisyales na nasa kanyang hanay,” Jefferson Indap of the Sentinels of the Rule of Law told reporters.

Indap said they filed the complaint based on the special audit report of the Commission on Audit on PDAF transactions from 2007 to 2009.

“Siya ay nagkasala ng kasong plunder dahil sa hindi tamang paggasta, paggamit at paglustay ng halagang Three Hundred Fifteen Million Three Hundred Sixty One Thousand Pesos (P 315,361,000.00) PDAF funds. Malinaw sa COA Special Audit Report na hindi tama ang paggasta, paggamit at paglustay sa lahat ng pondong ipinagkatiwala sa kanya,” the executive summary of the group said.

However, when asked if they conducted additional investigation into the alleged misuse of Gonzales’ PDAF, Indap admitted that they relied purely on the COA report.

“Malinaw sa nasabing audit report na ang karamihan sa pondong ibinigay sa kanya ay kanyang naibulsa at hindi napunta sa mga taong dapat nakinabang at naging benepisaryo ng nasabing pondo dahil di na mahanap ang mga taong ito,” Indap said.

Gonzales denies allegation

Later in the day, Gonzales denied misusing P315 million of his pork barrel fund allocation from 2007 to 2009, but expressed readiness to face the graft and plunder charges filed against him.

At a press conference, Gonzales also raised questions about the motive of Sentinels in filing a case against him supposedly on the basis of the COA special audit report on legislators’ use of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2007 to 2009.

However, he admitted he has yet to read the 63-page complaint filed by the group.

“Whatever the allegations are against me, I vehemently deny them. I leave it to the ombudsman if I'm going to be required to answer. [If so], then I will answer in due time,” Gonzales said.

“For me, if it is true that their sole basis in filing the complaint is the SAU (special audit) report [on PDAF], then my comment on that is what Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said, which is the SAU report alone can’t be the basis of criminal prosecution because at best, it’s just a hearsay evidence,” he added.

Several 'irregularities'

But in their executive summary, Indap’s group enumerated several alleged irregularities in Gonzales’ use of his PDAF, particularly the lack of documentary support for the released funds.

“Sa mga gastusin sa financial assistance, ito ay hindi supportado ng mga nararapat na dokumento mula sa DSWD evaluation, na magpapakita na sila ay mga indigent, medical abstract, health records, school records and scholarship contracts, death certificate or any proof to establish emergency situation and the amount to be granted,” the group said,

“There were no duly acknowledged distribution list, justifications for the procurement of items and/or proof of necessity or urgency such as declaration of calamity, request from the end-users/beneficiaries, proof of posting and publication of advertisement in newspaper of general circulation,” they added.

The Sentinels for the Rule of Law also assailed suppliers in projects for Mandaluyong city, saying they do not seem to have the capacity to fulfill multimillion peso contracts.

“Nagkaroon ng kaduda-dudang at kwestionableng pagkakilanlan dahil wala itong kaukulang business permits to operate at hindi matagpuan sa mga address na binanggit sa kanilang mga dokumento. Karamihan sa mga suppliers ay itinanggi na sila ay nagkaroon ng transaction sa Lungsod ng Mandaluyong particular sa opisina ni Cong. Gonzales o di kaya ay umalis na sila sa kanilang office address. Ang iba sa kanila ay may kaduda-dudang kakayahan upang maging isang ganap na supplier dahil hindi nito nakamit ang standards na kinakailangan para sa mga ganitong transaksyon. At ang iba sa kanila ay gumamit ng mga kaduda-dudang resibo,” the group said. — with Xianne Arcangel/RSJ, GMA News

Tags: neptaligonzalesii