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Ex-South Cotabato solon, ex-ERC chair Ducut charged over ‘pork’ scam


The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday formally filed criminal charges against former South Cotabato representative Arthur Pingoy Jr., former Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Zenaida Ducut and several other former government officials in connection with their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

In separate charge sheets filed before the Sandiganbayan, Pingoy and Ducut were charged with four counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and another four counts of malversation of public funds as defined under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Aside from Pingoy and Ducut, named as respondents in both charges were the following former government officials:

  • Department of Budget and Management (DBM) former undersecretary Mario Relampagos
  • DBM former budget and management specialist Rosario Nuñez
  • DBM former administrative assistants Marilou Bare and Lalaine Paule.
  • Technology Resource Center (TRC) former director general Antonio Ortiz
  • TRC former deputy director general Dennis Cunanan
  • TRC former group manager Francisco Figura
  • TRC former chief accountant Marivic Jover
  • National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) former president Alan Javellana
  • NABCOR former employees Victor Roman Cacal, Maria Ninez-Guañizo and Rhodora Mendoza

Also named as co-accused in graft and malversation charges were the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, her driver and bodyguard John Raymund De Asis, and three other private individuals namely, Evelyn De Leon, Noel Macha and John Bernardo.

Aside from graft and malversation, Pingoy and Ducut were also charged with two counts each of direct bribery as defined under Article 210 of the RPC.

Based on the information of the cases, Pingoy allocated P20.910 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel from 2007 to 2008 to Philippine Social Development Foundation, Inc. (PSDFI) and Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation, Inc. (SDPFFI), two of the supposed fake non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by Napoles.

Pingoy, through Ducut as his agent, allegedly received kickbacks from Napoles amounting to P7.055 million in exchange for the allocation of his PDAF to the latter’s NGOs.

The Ombudsman said Pingoy unilaterally chose PSDFI and SDPFFI to implement his PDAF-funded livelihood projects without the benefit of a public bidding required under the Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act.

The Ombudsman further said both PSDFI and SDPFFI were “unaccredited and unqualified”’ to undertake the supposed livelihood projects, which turned out to be “non-existent and were never implemented.”

The Ombudsman said the DBM, TRC and NABCOR officials conspired in facilitating and processing special allotment release orders (SAROs) and disbursement vouchers that caused the release of the money from Pingoy’s PDAF to the two NGOs.

As for Napoles and the other private respondents, the OSP said they “participated in the preparation and signing of the acceptance and delivery reports, disbursement reports, project proposals and other liquidation documents to conceal the fictitious nature of the transactions.”

The Ombudsman recommended P30,000 bail bond for each count of the graft charge, P40,000 bail bond for each count of malversation and P30,000 bail bond for each count of direct bribery.

Pingoy was the last among six former lawmakers that the Ombudsman recently ordered to be charged before the Sandiganbayan in connection with their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

Aside from Pingoy, already charged this month were former congressmen Ducut (Pampanga), Biazon (Muntinlupa), Arrel Olaño (Davao Del Norte), Marc Douglas Cagas IV (Davao del Sur) and Rodolfo Valencia (Oriental Mindoro).

Aside from them, five other former congressmen and three incumbent senators are also facing charges before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pork scam. —ALG, GMA News

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