What's in a name? In the hands of one NGO, access to millions in pork barrel funds

By Xianne Arcangel, GMA News

Published August 17, 2013 11:32pm

Using the names of dead people as beneficiaries of government programs may be a thing of the past.

The Commission on Audit said a non-government organization (NGOs) has used the publicly listed names of passers of board and bar examinations as supposed beneficiaries of ghost projects funded by pork barrel funds.

According to a special audit report released Friday by the Commission on Audit, ITO NA Movement Foundation, Inc. (ITONAMI) submitted names taken from the list of board passers in various professions as their projects' beneficiaries from 2007 to 2008.

The COA noted that there were even cases where ITONAMI submitted the same list of names as its beneficiaries to two different IAs.

The NGO was found to have lifted 1,090 names from the CPA Board Exam results released in October 2007, 620 names from the Bar Exams and 908 Nursing Board Exams in 2008 for use in documents it submitted to implementing agencies (IAs) of the government to support the release of pork barrel funds through Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO).

One of the projects for which ITONAMI used the names was the livelihood training program it supposedly conducted under the government-owned Technology Resource Center. It was listed as being worth P3.6 million.

According to COA, the project was questionable not only because some of its beneficiaries were board passers, but also because the existence of some other 6,250 participants in the training program cannot be established.

When COA probed deeper into ITONAMI, it discovered that the NGO did not have a permit to operate from the local government of Pasig City although it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The condominium unit at Cityland Mega Plaza in Ortigas indicated by the foundation as its office was closed at the time of COA's inspection in 2011.

"As certified by the Building Administration Officer, ITONAMI was never a tenant of Cityland Mega Plaza," COA said.

From 2007 to 2009-- the years covered by the COA audit-- the NGO received a total of P124.86 million in pork barrel funds.

According to the government auditing agency, all 17 of ITONAMI's projects from 2007 to 2009 which had the state-owned National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), and the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), and the Technology Resource Center (TRC) as IAs were questionable for various reasons.

For instance, the NGO's training program and procurement of animals under NABCOR were filled with irregularities because its suppliers and supposed beneficiaries denied transacting and receiving items from the group.

"F.M. Agromix & Veterinary Pharmacy and Tampco Inn Training Center, supplier of foods and other training requirements, categorically denied transacting business with this NGO," COA said, adding that none of the 858 individuals who supposedly benefited from the project confirmed receipt of items procured for the project.

Out of a total of 11 legislators named as the source of pork barrel funds for ITONAMI's projects, only three confirmed their signatures on the documents it submitted to the IAs. These were Davao del Sur representative Marc Douglas Cagas IV, Valenzuela City representative Magtanggol Gunigundo I and Kalinga Representative Manuel Agyao.

The legislators who did not reply to the audit team's requests for verification were Edgar San Luis, Jose Emmanuel Carlos, Christian Señeres, Daryll Grace Abayon, Samuel Dangwa, Sharee Ann Tan Glenn Chong and Wilfrido Mark Enverga. Northern Samar representative Emil Ong, meanwhile, said he is "still checking records on file to properly address concerns." — ELR, GMA News

Tags: porkbarrel