Ex-Bukidnon congressman, 5 others charged over ‘pork’ scam

Former Bukidnon Rep. Candido Pancrudo Jr. and five other individuals were charged with graft and malversation over their alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

In four separate charge sheets filed before the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the Ombudsman said Pancrudo committed two counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, one count of malversation of public funds and one count of the complex crime of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents, both defined under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

The cases were filed by the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on Monday but copies of the case information were released to the media only on Tuesday.

Aside from Pancrudo, also charged with the same offenses were former officials of the National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) namely; president Alan Javellana, vice-president and director for administrative and finance Rhodora Mendoza, officer-in-charge for accounting division Maria Ninez Guañizo and paralegal and general services supervisor Victor Roman Cacal.

Also charged with them was private individual Mark Espinosa, president of the Uswag Pilipinas Foundation, Inc. (UPFI).

Based on the information of the cases, Pancrudo allocated a total of P7.954-million worth of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel to UPFI in 2009 for supposed livelihood projects in his district.

The OSP said the anomalous allocation of Pancrudo’s PDAF to UPFI first took place on Feb. 20, 2009 involving P1.193 million while the second allocation took placed on April 1, 2009 involving P6.760 million.

The OSP said Pancurdo, in conspiracy with the NABCOR officials, gave “unwarranted benefits and advantage” to UPFI by personally choosing it to be his “partner” in the implementation of the projects without holding a public bidding as required under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The OSP further said that UPFI was not an accredited foundation, thus, was unqualified to handle the projects.

On the part of the NABCOR officials, the OSP said they facilitated, processed and approved the disbursement vouchers which caused the release of Pancrudo’s PDAF funds to UPFI, “without having carefully examined and verified the accreditation and qualifications of UPFI as well as the transaction’s supporting documents.”

The OSP said that upon investigation, it was found out that the projects were never implemented.

“The above acts of all the accused thus allowed Espinosa and UPFI to have control of and benefit from said PDAF-drawn public funds, instead of implementing the projects which turned out to be non-existent,” the case information read.

Further, the OSP said Espinosa, with the knowledge of Pancrudo and the NABCOR officials, falsified several documents such as accomplishment reports, delivery receipts, acceptance receipts, sales invoices, purchase orders and livelihood training program registration forms to make it appear that certain products were delivered by a supplier and that training sessions were conducted for the projects' intended beneficiaries.

“…when in truth and in fact, as he (Espinosa) and his co-accused fully knew, said supplier did not have transaction with UPFI for the subject projects and there were no trainings conducted for the beneficiaries; and thereafter, acting for and in behalf of UPFI, Espinosa received the corresponding checks from NABCOR,” the OSP said. 

The OSP recommended P30,000 bail bond for each count of graft and P40,000  for the malversation. The OSP did not recommend bail for the malversation through falsification of public documents case. — RSJ, GMA News