Quirino vice gov denies receiving kits funded by Bong Revilla’s ‘pork’

The vice governor of Quirino on Thursday denied that the municipality of Diffun received agricultural kits allegedly funded by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of detained former Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.

During her testimony at Revilla's graft case at the Sandiganbayan First Division, Vice Governor May Calaunan said the second class municipality never received PDAF-funded programs from the National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor) and the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI) during her term as mayor in 2013.

Calaunan said she verified the information based on delivery, acceptance, and acknowledgment receipts from the accounting office of Diffun municipal hall.

Defense counsel Reody Athony Balisi asked Calaunan during his cross examination if it was the first time she heard of Nabcor and MAMFI when Ombudsman investigators interviewed her on the PDAF scam.

Calaunan answered in the affirmative and also admitted that she had no knowledge of the connections between Revilla and the non-government organizations.

In a separate cross examination by lawyer Francisco Munez, Calaunan said she only learned of the multi-billion-peso scheme in the news but was already informed of Diffun's supposed enlistment as PDAF beneficiary beforehand.

Munez asked the vice governor on what prompted her to accept the invitation to be interviewed by investigators.

"I was informed that the municipality of Diffun was a recipient of those PDAF. I just wanted to clear that the municipality did not receive any of the agricultural kits," Calaunan said.

Munez then asked if Calaunan made any effort to confirm the bogus PDAF-funded project to the Office of the Governor then.

"Did you inquire with the Office of the Governor about the project?" Munez asked.

"Why should I inquire when I was the mayor then. Every project that comes from national government agencies or from a senator, I should know because I was the mayor," Calaunan replied.

The testimony of Calaunan was also echoed by former municipal agriculturist Ruben Sison Sr.

"The municipality of Diffun did not receive any agricultural project from the PDAF of Senator Bong and from MAMFI," Sison said in his testimony.

Revilla is facing 16 counts of graft for allegedly releasing P517 million to Nabcor, the Technology Resource Center, and National Livelihood and Development Corp. The funds were then allegedly funneled to fake NGOs of alleged scheme mastermind Janet Lim Napoles. — RSJ, GMA News