P517M of Revilla’s PDAF funneled to Napoles NGOs – Luy

Around P517 million of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. went to non-government organizations (NGOs) of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles from 2006 to 2010, primary state witness Benhur Luy told the Sandiganbayan First Division, Thursday.
 
Luy detailed the participation of each of the accused in the so-called pork barrel fund scam during the continuation of the bail hearing of Revilla, his senior staff Richard Cambe, Napoles, her driver-bodyguard John Raymund De Asis and nephew Ronald John Lim.
 
Luy said that the scheme to funnel Revilla’s PDAF to Napoles’ NGOs usually began with the drafting of a project listing that detailed the proposed project and its description and the recipient NGOs.
 
“Upon the instruction of Mrs. Napoles, ako po mismo ang gumagawa ng draft (of project listing), then ifa-fax po namin kay Atty. Cambe at siya ang nag-fifinalize,” Luy told the court.
 
He said that once the project listings were finalized and signed by Cambe or Revilla, it would then be submitted to the DBM.
 
“Kapag po may tatak na na ‘received’ by the DBM, uutusan na po ako ngayon ni Madam (Napoles) na mag-prepare ng voucher at pera para sa napagkasunduan nila ni Revilla as rebate or commission,” Luy said.
 
Luy said that based on what Napoles told him, Revilla's commission was 50 percent of the total amount of each project.
 
“Yung 25 percent ng rebate, binibigay namin kay Atty. Cambe kapag na-receive na ng DBM yung project listing,” Luy said.
 
He said the other 25 percent was usually given to Cambe when the DBM had already issued a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for the project.

He said each SARO comes with a project endorsement letter signed by Revilla designating the Napoles NGOs as recipients of his PDAF. Luy said he usually drafted the endorsement letters that were then forwarded to Cambe for Revilla's signature.
 
Luy told the court that from 2006 to 2010, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issued 16 SAROs to Napoles NGOs endorsed by Revilla.
 
Acting director of the prosecution team Atty. Joefferson Toribio said that based on their records, these 16 SAROs pertaining to Revilla’s PDAF allocations to Napoles NGOs amount to P517 million.
 
“So kung susumahin mo, based sa testimony ni Luy na 50 percent ang commission ni Revilla for each project, tugma ito doon sa alleged commissions that he received from 2006 to 2010,” Toribio told reporters during a break in the hearing.
 
Based on the plunder and graft cases that the Office of the Ombudsman filed before the Sandiganbayan, Revilla and his co-accused, Cambe allegedly received P224.5 million in kickbacks from 2006 to 2010 for funding the ghost projects of Napoles' NGOs.
 
Luy also told the court that he was always present when Napoles made the payments to Cambe. He said De Asis and Lim were also present on several occasions to help them carry the money.
 
“Binibilang po namin ang pera sa harap niya (Cambe) after po nun, nagsa-sign siya ng voucher bilang katibayan na natanggap ang bayad,” Luy said.
 
He said these vouchers as well as their copies of the SAROs were shredded by fellow JLN Corp. employees Marina Sula and Mary Arlene Baltazar upon the order of Napoles when the pork scam issues started hitting the headlines.
 
He, however, said that he was able to save copies of Napoles’ records of transactions with Revilla and the other accused senators and congressmen as he was tasked by Napoles to make a summary report on a day-to-day basis of all the PDAF-related transactions.
 
He said he recorded these transactions on a computer at the JLN Corp. office in Ortigas and even said that the computer unit’s password was “plainbeauty”.
 
“Dun po sa summary report, ine-encode ko dun yung control number ng voucher, control number ng SARO, date of transaction, name of the personality, amount of payment made and incoming cash collection,” Luy said.
 
Revilla’s lawyer, Joel Bodegon, meanwhile questioned the authenticity of the 16 SAROs that Luy enumerated.
 
“Sinabi na ng DBM during the previous hearing that there were no such control numbers of SAROs identified by Luy in his affidavit,” Bodegon said.
 
Asked by First Division chairman Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz if he personally saw the copies of the 16 SAROs, Luy replied: “Yes, sir, kaya nga po ako nakakuha ng copy of SARO numbers and the names of the implementing agencies.”
 
Luy, however, admitted that he is not sure whether the SAROs that he saw were the DBM copies, but said he can clearly remember that there were DBM stickers attached on them.
 
He also added that other than the DBM, the court may also secure copies of the 16 SAROs from the implementing agencies he identified in his affidavit.
 
“Isang bad script. Hindi ako makatango sa mga pinagsasabi niya,” Revilla said of Luy's testimony after the hearing. Revilla has repeatedly denied participation in the supposed scam and has said the graft and plunder charges against him were political in nature.
 
The court set the next bail hearing for next Thursday next, July 31. — JDS, GMA News