Honasan charged with graft over PDAF scam

Two graft charges were filed against Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II yesterday before the Sandiganbayan for the alleged misuse of his 129.1-million priority development assistance fund (PDAF) way back in 2012.

Honasan, the fourth senator to face criminal charges before the San-

diganbayan over the PDAF scam, was slapped with two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019).

But unlike Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada who have been charged with plunder, the graft case filed against Honasan is bailable.

Honasan was indicted for releasing his PDAF to the National Council of Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in April, 2012, which was meant to help small and medium-scale livelihood projects for Muslim Filipinos in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Zambales.

He endorsed Focus Development Goals Foundation, Inc. in June, 2012 as the implementing non-government organization (NGO).

However, Ombudsman investigators discovered that the NGO was endorsed even without the benefit of compliance with procurement regulations.

At the same time, the check and disbursement voucher dated May 30, 2012 were prepared for Focus even before the NGO was informed it was qualified to undertake the project on June 4, 2012.

The repeated illegal transfers of public funds to the NGO, resulted in the quantifiable, pecuniary losses to the government, thus constituting undue injury within the context of Section 3(e) of R.A. No. 3019, Morales said in her Sept. 21, 2016 resolution.

Charged together with Honasan are Political Affairs and Project Coordinator Chief Michael Benjamin, NCMF executives such as Secretary Mehol Sadain, Acting Chief Accountant Fedelina Aldanese, Director III Galay Makalinggan, Acting Chief Aurora Aragon-Mabang, and Cashier Olga Galido. Private individuals from Focus - Giovanni Manuel Gaerlan and Salvador Gaerlan — likewise face charges.