Philippine Daily Inquirer

Biazon, Ducut face ‘pork’ raps

- By Dona Z. Pazzibugan

FORMER Customs Commission­er Rufino Biazon, four other former congressme­n and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chair Zenaida Ducut are the latest to be charged criminally in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales announced yesterday she had ordered them charged with various counts of graft, malversati­on and direct bribery before the Sandiganba­yan for their misuse of the Priority Developmen­t Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The other former congressme­n to be charged were Rodolfo Valencia of Oriental Mindoro, Arrel Olaño of Davao del Norte, Marc Douglas Cagas IV of Davao del Sur and Arthur Pingoy Jr. of South Cotabato.

Also to be charged was alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles who already has multiple plunder and graft cases pending in the Sandiganba­yan, her associates in bogus NGOs and officials of the Department of Budget and Management, Technology Resource Center (TRC) and National Business Corp. (Nabcor) who have also earlier been charged for the scam.

Biazon, a former Muntinlupa congressma­n whom President Aquino had tapped as customs chief but later resigned, belongs to the ruling Liberal Party.

Ducut, a former Pampanga representa­tive, was identified by the Om- budsman as the agent of Biazon and other congressme­n in collecting kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for the use of their PDAF for ghost projects for kickbacks.

The cases against the five former congressme­n stemmed from separate complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigat­ion and lawyer Levito Baligod who used to represent whistle-blowers Benhur Luy, Marina Sula and Merlina Sunas.

“That’s another argument against criticisms there is selective justice in the Ombudsman,” Morales said in a news conference on Wednesday, where she denied singling out only those in the opposition.

She said her office were not pressured to “cater to public expectatio­n” to file cases but would go by evidence.

The latest indictment­s were part of the of the second batch of PDAF-related complaints that the Department of Justice submitted to the Ombudsman.

A third batch of PDAF complaint reportedly implicatin­g more administra­tion allies is still pending in the DOJ and has not been transmitte­d to the Ombudsman.

“It’s a bit difficult to process these complaints because because Luy is no longer involved in the third batch. That should not deter us from pushing through with the investigat­ion. We have our independen­t means of gathering evidence,” she said.

According to the Ombudsman, Biazon received P1.9 million in socalled rebates through Ducut when he allocated P3 million of his pork barrel in 2007 to a bogus NGO, the Philippine Social Foundation, Inc. controlled by Napoles.

The Ombudsman said the TRC as the implementi­ng agency concocted ghost projects since no deliveries were made.

Valencia will be charged with three counts of malversati­on and graft for his anomalous use of P7 million of his PDAF from 2007 to 2009.

The Ombudsman said the TRC and Nabcor together with the questionab­le NGOs that received the PDAF did not implement the supposed livelihood and agricultur­al projects.

The Ombudsman said Valencia through his representa­tive Celia Cuasay received at least P2.4 million in kickbacks from his PDAF projects in 2008.

Cagas will be charged with two counts of graft and malversati­on for channeling P11 million of his PDAF from 2007 to 2009 into ghost projects with dubious NGOs that submitted fake accomplish­ment reports.

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