COA: Napoles NGOs got P2.1-B in ‘pork’

MANILA, Philippines – A report by the Commission on Audit shows pork barrel queen Janet Napoles got over 2 billion pesos of lawmakers’ funds between 2007 to 2009.

But she’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Auditors say around 6 billion pesos went to questionable NGOs with the collusion of legislators.
Carmela Fonbuena reports.

GRACE TAN
COA CHAIRMAN
Kung si Cardinal Tagle ay naluha, ako napahagulhol. (If Cardinal Tagle cried, I bawled.)

It was never a secret the pork barrel is a source of corruption.
But the details revealed by the Commission on Audit in a newly released report is so shocking it exceeds expectations.

GRACE TAN
COA CHAIRMAN
Ten of the NGOs which received a total of P2.157 billion are presently linked to Janet Lim Napoles. And 6 other NGOS which received a total of 189 million were found to have included legislators whose PDAF were transferred to three NGOs or isang relative nila ay incorporator ng isa sa 6 NGOs.(And 6 other NGOS which received a total of 189 million were found to have included legislators whose PDAF were transferred to three NGOs, either that or, a relative of theirs was an incorporator in one of the 6 NGOs.)

Senators get P200 million while congressmen get 70 million of pork barrel every year.
But 74 of them received more than their rightful share.

ERRATUM:  Recieved should have been spelled received on the video. 

GRACE TAN
COA CHAIRMAN
Hindi lang isang milyon ang lampas. Hundreds of million. Meron pang isang mambabatas na tumanggap ng 3 billion na allocation ng PDAF. Kasama po dito sa 101 billion ang isang amount na 20 million from the allocation of a certain Luis Abalos. Sa aming pong pagsusuri hindi naman po siya naging mambabatas during 14th and 15th congress. (It not only exceeds a million. Hundreds of million.There’s also one lawmaker who received P3 Billion of PDAF allocation. Part of the P101 billion is a P20 million amount from the allocation of a certain Luis Abalos. Our research shows Abalos was not a lawmaker during the 14th or 15th congress.)

Some funds were released for projects outside the legislative districts of sponsoring congressmen and the list of beneficiaries are questionable.

GRACE TAN
COA CHAIRMAN
Kasi may mga listahan na ang mga pangalan ay kinuha sa listahan ng pumasa ng board, ng bar. (There were some lists that included people whose names were lifted from board exam passers.)

The COA report shows that Janet Lim Napoles is not alone.
It reveals a widespread pork barrel scam where lawmakers themselves in spite their repeated denials — have a big say if not total control in selecting the recipients.

GRACE TAN
COA CHAIRMAN
The releases were made essentially at the behest of the sponsoring legislators. In all of these cases, almost 100 percent.

This is not even the complete story.
The probe only covers 2007 to 2009 and select government departments, government owned and controlled corporations, NGOs, and LGUs that were included in the probe because they received the biggest releases during those 2 years.
It’s one revelation after another of how lawmakers have been abusing their pork barrel. This leads us to the question, is it time to abolish the pork barrel? the extent of the abuse are agitating filipino who expect to see change but fear they have not seen the worst in the pork scandal Carmela Fonbuena, Rappler, Quezon City.

– Rappler.com