MANILA, Philippines–Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, skimmed off some P3 billion in taxpayers’ money through the transactions of her dummy foundations with several erring legislators, primary whistleblowerBenhurLuysaid in his testimony Wednesday in theSandiganbayan.
Taking the witness stand for nearly six hours,Luyrevealed more details of the elaborate scheme whichNapolesallegedly concocted to divert, with the lawmaker’s consent, the pork barrel, or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), allotments of Sen. Bong Revilla.
LuysaidNapolesalso pilfered state coffers through projects financed by the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), supposedly an economic stimulus program that was the brainchild of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, but which the Supreme Court has ruled to be unconstitutional.
Luywas testifying at the bail hearings for Revilla, the latter’s aide RichardCambeandNapolesin connection with the plunder charges against them.
In a brief interview after his testimony,Luysaid the cash bonanza that went toNapolescould have amounted to more.
“She definitely earned more than P3 billion. She used it to buy a number of real estate properties and vehicles,” he said.
In the cross-examination by Revilla’s lawyer, JoelBodegon,LuysaidNapolesgot 30 to 40 percent of the total cost of the projects of her bogus nongovernment organizations that were funded by the pork of a number of legislators.
Citing the special audit of the Commission on Audit on the lawmakers’ PDAF,BodegonaskedLuyif some P10 billion in public funds had indeed been lost to the spurious projects of theNapoles-linked NGOs.
WhenLuyreplied in the affirmative, the defense lawyer asked him how muchNapolescould have earned from the transactions.
“If the total amount was P10 billion, then P3 billion went to Madam,”Luyreplied, referring toNapoles.
“But the legislators earned more because they received 40 to 50 percent of the (total project cost),” he added.
Asked byBodegonif he considered the money thatNapolesmade came from “easy work,”Luysaid: “It depends, sir.”
“First of all, there’s the involvement of lawmakers. We also had to use our left and right hands in signing so many documents,” he said, drawing laughter from the people in the courtroom.
In his testimony,Luysaid he started working forNapoles, his cousin, as an “alalay” (personal assistant) in 2002, receiving a monthly salary of P8,000.
In previous testimony,Luysaid he first worked forNapolesonly on a part-time basis as he was then employed as a medical technician at the Chinese General Hospital.
Two years later, he said his cousin appointed him finance officer of JLN Corp., theNapoles-owned company that primarily took charge of all transactions of the fake foundations.
Quizzed further byBodegon,Luysaid it was only in 2007 that he discovered the “illegal business practices” ofNapolesand the NGOs that she used as her front.
“In 2007, we started forging the signatures (on the documents) upon the instructions of Madam,” he said.
Besides funneling the pork barrel allotments of lawmakers, he saidNapolesalso earned from the fertilizer fund scam and other ghost projects in the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
“She also had projects (financed) by theMalampayaFund implemented through the DAR,” he said.
“Did you not report the matter to the NBI?”Bodegonasked.
“I did not report it, sir. I was very afraid then, sir,”Luyreplied.
Asked ifNapoleshad threatened to kill him if he reported her allegedly illegal activities,Luysaid: “No, sir. But I was afraid of Madam’s connections.”
To whichBodegonretorted: “You were afraid because your MadamNapolesdiscovered that you were engaged in the same business practices as hers. Isn’t is that she had accused you of engaging in the same business as hers?”
Luyadmitted thatNapolesindeed confronted and “detained” him on the night of Dec. 19, 2012, after she “suspected me of doing my own (business) activities.”
BodegonandCambe’slawyer, Michael Ancheta, tried to destroyLuy’scredibility as a prosecution witness by bringing to the attention of theSandiganbayanFirst Division the qualified theft case thatNapoleshad filed againstLuyin the Pasig City prosecutor’s office and the forfeiture case brought against him by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in the Manila regional trial court.
Bodegonclaimed thatCambeand Revilla “did not get even a single centavo” from the alleged diversion of Revilla’s PDAF.
Ancheta, meanwhile, told the court that it wasLuyand his fellow whistle-blowers who got a windfall from the scam “because they were the ones who forged the signatures and withdrew and delivered” the kickbacks of the lawmakers.
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