THREE officers of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) charged in 2016 of three counts each of graft and malversation of public funds for alleged involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam have been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan on the ground of insufficiency of evidence.
In a 23-page resolution signed February 16 but released only yesterday, the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division granted the demurrers to evidence filed by former DBM budget and management supervising officer Rosario Nuñez and administrative assistants Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare.
The three were charged with conspiracy with former Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rodolfo Valencia and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles along with other DBM officials and executives of the government-owned and controlled corporations Technology Resource Center (TRC) and National Agribusiness Corp (Nabcor) that were allegedly used as conduits for funneling the PDAF money into a bogus non-government organization (NGO), Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI).
A demurrer to evidence is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence presented by the prosecution to establish the guilt of the accused.
The effect of the grant of the demurrer to evidence is an outright acquittal since it is a ruling on the merit of the prosecution’s case.
In their pleading, Nuñez, Paule, and Bare pointed out that of several witnesses called by the prosecution, only Napoles employees Benhur Luy and Marina Sula alluded to their supposed participation in the scam.
Luy and Sula admitted that they helped Napoles steal public funds by making it appear that the PDAF sums went to livelihood and agricultural assistance projects even if in truth, they were funneled into any of 20 bogus NGOs created by Napoles.
Congressmen and senators who agreed to transact with Napoles received kickbacks in the form of a bigger share of their PDAF allocations.
Luy and Sula claimed they would periodically call the office of DBM Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and request that Nuñez, Paule or Bare facilitate the release of the PDAF sums.
However, in their demurrers, the DBM officials pointed out that this assertion was not supported by any evidence as they were able to show that the special allotment release orders (SAROs) and notices of cash allocations (NCAs) were not even processed by their office but by the Regional Operations Coordination Service (ROCS). At the same time, Relampagos did not even sign any of the SAROs or NCAs.
In his testimony, Luy also admitted that none among Relampagos, Nuñez, Paule and Bare received a share of the PDAF in any of the transactions.
