THE Sandiganbayan Second Division has convicted businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles on two counts each of graft and malversation of public funds for conspiracy with other defendants in siphoning off millions from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations of the late Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas.
In a 44-page decision promulgated May 19, 2023 penned by Associate Justice Edgardo M. Caldona, the anti-graft court sentenced Napoles to six to ten years for each count of graft and 12 to 17 years for each count of malversation, or a total of 36 to 54 years.
The defendant is already serving a hefty jail term at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City after being found guilty of plunder, a capital offense punishable by reclusion perpetua, aside from multiple convictions on graft and malversation also in relation to the PDAF scam.
Also convicted with Napoles in one count each of graft and malversation were Technology Resource Center legislative liaison Belina Concepcion, TRC group manager Rosalinda Lacsamana, and private defendants Mylene Encarnacion and Evelyn de Leon, executives of bogus non-government organizations created by Napoles.
Encarnacion represented Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic Development Foundation Inc. (CARED) while De Leon was the president of Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI).
Concepcion, Lacsamana, Encarnacion, and De Leon were each sentenced to 18 to 27 years in jail.
Together with Napoles, they were likewise ordered to pay P15.36 million as civil indemnity and fines in the same amount or a total of P30.72 million.
On the other hand, the Sandiganbayan acquitted co-accused former Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and DBM officers Rosario Nunez, Lalaine Paule, and Marilou Bare.
Also cleared of all criminal liability were TRC officers Dennis Cunanan, Francisco Figura, Marivic Jover, and Maurine Dimaranan.
The court held that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt in both the graft and malversation cases.
Cases against former TRC director general Antonio Ortiz who remains at large were ordered archived until he is arrested or places himself under the court’s jurisdiction.
Rep. Cagas who was named accused in all the four charges died in June 2021 while the case was still on trial stage, prompting the dismissal of all cases against him.
Among the key witnesses presented by the prosecution were Commission on Audit assistant commissioner Susan Garcia, Napoles cousin and finance officer Benhur Luy, and bank officer Leigh Von Santos of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
In handing down the convictions, the Sandiganbayan noted that there was no proof that the PDAF sums went to livelihood projects in Cagas’ legislative district as intended.
“To date, the funds remain unliquidated or unaccounted without any satisfactory explanation from the concerned public officials and their private cohorts. The local chief executives in the first district of Davao del Sur… denied knowing about the programs, much less receiving any benefits therefrom,” the court noted.
At the same time, it underscored the findings of government auditors that the address supplied by CARED led investigators to a mere shanty without any semblance of a legitimate NGO being present, while PSDFI could not be found at all as it submitted a fake address.
Most telling was the corroboration of Luy’s testimony by the findings of the AMLC inquiry showing that the NGOs were “owned, controlled or operated by Napoles” and that she gave public officials commission of kickbacks for endorsing her foundations.
