By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — Businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles was convicted anew on Friday after the Sandiganbayan found her guilty of orchestrating a ₱50-million ghost project scheme involving Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) funds earmarked for farmers but allegedly diverted to fictitious projects.
In a 237-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division found Napoles and former DAR Undersecretary Jerry Pacturan guilty on 10 counts of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents for facilitating the release of government funds to non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly under Napoles’ control.
The anti-graft court also found Napoles guilty on 10 counts of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, while acquitting Pacturan of the graft charges after ruling that prosecutors failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt on those specific counts.
Napoles was sentenced to up to 20 years imprisonment for each count of malversation and up to 15 years for each graft conviction. Pacturan, meanwhile, was sentenced to up to more than 19 years in prison for each of the 10 malversation convictions.
Former Napoles staff member Evelyn De Leon was likewise convicted on three counts each of graft and malversation. She received prison terms of up to 12 years for each graft conviction and up to more than 19 years for each malversation conviction. She was, however, acquitted of seven other counts after the court found insufficient evidence to sustain her conviction.
Napoles attended the promulgation through video conferencing, while Pacturan and De Leon personally appeared before the anti-graft court.
The court ruled that Pacturan conspired with former DAR finance officials and several private individuals in releasing ₱5 million each to 10 NGOs that supposedly implemented agricultural development projects in various municipalities across Luzon.
According to the decision, Pacturan executed 10 memoranda of agreement (MOAs) despite lacking authority to do so and despite glaring irregularities in the documents.
The ruling further held Napoles responsible for directing the preparation of fabricated funding requests, including forged signatures of municipal mayors and notaries public, to facilitate the release of government funds.
Prosecutors said the funds were intended to finance agricultural inputs for 10 local government units, but witnesses testified that the projects were never carried out.
During the trial, eight mayors from Bulacan, Batangas, Pangasinan, and Quezon denied signing the funding requests, telling the court that their signatures had been falsified to make it appear they had endorsed the projects.
The prosecution clarified that the case did not involve the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), but rather regular appropriations from the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Meanwhile, charges against Simplicio Gumafelix and Eulogio Rodriguez were dismissed following their deaths, while Ronald John Lim Jr., Rowena Agbayani, and John Raymund de Asis remain at large.
ia/xf
