The Sandiganbayan has found convicted plunderer Janet Lim Napoles guilty of graft and malversation of the P20.91-million pork barrel of ex-South Cotabato lawmaker Arthur Pingoy intended for livelihood projects that turned out to be ghost or non-existent projects.
In a 66-page ruling handed down on Friday, the Sandiganbayan Special Second Division sentenced Napoles to up to 60 years in prison on four counts each of graft and malversation.
Pingoy, however, walked free from the same charges, including direct bribery — notwithstanding whistleblower Benhur Luy’s testimony — “for the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”
Aside from Napoles, the anti-graft court also convicted erstwhile officials of the now defunct National Agribusiness Corporation’s Rhodora Mendoza, Maria Ninez Guanizo and Victor Roman Cacal; and Evelyn de Leon of the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc.
Pingoy, who served three terms in the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2010, was accused of funneling his P20.91-million Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations set up by Napoles in exchange for kickbacks.
The Ombudsman’s probe showed the projects supposedly to finance farm implements, livelihood materials, and training turned out to be “ghost” projects as borne out by Commission on Audit reports and the testimonies of whistleblowers.
The Sandiganbayan, however, ruled that “there was no sufficient evidence” that Pingoy had received kickbacks or commissions from Napoles.
The PDAF was a lump sum discretionary fund allocated to lawmakers “to identify and fund key projects that local government units could not fund.”
The Supreme Court abolished it in November 2013 after it became a source of corruption and was declared unconstitutional.
Napoles, the principal suspect in the case, has been detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City since 2018 on plunder charges involving the unlawful disbursement of Senator Ramon Revilla Jr.’s pork barrel worth P224 million.
She is still facing several graft charges, all related to the pork barrel scam.