Youth group pushes P75M plunder raps vs Alcala
AGRICULTURE Secretary Proceso Alcala should be charged with plunder and graft for allegedly misusing P75 million in pork barrel funds, a youth group said in a complaint it filed yesterday in the Office of the Ombudsman.
Youth Act Now (YAN) asked the Ombudsman to investigate and charge Alcala with plunder and graft like it did Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla in the Sandiganbayan.
The group claimed Alcala “amassed, accumulated or acquired ill-gotten wealth, directly or indirectly through dummies, nominees, agents, subordinates and/or business associates” as Quezon representative and as agriculture secretary.
Alcala “is the responsible public officer for both overt acts, as he has full control over his Priority Development Assis- tance Fund (PDAF) and its implementation, and he is the final approving authority for projects under his department,” it said in a 13-page complaint.
COA report
Citing a Commission on Audit (COA) report, YAN alleged that Alcala benefited from the misappropriation of P75 million in pork barrel funds, when he was Quezon (second district) representative and as current agriculture chief.
It said the COA special audit report released last August found that Alcala was among the lawmakers who used their PDAF in questionable transactions in exchange for kickbacks and commissions.
Alcala allegedly assigned P36 million when he was Quezon representative and P39 million as agriculture secretary to bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs), including those controlled by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
In the complaint, YAN, represented by a certain Victor Villanueva, said Alcala was linked by the COA to anomalous pork barrel-funded projects with questionable NGOs.
“The COA reported that 41 suppliers with purported transactions amounting to P352.136 million with 17 NGOs out of funds transferred by five implementing agencies denied their involvement and participation in the projects,” the group said.
“Among the transactions denied by the suppliers were those coming from the PDAF of then Congressman Proceso J. Alcala of the second district of Quezon, who together with other legislators, transferred funds to the Economic and Social Cooperation for Local Development Foundation Inc. (Ecosoc) amounting to P36.025 million,” YAN said.
It added that Alcala had confirmed that it was indeed his signature that appeared in Ecosoc documents.
The supposed beneficiaries denied having received any assistance from the projects.
P39M lost
The youth group said Alcala as agriculture secretary had admitted that he transferred P39 million in public funds to Napoles and her dubious NGOs, but P44 million supposedly assigned to Napoles’ group was not released.
“Simply put, during his term as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, public funds in the amount of P39 million were lost and funneled into Janet Lim Napoles and her NGOs,” the complaint read.
The group said the misappropriated funds included nonPDAF funds under the Organic Agricultural Program, which Napoles’ NGOs operated in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija; Umingan, Pangasinan; and in the municipalities of Madrid, Hinatuan, Tago and Cantillan in Surigao del Sur.