Summary
1. Arroyo found it strange that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad would now claim that the former senator’s office received P47 million worth of projects in February, eight months after Corona was ousted by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court. Along with Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. , Arroyo voted to acquit Corona of charges of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for dishonesty in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. “The accusation that Malacañang ‘rewarded’ the senators who voted to convict (Corona) puts Malacañang on a slippery slope, placing the charge of at least impropriety, if not outright bribery, right at the presidential doorstep,” he said. Of the 20 senators who voted to convict Corona, only then Sen. Panfilo Lacson did not accept the additional pork from the executive larder, according to Abad.
2. The P900 million, however, ended up in bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) of Napoles via the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to supposedly help storm victims. Government placed the damage to agriculture, infrastructure and property from Ondoy at P11 billion. The damage caused by Pepeng was estimated at P27 billion. Luy said Napoles had called a meeting of her JLN Corp. staff in their office at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City in July 2009 because she had found a new funding source for their “racket”—the Malampaya Fund, royalties from the gas project off the west coast of Palawan province. “Present at the meeting were Madame Janet Lim-Napoles, myself, Merlina Suñas, Evelyn de Leon and Ronald Lim,” Luy said in an affidavit.
3. In 2011, the DBM announced that the Aquino administration would “implement P72. 11 billion in additional projects in order to fast-track disbursements and push economic growth in light of the global slowdown and the onslaught of recent calamities. ” The projects, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said then, would be funded from “unused”
2. The P900 million, however, ended up in bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) of Napoles via the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to supposedly help storm victims. Government placed the damage to agriculture, infrastructure and property from Ondoy at P11 billion. The damage caused by Pepeng was estimated at P27 billion. Luy said Napoles had called a meeting of her JLN Corp. staff in their office at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City in July 2009 because she had found a new funding source for their “racket”—the Malampaya Fund, royalties from the gas project off the west coast of Palawan province. “Present at the meeting were Madame Janet Lim-Napoles, myself, Merlina Suñas, Evelyn de Leon and Ronald Lim,” Luy said in an affidavit.
3. In 2011, the DBM announced that the Aquino administration would “implement P72. 11 billion in additional projects in order to fast-track disbursements and push economic growth in light of the global slowdown and the onslaught of recent calamities. ” The projects, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said then, would be funded from “unused”