AN officer of a private foundation established by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles is facing 29 to 39 years imprisonment for defrauding government in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division convicted accused Evelyn de Leon, president of the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI), on two counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) and two counts of malversation of public funds.
PSDFI was identified by prosecution star witness Benhur Luy as one of the bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) established by Napoles who is serving lengthy jail terms for plunder and multiple corruption cases.
In its 35-page decision promulgated Oct. 9, 2024, the anti-graft court also ordered De Leon to pay fines amounting to P3.5 million, equivalent to the sum embezzled subject to 6 percent yearly interest to be computed once the conviction becomes final.
Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta penned the decision while Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses and Georgina D. Hidalgo concurred.
The cases filed in 2022 involved the release of the PDAF allocations of former Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez in the amounts of P1.5 million in November 2007 and P2 million in February 2008.
Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Ted Emmanuel Lorenzo testified that the special panel of investigators recommended the filing of criminal charges against Rodriguez, Napoles, and former executives of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) but in a ruling dated Dec. 23, 2020, the Office of the Ombudsman dropped the other respondents and approved indictments only against De Leon and former TRC director general Antonio Ortiz.
Since Ortiz remains at large, only De Leon underwent trial and was subsequently convicted.
State auditor Joan Agnes Alfafaras, also testifying for the prosecution, said Rodriguez’ PDAF was released by the Department of Budget and Management to the TRC as implementing agency, which in turn transferred P1.35 million and P1.8 million to the PSDFI after deducting 10 percent as management fee and cost of leaning materials.
The COA auditor said PSDFI was selected based on the endorsement of Rodriguez rather than through public bidding.
In convicting De Leon, the Sandiganbayan held that the prosecution sufficiently established that she conspired with Ortiz to funnel public funds into “non-existent projects.”
“De Leon knew she was defrauding the government, whether for her own personal benefit or not. She intended to defraud the government with every signature she affixed to divert funds intended for imagined “marginalized farmers” into PSDFl, the NGO which De Leon represented,” the court noted.
It added that prosecutors proved that not a centavo of the P3.5 million from the lawmaker’s PDAF found its way to legitimate projects intended for farmers.
“It has been established that PSDFl was set up as a corporation for the illegal purpose of siphoning government funds. De Leon acted on behalf of PSDFI in all the transactions crucial for the transfer of funds to PSDFI, and is thus criminally liable therefor,” the court said.
