Checks show media men got pork barrel money from Nabcor

MANILA, Philippines—The payoffs, in the guise of “advertising expenses,” included prominent broadcast journalists.


Erwin Tulfo, a television news anchor, and Carmelo del Prado
Magdurulang, a radio talk-show host, were allegedly among the
beneficiaries of the diversion of congressional allocations from the
Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) coursed through state-owned
National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) and subsequently to ghost projects
of bogus foundations, according to checks and accompanying documents
made available to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


Former Nabcor officials Rhodora Mendoza and Vic Cacal said that a
check for P245,535 was issued to Tulfo on March 10, 2009, drawn from a
Nabcor account at United Coconut Planters’ Bank (UCPB), Tektite Branch
PSE Center, Ortigas,  Pasig City.


Three checks were separately issued to Magdurulang by Nabcor in
2009—on April 27,  May 14, July 6—totaling P245,535—all drawn from the
same corporate account No. 00196-000848-4 in UCPB, they said.


The checks were described in the accompanying vouchers as
“advertising expenses,” according to documents submitted to the Office
of the Ombudsman and made available to the Inquirer.


Mendoza and Cacal have sent documents to the Office of the
Ombudsman purporting to show that Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy
Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Edgardo Angara and 79 representatives
coursed a total of P1.7 billion in PDAF allocations through Nabcor,
which then channeled the monies to dubious nongovernment organizations
(NGOs), during the period from 2007 to 2009.


The lawmakers have denied the charges.


The Ombudsman is investigating 38 people, including Enrile,
Estrada and Revilla, in connection with a complaint involving the
alleged diversion of P10 billion in PDAF allotments to phantom projects
and kickbacks.


Mendoza also told the Inquirer that another prominent TV and
radio personality received P2 million from Nabcor president Alan
Javellana on the instruction of then Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap
“as payoff to stop criticizing a Nabcor project.”


“Nabcor shoulders the under-the-table expenses of DA (Department
of Agriculture) on the instructions of Secretary Yap,” Cacal said.


Mendoza, Cacal and Javellana are among the 38 people under
investigation in connection with the P10-billion PDAF scam. Mendoza and
Cacal have applied to become state witnesses.


Cacal said that a DA project to build a total of 708 kilometers
of farm-to-market roads and 200 units of market-related infrastructure
was the subject of the supposed “advertisement.”


Tulfo and Magdurulang are known as hard-hitting broadcast personalities whose shows cater to assisting aggrieved listeners.


Contacted by the Inquirer, Tulfo denied he received money from
Nabcor and said he did not enter into any transaction with Javellana.


“Somebody could be using my name, I want to investigate who
cashed the check and what bank,” Tulfo said in a telephone interview.


Magdurulang, who uses Melo del Prado as his name in his
broadcasts, said when reached by phone, “Strict masyado ang GMA diyan.
Ayokong magsalita (GMA is strict. I don’t want to talk).”  Then the
phone went dead.


“Except for a voucher that justified the processing of the
payments, no other documents passed our desk to justify the expenses for
media men,” Cacal told Inquirer.


Apart from the broadcasters, Nabcor also hired the services of
such media outfits as  MEDIAaffairs Inc. and Full Circle communications
for the food terminal project of the DA, Mendoza said.


Mendoza said that an estimated P5 billion worth of projects came
from the DA’s attached agencies, such as the Agricultural Credit Policy
Council, Bureau of Soil and Water Management, and the Bureau of Posts
Harvest Research and Extension.