Conduct Unbecoming? Rodolfo Ompong Plaza? Pork Barrel Scam?

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Who is Ompong Plaza?

Ompong Plaza is mentioned “In the initial report published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 28 members of Congress (five senators and 23 representatives) were named as participants in the PDAF scam”.

Rodolfo “Ompong” Galido Plaza is known for GMA News article “Lawmaker wants cockfighting part of Philippines heritage“.

Good Egg?

I  wish and hope all cockfighters are good eggs.

And I also wish and hope that Ompong Plaza is a good egg.

Plaza: A Family of Cockfighters

• Gov. Eddie Bong Plaza / Honorable Randolph Plaza (TARLAC)
  • EP RBP Roosterville 3
  • 11pts out of 11pts
  • Champion of National 11-Stag Derby 2011 (4,437 entries)
• Boyet Plaza
  • President of Luzon Gamefowl Breeders Association (LGBA)
• Democrito Plaza
  • A nationally known breeder-cockfighter from the old days
  • ? Tough competitor against Duke Hulsey and Jorge Araneta ?

According to wikipedia…

Rodolfo Galido Plaza (born March 13, 1958) is a Filipino politician. A member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, he has been elected to three terms as a Member of the House of Representatives, representing the Lone District of Agusan del Sur, first in 2001 and most recently in 2007. He is the son of former governors Democrito O. Plaza and Valentina G. Plaza and brother of former governor Adolph Edward Plaza and governor Maria Valentina Plaza.

• “Member Information: Rodolfo G. Plaza”. House of Representatives of the Philippines. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
• “Official Website of Congressman Rodolfo ‘Ompong’ G. Plaza.”.

On Pork Barrel Scam: Be An Activist

Join the 26AUG PROTEST.

• WE WANT TO ABOLISH PORK BARREL
• WE DEMAND TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

MILLION PEOPLE MARCH AUGUST 26: SA ARAW NG MGA BAYANI. PROTESTA ng BAYAN!!!

LUZON August 26

• MANILA Quirino Grandstand Rizal Park Luneta, 9am-2pm
• BAGUIO CITY Burnham Park, 12nn
• DAET 1st Rizal Monument, 9am
• NAGA CITY Plaza Rizal, 9am
• DAGUPAN CITY City Plaza, 9am

VISAYAS August 26

• ILOILO CITY Museo Ilo-ilo Plaza Libertad, 9am
• CEBU CITY Fuente Osmena to Plaza Independencia, 7am
• BACOLOD CITY Provincial Capitol Lagoon, 9am
• TAGBILARAN CITY Plaza Rizal, 9am
• DUMAGUETE CITY Rizal Boulevard, 9am
• TACLOBAN CITY RTR Plaza, 9am
• PUERTO PRINCESA, 8am

MINDANAO August 26

• DAVAO CITY Rizal Park, 9am
• DIGOS CITY Rizal Park, 9am
• CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY Kiosko Kagawasan Divisoria, 2-5pm
• GENERAL SANTOS CITY Rizal Park, 9am
• TACURONG CITY City Rotunda, 9am
• ZAMBOANGA CITY WMSU Normal Road to Plaza Pershing, 8am
• BUTUAN CITY Guingona Park, 9am
• PAGADIAN CITY Plaza Luz, 9m

EUROPE August 26

• UK London PH Embassy, 11am

EUROPE August 25

• ITALY Rome, Chiesa di San Prudenziana 10:30am
• ROMANIA Bucharest, Complex Magic Str. Drumul Taberei Nr. 115 Sector 6, 10am

NORTH AMERICA August 25

• USA NYC PH Consulate, 3pm
• USA Washington DC, 3:30pm
• USA Honolulu, 3:30pm
• USA San Francisco, 3:30pm
• USA Los Angeles PH Consulate, 5pm
• CANADA Slocan Park, 11am
• CANADA Vancouver, 11am
• CANADA Montreal, 11am

RSVP

RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/406846762761075/ to spread the word on facebook and other social networks.

– Gameness til the End

Priority Development Assistance Fund scam

The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF scam or the pork barrel scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse by several members of the Congress of the Philippines of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF, popularly called “pork barrel“), a lump-sum discretionary fund granted to each member of Congress for spending on priority development projects of the Philippine government, mostly on the local level. The scam was first exposed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 12, 2013, with the six-part exposé of the Inquirer on the scam pointing to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles as the scam’s mastermind after Benhur K. Luy, her second cousin and former personal assistant, was rescued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on March 22, 2013, four months after he was detained by Napoles at her unit at the Pacific Plaza Towers in Fort Bonifacio. Initially centering on Napoles’ involvement in the 2004 Fertilizer Fund scam, the government investigation on Luy’s testimony has since expanded to cover Napoles’ involvement in a wider scam involving the misuse of PDAF funds from 2003 to 2013.

It is estimated that the Philippine government was defrauded of some ₱10 billion in the course of the scam, having been diverted to Napoles, participating members of Congress and other government officials. Aside from the PDAF and the fertilizer fund maintained by the Department of Agriculture, around ₱900 million in royalties earned from the Malampaya gas field were also lost to the scam. The scam has provoked public outrage, with calls being made on the Internet for popular protests to demand the abolition of the PDAF, and the order for Napoles’ arrest sparking serious discussion online.

Accused parties

In the initial report published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 28 members of Congress (five senators and 23 representatives) were named as participants in the PDAF scam. Twelve of these legislators were identified by the newspaper, and close to ₱3 billion in PDAF funds coming from these legislators alone were exposed to the scam. Notably, the Inquirer named Bong Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Gregorio Honasan—who are part of the minority bloc in the Senate and are therefore not allied with President Benigno Aquino III—as the five senators who participated in the scam. Revilla was the largest contributor among the 28 legislators, with around ₱1.015 billion of his PDAF funds being transferred to organizations identified with the JLN Group of Companies, although the extent to which legislators participated in the scam varied widely.

Members of Congress identified by the Inquirer as participants in the PDAF scam

Legislator	Chamber	Party		Amount exposed
Bong Revilla	Senate		Lakas	₱1.015 billion
Juan Ponce Enrile	Senate		PMP	₱641.65 million
Jinggoy Estrada	Senate		PMP	₱585 million
Rizalina Seachon-Lanete	House of Representatives		NPC	₱137.29 million
Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.	Senate		Nacionalista	₱100 million
Conrado Estrella III	House of Representatives		NPC	₱97 million
Edgar L. Valdez	House of Representatives		APEC	₱85 million
Rodolfo Plaza	House of Representatives		NPC	₱81.5 million
Erwin Chiongbian	House of Representatives		Lakas	₱65.35 million
Samuel Dangwa	House of Representatives		Lakas	₱62 million
Robert Raymund Estrella	House of Representatives		Abono	₱41 million
Gregorio Honasan	Senate		Independent	₱15 million
TOTAL				₱2.928 billion

Other legislators identified by the Inquirer as participating in the scam include La Union Representative Victor Ortega and former Representative Arthur Pingoy. Early reports had also identified Senator Loren Legarda as one of the participants in the scam, but Luy later denied her participation.

Legislators identified by the Inquirer as participants in the PDAF scam—Bong Revilla in particular—have denied their participation in the scam. All senators except Jinggoy Estrada denied any knowledge of the scheme (Estrada refused to comment), and Marcos denied being acquaintances with Janet Lim-Napoles. Revilla and Marcos have also claimed that the investigation into the scam is politically motivated, saying that Malacañang is out to discredit potential candidates for the 2016 presidential election who are not allied with President Aquino: a charge that the administration denies. However, both Revilla and Marcos, as well as Honasan, have indicated their willingness to participate in any investigation, saying that they have nothing to hide.

On August 16, 2013, the Commission on Audit released the results of a three-year investigation into the use of legislators’ PDAF and other discretionary funds during the last three years of the Arroyo administration. The report not only affirmed the Inquirer’s findings, but also pointed to more legislators being privy to misuse of their PDAF funds. According to the report, between 2007 and 2009, ₱6.156 billion in PDAF funds coming from 12 senators and 180 representatives were disbursed to fund 772 projects found to be implemented in ways that were “not proper and highly irregular”. Of the 82 NGOs implementing those projects, ten are linked to Napoles. The report also elaborates on “questionable” transactions made using the PDAF: ₱1.054 billion went to NGOs which were either unregistered, used multiple Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), or issued questionable receipts; while ₱1.289 billion in PDAF disbursements spent were not compliant with the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003. Lawmakers from across the political spectrum, both past and present, were cited in the report, some of whom (such as Edgardo Angara, Ruffy Biazon, Neptali Gonzales II and Niel Tupas, Jr.) are closely related to President Aquino. Some legislators also donated PDAF funds to NGOs they themselves are affiliated with: these include Angara, Victoria Sy-Alvarado and Matias Defensor, Jr..

Other government officials have been implicated as well in the PDAF scam. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, for example, was accused by Merlina Suñas, Luy’s fellow whistleblower, of being complicit in the scam, as his department was responsible for transferring at least ₱16 million in PDAF funds to livelihood projects managed by an NGO linked to Napoles. 97 mayors were also implicated in the scam in connection with the allocation of Malampaya gas field royalties as reconstruction aid for areas affected by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng which instead went to Napoles, after it was discovered that employees of the JLN Group of Companies forged their signatures to make it appear that they were requesting for aid. 44 other mayors were likewise implicated in the scam when Napoles, through fashion designer Eddie Baddeo, reportedly facilitated requests for disbursements from the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) on behalf of their municipalities. A number of mayors have denied involvement in the scam, including three mayors from Bataan, seven from Ilocos Norte, one from Pangasinan, and one from Iloilo.

The Napoles Story: So the entire Philippines will know

August 21, 2013 | Opinion
By Alfredo Masigan

Janet Lim Napoles has strong ties before with the late Emilia Boncodin, DBM Secretary. Emilia is the one that keep Janet in the loop whenever a budget or SARO is approved and to which senator or congressman.

Gringo Honasan is a dear friend of Janet’s husband, Jimmy Napoles. I was surprised when I read somewhere online when Honasan was interviewed and he said that he doesn’t know the Napoles family.

During the coup in Cory’s time, Jimmy Napoles was driving a tank on the way to Camp Crame when his tank was hit by a mortar. Jimmy was operating the .50 caliber machine gun and the soldier driving the tank died during the blast. Jimmy survived and was jailed along with Honasan. If you can get clear photos of Jimmy Napoles online, you will see that part of his face and his arms show burn marks.

Their wealth started to build up during the late 90’s when they engaged themselves with mayors based in Zamboanga to use them as a front for a Foundation that will implement projects or deliver farm materials. With connections at COA, they were able to arrange completed projects without delivering anything. They established JLN group of companies sometime in 2000 and they moved to their new office from AFPOVAI to Discovery Suites on the 25th floor.

Soon enough, they were able to develop deep connections with more legislators in Congress and numerous senators. What JLN Group Of Companies do and their sub-companie, Jo-Chris Trading (named after their eldest child, Jo-Christine “Neneng” Napoles) – they use their foundations as the implementing agency for the funds of congressmen or senators. You see, congressmen and senators have budget, PDAF or the pork barrel , but these politicians do not have direct access to their funds and they can never touch it. So what they do is the politicians will create a project (common one is fertilizer distribution to farmers) and will ask DBM to set the budget. Then, there will be a public bidding to be held by DAR. The outcome of the bidding is already fixed and it’s Napoles foundation wins. The fund or SARO will be released through Janet’s foundation and the congressmen/senators will ask 70% of the whole amount. So if the project is P10 million, Janet will give 70% of that. Usually Janet’s nephew, John Francisco Lim is the courier of the money, they will meet at Podium or at a parking lot. The money are stored in plastic bags or paper bags.

So, whatever is left from the budget, 30% goes to Janet. They usually cash-in the check they get from DBM at Landbank in Greenhills and the manager there is part of Janet’s payroll. Janet also need to pay the inspectors from COA and whoever is involved in DAR.

This is their workflow. This is what they do for more than a decade. This is how the senators and congressmen make money. This is why theses politicians have so much and working class Filipinos almost have nothing. This is not only Janet’s fault. The greediness of the senators and congressmen are the driving point that keeps this system operating. It is also amazing that if Janet’s family and her company goes into trial, the people who will try them judges, senators, congressmen, are also part of this. I fear for the life of Benhur and Merlina as whistleblowers. Soon enough they will die. The people of the Philippines should protect them. NBI or the witness protection program cannot do anything about it. Because they are keeping the whistleblowers alive for their own use only. Once Janet gives payments to the NBI and once Revilla, Honasan, Arroyo, Pichay, Ducut, Pineda, Lim, Estrada, Soto, Lapid, and almost all the congressmen who were in post for the past decade, step in – there’s nothing Benhur or Merlina can do. They are as good as dead by now.

Please post this on your social media and share it to the world. It is time to stop this madness and remove the pork barrel and protect Benhur and Merlina.

Janet Lim Napoles and husband Jaime Napoles