By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan — Gov. Florencio Miraflores had been identified as one of the government officials behind the pork barrel scam.
He was one of the former and current officials named in a list supposedly from the alleged scam mastermind, Janet Lim–Napoles.
Miraflores strongly denied his alleged involvement in the anomaly.
The officials in the list, which had been circulating recently, purportedly received kickbacks after allocating part of their Priority Development Assistance Funds to bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) of Napoles.
“Hindi ko imaw kilaea (I don’t know her),” Miraflores said of Napoles.
“I could categorically say that I have no dealings whatsoever with Mrs. Napoles. I have never met her or dealt with her organizations during my term as congressman,” the former Aklan representative (2001–2010) said.
“Gina dahanan ko ro pondo it gobyerno para sa kamaeayran it mga pumueoyo sa Aklan. Akon nga pag panerbisyo hay hantup gid sa akong tagipusoon (I have been using government funds for the benefit of Aklanons. My service had always been heartfelt),” he stressed.
Miraflores said he never had any transaction with Napoles during his nine years in Congress.
He said he never gave funds to NGOs or any Napoles-related organizations from 2008 to 2013, but he did to government agencies and local government units.
Miraflores admitted to allocating funds for the NGO Uswag Pilipinas in 2007.
Uswag Pilipinas distributed farm implements, water pumps and hand tractors to various cooperatives in Aklan.
“Gasalig ako sa mga Akeanon nga kilaea nanda ro akun nga pagkatawo. Napakita ko man ro sinseridad ag kun paano naton napauswag ro Akean (I believe Aklanons know me better. I have shown them how sincere I am in making Aklan progress),” he said.
Miraflores said he would welcome a deeper investigation on anyone involved in the scam and “why our names were included in the list.”
Napoles is facing plunder charges for conniving with government officials to channel their pork barrel funds to dubious NGOs./PN
