By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — The investigation on the alleged misuse of the P900-million Malampaya funds has been postponed.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, initially set the probe on Sept. 25.
“The Blue Ribbon Committee is postponing the Malampaya hearing to a later date because the resource persons are not available on the given schedule,” Guingona said in a statement.
Commission on Audit (COA) chair Maria Gracia Pulido–Tan and COA’s Special Services Sector assistant commissioner Susan Garcia sent Guingona letters informing him of their non-availability.
Tan “will be on personal leave” due to an “official business trip abroad,” and will report on Nov. 16 yet.
Garcia, on the other hand, will also “be out of the country” and will be back on Oct. 7.
Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano filed in September last year a resolution calling for an inquiry on the so-called Malampaya fund scam.
The Department of Agrarian Reform allegedly allocated P900 million to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) managed by businesswoman Janet Lim–Napoles.
Cayetano had said the amount was supposed to help farmers in 97 towns affected by typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”
According to Cayetano, the Napoles-owned NGOs were directed to distribute “farm initiative production kits” to farmers.
“Despite the perceived economic development of the Philippines, many Filipino farmers and farmworkers in the agriculture industry are still wallowing in poverty and are left behind their counterparts in neighboring countries,” he said.
Opposition senator Jinggoy Estrada, now detained over his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam, said the Blue Ribbon Committee is not interested in investigating the Malampaya fund scam.
It even investigated the Makati City Hall Building 2 first, he said.
“It has been almost a year since the news about the plunder of Malampaya fund came out in the newspapers, and the committee has not done anything yet to uncover the truth behind the exposé,” he said./PN
