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The court convicts Evelyn De Leon, former president of a bogus NGO, on two counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of malversation of public funds
MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division convicted Evelyn De Leon — former president of the Philippine Social Development Foundation, Inc. (PSDFI), one of the bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) implicated in the pork barrel scam — for defrauding the government.
In a 35-page decision, published October 9, 2024, the court convicted De Leon on two counts of violations against the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and two counts of malversation of public funds. She faces 29 to 39 years of imprisonment on top of being fined P3.5-million, which will also be subject to a 6% annual interest once the conviction is final.
“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 PSDFI, the NGO which De Leon represented,” the anti-graft court noted.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta, while Associate Justices Zaldy Trespeses and Georgina Hidalgo concurred.
This follows an earlier conviction in October 2023 wherein so-called pork barrel queen Janet Napoles and De Leon, along with Godofredo Roque, were also convicted by the anti-graft court — Napoles with three counts of graft and three counts of malversation, while De Leon got one count for each of the crimes.
De Leon was president of the Philippine Social Development Foundation, Inc. (PSDFI), which received P121.61 million from senators and congressmen from 2007 to 2009.
It was prosecution star witness Benhur Luy who name-dropped PSDFI as one of those linked to so-called pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles, who now has over 100 prison sentences related to the misuse of lawmakers’ multi-million pork barrel or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Under Napoles’ scheme, lawmakers were working with her to channel their PDAF to her fake NGOs in exchange for kickbacks.
The decision stemmed from cases filed in 2022, which involved P1.5 million released in November 2007 and P2 million in February 2008 from the PDAF of Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez.
State auditor Joan Agnes Alfafaras in her testimony noted that Rodriguez’s PDAF was given to the Technology Resource Center (TRC). The TRC — the said implementing agency in this instance — only transferred P1.35 million and P1.8 million to PSDFI, deducting 10% to cover a management fee and cost of learning materials.
The bogus NGO was endorsed by Rodriguez himself and did not go through public bidding. The prosecutors noted that not a single centavo was spent on a real project that would benefit farmers. (READ: Almost half of PDAF goes to favored NGOs)
“It has been established that PSDFI 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 therefore,” the Sandiganbayan said.
According to Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Ted Emmanuel Lorenzo, the special panel of investigators had also recommended Rodriguez, Napoles, and former officials of the TRC to also face criminal charges. But this was junked by the Office of the Ombudsman in December 2020, only allowing indictments against De Leon, and one who remains at large, former TRC director general Antonio Ortiz. – Rappler.com
