CLARK FREEPOR – Lawyer Levito Baligod, former legal counsel of whistleblower Benhur Luy, flowed with pessimism over the possible outcome of the Ombudsman’s probe of congressmen accused of receiving pay offs from their Priority Development Assistance Fund coursed through Janet Napoles.
In an interview here, Baligod said that of the 47 congressmen whom he had charged with plunder, graft and malversation of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman, only 13 have so far been charged. “Of the 47 charged based on the testimonies and documents provided by Ben Hur and Dennis Cunanan (former chief of the Technology Resource Center), four have already died,” he said after guesting in the Talk Widus forum of the Pampanga Press Club.
No longer Luy’s legal counsel, Baligod has remained involved in cases related to the misuse of PDAF as among the lawyers in the prosecution of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla. He said he backed off from the prosecution of the 47 congressmen amid the failure of the Ombudsman to act immediately on the cases.
Malversation raps were also dropped in the charges. “I have remained puzzled over the Ombudsman’s decision not to include malversation in the cases against the 13 congressmen now charged. Plunder requires proving misuse of at least P50 million public funds, while one who is found guilty of malversation involving a much smaller amount could lead to reclusion perpetua,” he noted.
He said that all the 13 congressmen who have been charged are not known allies of the Aquino administration, while those who are in his list but have not been charged include Aquino allies. Baligod noted that Joel Villanueva, director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Rep. Rufus Rodriguez were not included among those charged despite reports they allegedly got commissions worth P6.5 million and P3.5 million, respectively, from Napoles’ non-government organizations.
“It seems that ‘tuwid na daan’ is not for allies (of Pres. Aquino),” he said. Baligod also said that the National Bureau of Investigation has ceased to continue its probe on PDAF anomalies and that even the Department of Justice “is no longer investigating.”
