Plunder charges for Malampaya fund scam to be filed

Plunder raps are set to be filed against those involved in the P900 million Malampaya Fund mess on Thursday, Justice Sec. Leila de Lima confirmed.

The filing of the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman was supposed to be today, but had to be postponed because the witnesses, including pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, have to be present during the bail hearings of businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

"Ngayon nga dapat, yung preferred date ko...I told them (NBI) that...but they told me, 'Ma'am, hindi po pwede...since Benhur and the other whistleblowers are expected to be in the bail hearings na naman," De Lima explained.

Napoles, the alleged brains behind the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam, is also being tagged in the Malampaya Fund controversy, wherein royalties from the Malampaya natural gas project were funneled from the Department of Agrarian Reform to non-government organizations (NGO) purportedly set up by the businesswoman.

Malampaya funds were supposed to be set aside for victims of natural calamities, such as tropical storms Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009.

Napoles currently faces charges of serious illegal detention for the alleged abduction of Luy and plunder for her purported involvement in the pork scam.

The Justice chief refused to name those to be charged for the Malampaya Fund mess.

Unlike the complaint on pork barrel scam, however, no lawmaker will be charged. Instead, at least one official from an Executive department may be included in the plunder case.


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