MANILA, Philippines – It was her boss who allegedly instructed her to set up fake non-government organizations, fabricate or lift the names of NGO officers and their addresses from the telephone directory, and include her and her officemates’ relatives as officers and trustees of the organizations.
This was the claim of a whistleblower against her employer, Janet Lim-Napoles, late last week before she and other fellow informants were placed under the Department of Justice’s witness protection program.
In an exclusive interview with InterAksyon.com late Thursday night, the whistleblower, who claimed to have worked for Napoles for one-and-a-half decades, said she was among those instructed by Napoles to set up most of the 20 NGOs, several of which were allegedly used as conduits for the release and conversion of billions of pesos of public funds into kickbacks.
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| The whistle-blower's notebook that contains the names of the NGOs that Napoles allegedly instructed her to set up. |
“Bale 20 ‘yan, 19 ang aking ginawa, one ‘yong dating meron na na pinalitan ko ‘yong…presidente sa GIS [I set up a total of 19 NGOs, one NGO had already been registered but I change the name of its president in the general information sheet],” the whistleblower said.
“Sabi ni Madam sa akin…mag-isip ka ng mga pangalan ng NGO, tapos ipakita mo sa akin, aaprubahan ko [Madam told me to think of the names of the NGOs, show them to her and she would approve them] “ the whistleblower added.
Napoles not linked to NGOs
Napoles’ camp is denying the businesswoman’s link to any of the NGOs.
Lorna Kapunan, Napoles’ lawyer, earlier said that her client” has nothing to do with these NGOs” and the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) of lawmakers, which were allegedly channeled to the NGOs in exchange for kickbacks of as much as 60 percent of the legislators’ pork barrel funds.
“I certainly was not involved in any of the high-profile scams, which occurred during the previous administration. JLN Corp. has never transacted business or closed deals with the government or any of its agencies or instrumentalities, much less the government offices,” Napoles, who is ow detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, earlier said in a statement.
But the whistleblower, who was made president of one of the NGOs, said she had practically become an expert in setting up the supposed foundations as Napoles allegedly often instructed her on what to do.
“I-search mo sa Internet kung pwede [Search from the Internet if it’s available],” said the whistleblower, quoting Napoles allegedly telling her to check on the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission if the fabricated names of the NGOs were available for registration with the SEC.
“So noong sinabi ko na pwede, piniprint ko ‘yon, nire-reserve ko ng 30 days. Ipapakita ko sa kanya, ‘Ma’am eto na, libre, okay ang mga pangalan’ [So when I said the names were available, I print them and reserve them for 30 days. I will show them to her and say, ‘Ma’am these are available, the names are okay’],” she added.
If the names of the NGOs were available, Napoles would allegedly instruct her to go to the SEC and buy stamps and forms to have the organizations registered, according to the whistleblower.
“O sige… punta ka na ng SEC, anuhan mo na ng stamp [Okay, go to the SEC, buy stamps]” the whistleblower recalled Napole’s alleged instructions to her.
“Bibili na ako ng stamp, bibili na ako ng form. Kasi sa SEC meron ng form, pre-form na sila, ita-type ko [I would buy stamps and registration form. There’s already a form at the SEC, I will type the information].”
The whistle-blower claimed that she was also the one who was assigned to secure bank certificates for the NGOs as among the requirements for SEC registration.
“Kunyari P1 million lahat ng bank certificate na kailangan, hihingi ako sa kanya, ‘Ma’am pahingi na po ng pera. P1M tsaka pambayad doon sa SEC.’ ‘Yon bigay na s’ya [For instance, a bank certificate worth P1 million is needed, I would ask her, ‘Ma’am give me money, P1 million and fees for the SEC. Then she would give money],” the whistle-blower said.
'Share your blessings'
She said she and her officemates at JLN Corp. were enticed to become presidents of the NGOs and include their relatives as officers after Napoles allegedly promised that they would be given a share of the funds collected by the organizations.
Napoles allegedly told her and her officemates that they should “share their blessings” to their loved ones and even to the lowly employees of the businesswoman, including guards, drivers, and house helpers, who were also made part of the NGOs but had nothing to do with the organizations’ operations.
“Kapatid ko, pinsan ko, kapatid ng husband ko, tapos ‘yong kapatid ni Benhur.Si Lorna Ramirez na wife noong driver, sinama ko yon kasi para daw share-shareang blessing,” said the whistle-blower.
[I included my sibling, my cousin, the sibling of my husband, and the sister of Benhur (Luy). I also included Lorna Ramirez, the driver’s wife so that the blessings were shared.]
Napoles allegedly promised that she and the other presidents would get one percent of the total fund collection per NGO, portions of which should also be given to lowly employees.
“Kasi sabi n’ya 'yong mga kasambahay, driver, guard, magbeblessing s’ya. Eh di natuwa kami kasi hindi lang pala kami [She said she would give blessing to househelpers, drivers, guards. We were happy because we’re not the only ones who would receive benefits] ” the whistle-lower said.
“Kung meron kang P10 million eh de mayroon kang P100,000. Ang P50,000mapupunta sa president, bahala ka na magbigay doon sa mga trustees mo [If for instance you have P10 million, then your share is P100,000. The P50,000 will go to the president and it’s up to him or her to give the rest to the trustees.],” she added.
However, Napoles allegedly did not fulfill her promise, according to the whistle-blower. “Nanghinayang kami kasi pinakamalaking bigay n’ya P2,000 [She only gave us P2,000].”
‘Get names from the directory’
The whistleblower claimed that one time in 2006, her boss asked her to set up another NGO so Napoles could earn, too.
The whistkeblower said that when she asked Napoles who would be the NGOs trustees, her boss allegedly instructed her to just get names from the telephone directory.
“Ma’am, sabi ko, sinu-sino ang mga ilalagay na trustee? Kuha ka na lang sadirectory. Nagkuha ako, pati address nagkuha, jinumble-jumble namin [I asked her, ‘Ma’am who are we going to include as trustees?’ She told me to just get from the directory. So I got the names and the addresses from the directory, we jumbled them].”
The whistleblower said the NGO - Philippine Agri and Social Economic Development Foundation Inc. (PASED), whose president is a certain Mae-Ann Kilapkilap – was the one set up for Napoles.
She said Mae-Ann Kilapkilap was a fabricated name derived from the name of key whistleblower Luy’s sister, Sheriann Kilapkilap, whose nickname is Mae.
“Actually sa kanya ‘yon, lahat ng ginamit na project ng PASED sa kanya lahat 'yon kasi wala naman 'yong totoong (president) [ Actually, it belongs to her, all the projects of PASED, because it didn’t have a bonafide president],” said the whistleblower.
‘Madam signed as Janice Tan’
The whistleblower further claimed that Janice Tan, one of PASED’s trustees, was just a name that they got from the telephone directory.
She said that while securing a mayor’s permit for the NGO in Caloocan City, she found out that the fake PASED trustee had a namesake who had a criminal record with the government.
“Ang nakakatawa, noong kumukuha na ako ng mayor’s permit sa kanya, may kapangalan 'yong Janice Tan…na mayroong bad record sa munisipyo, nagdisplako ng pera, parang bouncing check,” the whistleblower said.
She said they had to submit an affidavit stating that the PASED trustee and the person who had a criminal record were not the same person.
The whistle-blower also alleged that it was Napoles who had signed as Tan in PASED’s records with the SEC.
“(Y)ong Janice Tan, s’ya ang pumirma, si Madam. ‘Yong stroke n'ya, pinirma n’ya ‘yong Janice Tan, stroke n’ya yon…So may participation din s’ya doon sa pagpirma ng mga trustees,” said the whistle-blower.
[It was Madam who signed as Janice Tan. Those were her handwriting strokes. So she also had a participation in the signing of papers by the trustees.]
