THE Sandiganbayan on Monday entered a not guilty plea in behalf of former Rep. Edgar Valdez of Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives party list who refused to enter any plea in connection with the plunder and graft charges filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Valdez’ co-accused, Janet Lim Napoles, however entered a not guilty plea.
Valdez is accused of pocketing at least P57.787 million in kickbacks from the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam. He allegedly siphoned his Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) from 2004 to 2010 to bogus non-government organizations said to be owned by Napoles, the alleged scam mastermind, in exchange for certain percentages.
Whistleblower Benhur Luy said payoffs for Valdez, whose codename is “kuryente,” were made in Napoles’ office in Ortigas.
Government prosecutors said the projects like livelihood programs, distribution of farm inputs and farm implements, agricultural starter kits, technology transfer training via video courses and printed materials, vegetable seeds, gardening packages, knapsack-sprayers, concentrated fertilizers, and other tools and equipment never went to their beneficiaries.
“(The) PDAF of Valdez was never used for the intended projects as these were considered ‘ghost’ projects, with fabricated documents submitted for its liquidation,” the Office of the Ombudsman said.
They added that “the mayors and municipal agriculturists said that they never received anything from the office of Valdez, or from any of the project partners Valdez’s lawyer Joel Ferrer said the former congressman refused to enter a plea in light of their plans to file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.
“Congressman Valdez refused to enter any plea otherwise we might render the petition for certiorari moot and academic,” Ferrer said. He added their petition will be based on the grounds that the principal requirement for plunder was not met.
Ferrer argued that for a case to be considered plunder, the amount in question must be at least P50 million.
“The motion we filed is anchored on the fact that the threshold amount was not met,” he said.
Valdez was among the second batch of lawmakers charged earlier this month by the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
The other ex-lawmakers charged before the Sandiganbayan were incumbent Masbate Governor Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, Samuel Dangwa of Benguet, Constantino Jaraula of Cagayan de Oro and Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur.