The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is a discretionary fund in the Philippines available

to members of Congress. Originally established as the CountrywideDevelopment Fund (CDF) in 1990, it

is designed to allow legislators to fund small-scale infrastructure or community projects which fell outside
the scope of the national infrastructure program, which was often restricted to large infrastructure items.
[1]

The PDAF is commonly called the "pork barrel", and has been the subject of much public criticism
following exposs on abuses perpetuated by members of Congress on use of the fund in 1996 and 2013.

The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF scam or the pork barrel
scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse by several members of the Congress of the
Philippines of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF, popularly called "pork barrel"), a lump-
sum discretionary fund granted to each member of Congress for spending on priority development
projects of the Philippine government, mostly on the local level. The scam was first exposed in
the Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 12, 2013,
[1]
with the six-part expos of the Inquirer on the scam
pointing to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles as the scam's mastermind after Benhur K. Luy, her
second cousin and former personal assistant, was rescued by agents of the National Bureau of
Investigation on March 22, 2013, four months after he was detained by Napoles at her unit at thePacific
Plaza Towers in Fort Bonifacio.
[2]
Initially centering on Napoles' involvement in the 2004 Fertilizer Fund
scam, the government investigation on Luy's testimony has since expanded to cover Napoles'
involvement in a wider scam involving the misuse of PDAF funds from 2003 to 2013.
It is estimated that the Philippine government was defrauded of some 10 billion in the course of the
scam,
[1]
having been diverted to Napoles, participating members of Congress and other government
officials. Aside from the PDAF and the fertilizer fund maintained by the Department of Agriculture, around
900 million in royalties earned from the Malampaya gas field were also lost to the scam.
[3]
The scam has
provoked public outrage, with calls being made on the Internet for popular protests to demand the
abolition of the PDAF,
[4]
and the order for Napoles' arrest sparking serious discussion online.
[5]


The PDAF scam involved the funding of "ghost projects" that were funded using the PDAF funds of
participating lawmakers.
[15]
These projects were in turn "implemented" through Napoles' companies, with
the projects producing no tangible output. According to testimony provided by Benhur Luy's brother,
Arthur, funds would be processed through fake foundations and non-governmental organizations(NGOs)
established under the wing of the JLN Group of Companies, the holding company of Janet Lim-Napoles,
with Napoles' employeeseven a nannynamed as incorporators or directors.
[16]
Each foundation or
NGO served as an official recipient of a particular legislator's PDAF funds, and each organization had a
number of bank accounts where PDAF funds would be deposited for the implementation of these
projects.
[15]

Napoles, who specialized in trading agricultural products, frequently used the procurement of agricultural
inputs in the propagation of the scam. Either her employees would write to legislators requesting for funds
for the implementation of a particular project (e.g. farm inputs), or a legislator would indicate to the DBM a
particular recipient agency for his or her PDAF funds that would be pre-selected by Napoles.
[17]
Once
received, this is forwarded to the DBM, which would then issue a Special Allotment Release Order
(SARO) indicating the amount deducted from the legislator's PDAF allocation, and later a Notice of Cash
Allocation (NCA) given to the recipient agency. The NCA would then be deposited in one of the
foundation's accounts, and the funds withdrawn in favor of the JLN Group of Companies.
[16]
The funds
would then be split between Napoles, the lawmaker, the official of the DA responsible for facilitating the
transfer of funds and, for good measure, the local mayor or governor.
[15]
The JLN Group of Companies
offered a commission of 10-15% against funds released to local government units and recipient agencies
of PDAF funds, while a legislator would receive a commission of between 40-50% against the total value
of his/her PDAF.
[17]

Letters sent by Napoles' employees to participating legislators would also include a letter from a local
government unit requesting for funding, bearing the forged signature of the local mayor or governor. All
documents involving local government units were prepared by Napoles' staff, and Benhur Luy would forge
the signature of the local mayor or governor. Local government officials who were used by Napoles were
often unaware that they were participating in the scam.
[16]
In other instances, however, Napoles would
use emissaries to establish contact with local mayors in exchange for commissions that would come from
the implementation of these projects.
[15]

Every recipient agency participating in the scam had employees or officials that maintained contact with
Napoles, allowing for the smooth processing of transactions and the expedient release of PDAF funds to
her organizations. Most importantly, Napoles was in regular contact with the DBM through Undersecretary
for Operations Mario L. Relampagos,
[18]
who had three employees (identified as Leah, Malou and Lalaine)
responsible for the processing of SAROs destined for Napoles' organizations.
[17]

Accused parties[edit]
In the initial report published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 28 members of Congress (five senators and
23 representatives) were named as participants in the PDAF scam. Twelve of these legislators were
identified by the newspaper, and close to 3 billion in PDAF funds coming from these legislators alone
were exposed to the scam. Notably, the Inquirernamed Bong Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy
Estrada, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Gregorio Honasan as the five senators who participated in the scam.
Revilla was the largest contributor among the 28 legislators, with around 1.015 billion of his PDAF funds
being transferred to organizations identified with the JLN Group of Companies, although the extent to
which legislators participated in the scam varied widely.
[19]



Iloilo City Students protest against Pork Barrel and Education Budget Cuts
Members of the Senate & Congress identified by
the I nquirer as participants in the PDAF scam
[19]

Legislator Chamber Party
Amount
exposed
Bong
Revilla
Senate

Lakas
1.015
billion
Juan Ponce
Enrile
Senate

PMP
641.65
million
Jinggoy
Estrada
Senate

PMP
585
million
Rizalina
Seachon-
Lanete
House of
Representatives

NPC
137.29
million
Ferdinand
Marcos, Jr.
Senate

Nacionalista
100
million
Conrado
Estrella III
House of
Representatives

NPC
97
million
Edgar L.
Valdez
House of
Representatives

APEC
85
million
Rodolfo
Plaza
House of
Representatives

NPC
81.5
million
Erwin
Chiongbian
House of
Representatives

Lakas
65.35
million
Samuel
Dangwa
House of
Representatives

Lakas
62
million
Robert
Raymund
House of
Representatives

Abono
41
million
Estrella
Gregorio
Honasan
Senate

Independent
15
million
TOTAL
2.928
billion
Other legislators identified by the Inquirer as participating in the scam include La Union Representative
Victor Ortega and former Representative Arthur Pingoy. Early reports had also identified Senator Loren
Legarda as one of the participants in the scam,
[20]
but Luy later denied her participation.
[19]

Legislators identified by the Inquirer as participants in the PDAF scamBong Revilla in particularhave
denied their participation in the scam. All senators except Jinggoy Estrada denied any knowledge of the
scheme (Estrada refused to comment), and Marcos denied being acquaintances with Janet Lim-
Napoles.
[21]
Revilla and Marcos have also claimed that the investigation into the scam is politically
motivated, saying that Malacaang is out to discredit potential candidates for the 2016 presidential
election who are not allied with President Aquino: a charge that the administration denies.
[22]
However,
both Revilla and Marcos, as well as Honasan,
[21]
have indicated their willingness to participate in any
investigation, saying that they have nothing to hide.
[23]

On August 16, 2013, the Commission on Audit released the results of a three-year investigation into the
use of legislators' PDAF and other discretionary funds during the last three years of the Arroyo
administration. The report not only affirmed the Inquirer's findings, but also pointed to more legislators
being privy to misuse of their PDAF funds. According to the report, between 2007 and 2009, 6.156
billion in PDAF funds coming from 12 senators and 180 representatives were disbursed to fund 772
projects found to be implemented in ways that were "not proper and highly irregular".
[24]
Of the 82 NGOs
implementing those projects, ten are linked to Napoles.
[25]
The report also elaborates on "questionable"
transactions made using the PDAF: 1.054 billion went to NGOs which were either unregistered, used
multiple Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), or issued questionable receipts; while 1.289 billion in PDAF
disbursements spent were not compliant with the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum, both past and present, were cited in the report, some of
whom (such as Edgardo Angara, Ruffy Biazon, Neptali Gonzales II and Niel Tupas, Jr.) are closely
related to President Aquino.
[26]
Some legislators also donated PDAF funds to NGOs they themselves are
affiliated with: these include Angara, Victoria Sy-Alvarado and Matias Defensor, Jr..
[27]

Other government officials have been implicated as well in the PDAF scam. Agriculture
Secretary Proceso Alcala, for example, was accused by Merlina Suas, Luy's fellow whistleblower, of
being complicit in the scam, as his department was responsible for transferring at least 16 million in
PDAF funds to livelihood projects managed by an NGO linked to Napoles.
[28]
97 mayors were also
implicated in the scam in connection with the allocation of Malampaya gas field royalties as reconstruction
aid for areas affected by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng which instead went to Napoles, after it was
discovered that employees of the JLN Group of Companies forged their signatures to make it appear that
they were requesting for aid.
[29]
44 other mayors were likewise implicated in the scam when Napoles,
through fashion designer Eddie Baddeo, reportedly facilitated requests for disbursements from the
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) on behalf of their
municipalities.
[30]
A number of mayors have denied involvement in the scam, including three mayors
from Bataan,
[31]
seven from Ilocos Norte,
[32]
one from Pangasinan,
[33]
and one from Iloilo.
[34]

Investigation[edit]
A number of investigations are currently ongoing or will be organized to determine the extent of the PDAF
scam. On July 16, 2013, the Office of the Ombudsman announced that it was forming a special six-
person panel initially to investigate the projects bankrolled by the 23 legislators originally named in
the Philippine Daily Inquirer, in parallel with the NBI investigation against Napoles.
[35]
The next day,
President Aquino ordered the Department of Justice to conduct and "extensive and fair probe" of the
scam,
[36]
which Napoles also asked for on July 27.
[37]
Despite calls for the investigation to be made open
to the public, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima refused, stating at the time that it was too early for the DOJ
investigation to be made public when the NBI was still gathering data on the scam.
[38]

Members of Congress have also called for parallel investigations in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives as to the extent of the scam. Despite calls by SenatorFrancis Escudero to have the
scam investigated,
[39]
the Senate initially agreed not to investigate the scam on August 5, instead opting
to wait for the results of the investigations being conducted by the DOJ, the Ombudsman, the NBI and the
Commission on Audit before launching its own investigation.
[40]
However, following the release of the CoA
report which implicated more legislators in the scam, the Senate eventually agreed to conduct its own
investigation, which would be led by its Blue Ribbon Committee.
[41]

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, has refused to conduct a probe, with Speaker Feliciano
Belmonte, Jr. claiming that the House investigating its own members would be "messy", instead preferring
to wait for the results of the DOJ investigation.
[42]
This is despite the clamor from a number of
representatives, mostly from the minority bloc not allied with President Aquino, that the House should
conduct its own investigation into the matter.
[43]

Following the release of the CoA report, the DOJ is expected to expand its investigation beyond the
evidence originally provided by Luy and the other Napoles whistleblowers. It is also looking at forming
either a joint or a parallel investigation with the Ombudsman and the NBI, although its main focus for the
time being is on Napoles' involvement in the scam.
[44]

Napoles surrendered to President Benigno Aquino III at 9:37 pm on August 28. The president gave the
DILG secretary Mar Roxas and PNP director Gen. Alan Purisima custody over Napoles for booking and
processing.
[45]

The NBI and Justice Secretary, Leila De Lima filed the cases of plunder and malversation of public funds
against businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy
Estrada and five former representatives on September 16.
[46]

On November 19, The Supreme Court declared PDAF as unconstitutional.
[47]

Reactions[edit]
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila during a press conference at the University of
Santo Tomas, Cardinal Tagle described the scandal as part of an "intricate web of corruption", and
said that it is right that the issue be investigated. He added that those involved in the scam have "lost
touch with the poor" and should visit a community of informal settlers to understand the issues poor
Filipinos face on a daily basis. "We have heard many other big scandals in the past but these were
buried and forgotten when a new issue came up", the cardinal added.
[48]

Renato Reyes Jr., Secretary-General of BAYAN coalition Reyes described the scandal as a "bigger
test for the Department of Justice". He also said that the coalition remains doubtful if those involve in
the alleged scam will be held liable, including those perceived to be allied with the Aquino
administration. Reyes also accused the House of Representatives and Senate for covering up the
scam and refusing to open an investigation. BAYAN also re-iterated its call for the complete abolition
of the PDAF.
[49]

The Philippine Supreme Court issuing (Sept 10, 2013) a temporary restraining order (TRO) against
the release of the remaining Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of lawmakers for 2013
and Malampaya funds.
[50]

Protests[edit]
See also: Million People March
On August 26, 2013, thousands of people came to Luneta Park in a protest against the pork barrel
scheme dubbed the "Million People March". After this, a prayer vigil dubbed "EDSA Tayo" was set for
September 11 at the EDSA Shrine. About 500-700 people attended the vigil.
[51]
Two days later another
protest was held at Luneta, where according to police estimates, about 3000 entered.
[52]
The organizers
stated that another rally dubbed "Level Up" would be scheduled for September 21 (with a noise barrage
held before the event), and another "Million People March" protest would be held in December.
[52][53]