Dennis Cunanan claimed in recent news reports that the Technology Resource Center (TRC) under him processed PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) allocations from the office of Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing. In the affidavit he submitted to the Department of Justice, Cunanan also averred that the purported PDAF of Representative Bagatsing found their way from the TRC into bogus nongovernmental organizations linked to Janet Lim-Napoles. This claim by Cunanan is patently false. As stated emphatically by Representative Bagatsing, he never coursed his PDAF through the TRC and “has never endorsed Masaganang Ani or any NGO linked to Napoles.”
No less than a TRC lawyer, by the name of Francisco Figura, blew the whistle as to the obvious spuriousness of the endorsements of Masaganang Ani allegedly made by Representative Bagatsing’s office of Masaganang Ani. On Jan. 21, 2008, Figura wrote his superiors that unless the originals of the alleged endorsements by Representative Bagatsing were produced, the TRC should not process the papers of the NGO seeking funding, especially since Masaganang Ani has also failed to submit a certificate of good standing.
The question is: Why did Cunanan proceed to process the papers of Masaganang Ani despite Figura’s strong admonition?
The fake photocopied “endorsements” bearing the forged signatures of Representative Bagatsing were dated Oct. 15, 2007 (written on plain bond paper), and Nov. 15, 2007 (printed on the generic letterhead of the House of Representatives). As pointed out by Representative Bagatsing, the forging of documents was apparently the modus operandi undertaken by some people at the TRC to divert or siphon off the PDAF of unsuspecting lawmakers like himself.
Representative Bagatsing also noted the glaring inconsistencies in Cunanan’s allegation. First, Cunanan claimed that P8 million of Bagatsing’s PDAF was coursed through the TRC. Later, in a written letter of apology to the congressman, Cunanan stated that the amount was only P800,000. Then in the spurious documents, it was P1 million. We have a copy of Cunanan’s letter of apology.
Representative Bagatsing is reiterating his demand that Cunanan issue a public apology for besmirching his reputation and for Cunanan to correct his affidavit with DOJ so the truth (that he [Bagatsing] has absolutely nothing to do with TRC and Napoles) would come out. As of this writing, Cunanan has failed to do so.
—EDUARDO E. FRANCISCO,
frapamorlaw@yahoo.com