via Elija Philip C. Lutawan, Pressroom PH
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan had convicted businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and three former government officials on Saturday, August 23, 2025, in Quezon City for the misuse of P7.55 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations of former Davao del Sur Congressman Marc Douglas Cagas IV.
The anti-graft court found that the funds released in 2007 and 2008 were funneled to two bogus Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) controlled by Napoles instead of legitimate agricultural projects, which prosecutors revealed turned out to be nonexistent after bypassing the required public bidding process.
The pork barrel scam—exposed in 2013—is one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals, implicating lawmakers, government officials, and private individuals in the systematic misuse of public funds earmarked for local development projects.
In a 149-page ruling, the anti-graft court's Special Third Division found Napoles guilty of two counts of graft and two counts of malversation, stemming from the diversion of PDAF funds to her bogus NGOs.
The court sentenced Napoles to 12 to 20 years for graft and 20 to 34 years for malversation, on top of her earlier prison terms for similar convictions.
Convicted alongside her were Technology Resource Center (TRC) officials, Dennis Cunanan and Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, and Rhodora Mendoza of National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR). They were each sentenced to prison for graft and malversation, and permanently disqualified from holding public office.
Cunanan and Lacsamana were sentenced to six to 10 years for graft and 10 to 14 years for malversation, while Mendoza received six to 10 years for graft and 10 to 18 years for malversation.
The charges stemmed from Cagas’s endorsement in 2007 and 2008 of foundations controlled by Napoles—the People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation Inc. (POPDFI) and the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI)—as implementers of his PDAF-funded “agricultural packages.”
Court records showed that POPDFI received P2.7 million, while SDPFFI got P4.85 million. Investigators later found that the supposed projects were nonexistent, and that Napoles had full control over the funds.
“The evidence clearly confirms the fact that the NGOs concerned were selected solely on the endorsements of accused Cagas,” the court said, stressing that the transactions should have undergone competitive public bidding under procurement laws.
Napoles and Cunanan were ordered to pay P2.7 million in fines and indemnification for the POPDFI transaction, while Napoles and Mendoza were directed to return the P4.85 million for the SDPFFI project with interest.
Meanwhile, Cagas earlier secured a plea bargain deal with the ombudsman, pleading guilty to lesser offenses such as fraud against the public treasury, which he later settled for P12.95 million as part of the agreement.
Napoles, who is now serving time at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong, remains embroiled in multiple PDAF-related convictions, including a 2018 plunder case involving P517 million from pork barrel funds of former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
