Ex-representative Teves charged over P10-million pork fund

FORMER congressman Herminio G. Teves, who represented the 3rd district of Negros Oriental for three terms from 1998-2007, has been charged with graft and malversation for alleged irregularities in his 2007 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), also known as the pork fund. The Office of the Ombudsman, in a statement yesterday, said the Anti-Money Laundering Council has also been given copies of the case resolution for “possible violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.” Charged along with Mr. Teves are his then chief of staff Hiram Pulido, and Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) representatives Antonio Ortiz, Dennis Cunanan, Marivic Jover, Belina Concepcion and Francisco Figura. The Ombudsman said their investigation and that of the Commission on Audit showed that P10-million of the congressman’s PDAF, originally intended for livelihood projects to be implemented through the TLRC, was instead used to fund “ghost projects.” During the case proceedings, Mr. Teves claimed that “his signatures appearing in various documents linking him to the transactions are products of forgery.”