By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
DENNIS Cunanan, the deputy director general of Technology Resource Center (TRC), said of the some P600 million PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) or pork barrel that passed through his office and ended up in the pockets of three senators and Janet Napoles, he didn’t get a single centavo.
Incredible! As incredible as Cunanan, a college undergraduate, getting appointed by Gloria Arroyo as executive director of the Commission on Higher Education.
Thanks Karina Constantino-David for reminding the public of that attempt by Cunanan to put one over the Filipino people.
David, former chair of the Civil Service Commission (she is now a member of the board of directors of the Government Service Insurance System) recalled that CHED officials and the Employees Union were protesting the appointment of Cunanan as executive director because he misrepresented himself as a having graduated from the University of the Philippines.
“We investigated and true enough, he did not graduate from college, a basic requirement for almost all government posts. He was told to leave.”
Cunanan’s lawyer, Odessa Bernabe, has a creative explanation for that foiled fraud, as reported in the Inquirer.
Bernabe said Cunanan was not fired. He resigned. Okay, sige na.
Bernabe said:“He was not kicked out. He was even thankful then because he found out his educational status and started attending to it accordingly.”
He didn’t know that he was not a college graduate? For the position to oversee the country’s higher education!
Bernabe said, instead of UP that he put in his biodata, Cunanan eventually acquired a college diploma from Lacson College in Pasay City.
Cunanan is among those charged for plunder in connection with the multi-billion pork barrel scam operated by Janet Napoles in connivance with senators, congressmen, legislative staff and other government officials.
The inclusion of Cunanan among the respondents was based on the testimony of Benhur Luy, the primary whistleblower in this anomaly that has dragged Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.
Cunanan recently came out and offered to turn state witness. He has been admitted provisionally under the Witness Protection Program.
If admitted in the WPP, Cunanan would be dropped from the plunder charge sheet. What is he giving to the government and to the Filipino people to go unpunished for conniving with those who deprived the people billions of pesos that would have otherwise been spent to build classrooms, health centers, farm-to-market roads and other projects?
De Lima said the information Cunanan is giving them will bolster the testimony of Benhur Luy.
There we go again, just like in the case of Ruby Tuason. Cunanan is not giving anything more than what Luy and his fellow original whistleblowers have given.
But unlike Tuason who offered to give back P40 million of her loot, Cunanan is not giving back anything.
ABS-CBN’s Lynda Jumilla reported that Cunanan is selling his house in White Plains for P40 million. There are also talks of his family leaving for abroad.
Cunanan denies he owns the White Plains house. It’s in the name of his brother. He also said he is willing to open his bank accounts to prove his claim that he didn’t get any commission for the services he gave to Napoles and the three senators.
He really takes us for idiots. That we cannot think that stolen properties are not put under the thief’s name. That one can stash his loot under another person’s name.
But what is puzzling is how he is able to make De Lima believe him.
After Cunanan, I will no longer be surprised if tomorrow De Lima tells us that they have accepted Napoles as state witness.
Why don’t we go all the way and get Enrile, Estrada and Revilla as well. Let’s go for the most incredible.