JAGNA.- Former mayor Exuperio “Exam” Lloren has issued a statement, denying that this bustling port town received P5 million allegedly from Malampaya Special Fund in his stint as municipal mayor. The former mayor, in an exclusive interview Friday night, was reacting to reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) that cited this town as one of the five municipalities of Bohol to have benefited from the fund following the explosive expose’ of the scam involving pork barrel fund officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of congressmen and senators. Five of Bohol’s municipalities , Garcia-Hernandez, Pilar, Loboc, Jagna and Maribojoc, were said to have received from Malampaya fund at P5 million apiece, the COA report said.

The funds were released on January 26, 2010 through the non-government organizations (NGOs), identified as “Kaupdanan,” “Micro-Agri” and “Ginto,” for Garcia-Hernandez, Pilar and Loboc, respectively, COA said. Jagna and Maribojoc allegedly received the fund on May 18, 2010 and was released through another NGOs “Micro Agri” and “Bukirin Tanglaw,” respectively. These NGOs were allegedly created by Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel fund scam. Napoles had already surrendered to P-Noy last week for fear of her life following the bounty put on her head amounting to P10 million for serious illegal detention of one of the whistle blowers of the fund scandal. The COA report, however, did not mention where these NGOs are based and who are their officers. The funds were sourced out from the “Malampaya Fund to JLN Foundation” allegedly owned and managed by Janet Lim-Napoles from the period November 2009 to May 2010, said the COA report.

Malampaya oil funds to the tune of P900 million managed by the office of the President under the watch of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are proceeds of the oil mine off Palawan, reports said. Lloren, who served as mayor for three terms until 2010, said he checked with the local Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the agency tasked as conduit of the special fund. He said the DAR denied having any knowledge of said fund. He said that prior to publication of the said report, COA could have double-checked to get the side of the LGUs concerned to avoid embarrassment. Earlier , Maribojoc Mayor Leoncio Evasco reportedly denied having received such amount. He said he did not even know it. He added that as long as he’s still the mayor he would not allow his town to receive bogus funds from questionable sources. For his part, former Mayor Leon Calipusan of the town of Loboc said he has no knowledge about the said fund in a text message. (RVO)