Ex-GOCC exec gets Sandiganbayan nod to prove forgery claim in PDAF cases

THE Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has granted a motion by a former official of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) to subject various documents submitted by the prosecution in the pork barrel scam cases for forensic analysis by a handwriting expert.

Defendant Dennis Cunanan, former deputy director general of TRC, claimed that several documents marked by prosecutors as part of their exhibits bear signatures on top of his name although he does not recall seeing, much less affixing his signatures on them.

He noted that the questioned documents were certified by the Commission on Audit as true copies of source documents.

Cunanan was named co-defendant of former Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon in three criminal charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016 about the multi-billion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Among the documents Cunanan identified for analysis by an expert from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were two disbursement vouchers supposedly issued by the TRC, one dated January 9-10, 2008 for the sum of P2.4 million for the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI), and another dated May 29-30, 2008 for P300,000 also in favor of the PSDFI.

The two other documents were a memorandum dated May 27, 2008 from TRC Group Manager Ma. Rosalinda Lacsamana to Cunanan for the release of P300,000 from Biazon’s PDAF and a Land Bank check for P300,000 dated May 28, 2008 payable to PSDFI.

He asked that a handwriting expert of the NBI examine his signatures on the four documents to his specimen signatures in 12 other TRC disbursement vouchers about the PDAF allocations of other lawmakers, including former Senator Gregorio Honasan II and Reps. Candido Pancrudo and Rizalina Seachon-Lanete.

“After evaluation, the court finds sufficient confirmation of accused Cunanan’s averment that he admitted/did not dispute his signatures appearing in the proposed exemplar/specimen documents. Considering the foregoing, the handwriting examination by the NBI Questioned Documents Division is now in order,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The NBI was given 60 days to do the analysis and prepare an official report based on its findings