Inquirer publishes investigative series on Napoles and the PDAF scam

On July 12, 2013, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published the first in a series of investigative reports by reporter Nancy C. Carvajal detailing the diversion of approximately P10 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations through a network of non-governmental organizations allegedly controlled by Janet Lim Napoles and her JLN Group of Companies. The series drew on documents and on the account of whistleblower Benhur Luy, who had previously been held by Napoles's associates and whose recovery by the National Bureau of Investigation in March 2013 was a precipitating event. Subsequent installments named the legislators whose PDAF allocations had been channeled through the NGOs and described the mechanics of kickbacks returning to the legislators. The series catalyzed civil-society mobilization that culminated in the August 26, 2013 Million People March demanding the abolition of PDAF, and provided much of the evidentiary basis for the Office of the Ombudsman's subsequent plunder complaints against multiple senators.