Unconstitutional fund + plunder convictions The Pork Barrel (PDAF) Scam — Bogus NGOs & Ghost Projects

The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) — legislators' discretionary "pork barrel" — was systematically diverted into bogus non-governmental organizations controlled by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, which billed the state for fake livelihood and agricultural projects that never existed, kicking back the funds to lawmakers and operators. After the scandal broke in 2013, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled the PDAF system unconstitutional in Belgica v. Ochoa (November 19, 2013), striking down the discretionary-fund mechanism that enabled it. The anti-graft court (Sandiganbayan) subsequently convicted Napoles of plunder — a conviction upheld on appeal — and convicted multiple former lawmakers and government executives of graft, malversation of public funds, and direct bribery in connected cases. Both the constitutional ruling and the criminal convictions are adjudicated fact; some individual defendants' cases remain on appeal.