Arrel R. Olaño (born May 3, 1943 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

), is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

politician. A member of the LAKAS-CMD Party, he has been elected to three terms as a Member of the

House of Representatives of the Philippines The House of Representatives of the Philippines ( fil, Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas, italic=unset, ''Kamara'' or ''Kamara de Representantes'' from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''cámara'', meaning "chamber") is the lower house ...

, representing the First District of Davao del Norte. First elected in 2001, he was re-elected in 2004 and 2007. Olaño is also a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

. In June 2023, Olaño faced legal consequences as he was found guilty by the

Sandiganbayan The Sandiganbayan ( en, Support of the Nation) is a special appellate collegial court in the Philippines that has jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases involving graft and corrupt practices and other offenses committed by public officer ...

of three counts of graft, three counts of malversation, and one count of direct bribery in connection with the

pork barrel scam The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF scam or the pork barrel scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse by several members of the Congress of the Philippines of their Priority Development Assistance ...

. Alongside his co-accused, he was accused of diverting his share of the

Priority Development Assistance Fund The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was a discretionary fund in the Philippines available to members of Congress. Originally established as the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) in 1990, it was designed to allow legislators to fund sm ...

, totaling P1.89 million, P4 million, and P2.5 million, to non-governmental organizations associated with

Janet Lim-Napoles Janet Lim-Napoles (born Janet Luy Lim; January 15, 1964) is a Filipina businesswoman who is believed to have masterminded the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Scam. She was convicted of plunder for her involvement in the PDAF Scam a ...

for fictitious projects in 2007. The court sentenced him to imprisonment for durations ranging from 6 to 10 years for each graft case, 6 to 12 years for each malversation case, and 4 to 9 years for the direct bribery case. He filed a motion for reconsideration but it was denied by the court in October 2023.https://sb.judiciary.gov.ph/RESOLUTIONS/2023/J_Crim_SB-16-CRM-0242%20to%200244_People%20vs%20Arrel%20R%20Olano,%20et%20al_10_03_2023.pdf

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olano, Arrel R. People from Tagum 1943 births Living people Lakas–CMD (1991) politicians Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Davao del Norte Filipino accountants Filipino politicians convicted of corruption