Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez, one of the legislators tagged in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam, insisted on Wednesday that he had never dealt with Janet Lim-Napoles and that he was willing to submit himself for an investigation.
Speaking with reporters at the sidelines of the House of Representatives’ budget deliberations, Rodriguez maintained that he had copies of reports from the Commission on Audit (COA) which would prove that his signature and those of the beneficiaries of his project under Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) had been forged.
“I was surprised when we received copies of the communications from COA in October and saw that my signature was faked,” he said.
The Cagayan de Oro representative said that he was willing to undergo investigation.
Rodriguez was named as one of the lawmakers whose priority development assistance fund (PDAF) was used by bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) created supposedly by Napoles.
He said that the questionable transaction had been done way back when he was a neophyte lawmaker and that it had been his only dealing with TLRC.
Rodriguez slammed the TLRC which he insisted was the one which entered into a deal with Napoles’ NGO on his project.
“We gave them our trust and they had this agreement with bogus NGOs,” he said.
“I have never known Napoles. My signature was forged. The signatures of the beneficiaries were also forged. The letters allegedly accepting the funds and were all forged. I can show my signature and the one in COA’s papers,” added the lawmaker.