Napoles urged to tell all

Janet Napoles. PHOTO courtesy of PNP-PIO and PNP-SAF photographers

MANILA, Philippines—It’s about time Janet Lim-Napoles spoke up to end all speculation and lighten her burden, according to lawmakers.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte backed Senate President Franklin Drilon’s decision to subpoena Napoles, who has been at the center of allegations that legislators’ pork barrel funds were channeled to private pockets via bogus projects and sham nongovernmental organizations put up by her.

Belmonte said Napoles’ possible testimony could end speculation and debunk self-serving statements that some people have made in connection with the issue she is embroiled in.

“We might as well hear Janet Napoles instead of people speculating, virtually claiming to be her spokesman, and saying all sorts of things to favor themselves. This is good. Let’s hear from Napoles,” he told reporters.

Another lawmaker, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, said Napoles should choose to spill the beans instead of just clamming up or simply denying her involvement in anomalies, if only to ease some of the pressure on her.

Even if she implicates herself, disclosing what she really knows would “lighten her burden,” Zarate said, adding that her participation in the alleged scam of misusing public funds might just be one part of the whole scheme.

He cited earlier Commission on Audit reports that only 10 of the 82 NGOs it found in the review of the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers for 2007-2009 to have been involved in questionable transactions had links to Napoles.

But, at present, everything has been thrown at her, he noted.

“If she will keep silent, the people will think all the more that she is protecting someone. If she speaks up, even if she gets implicated, it will at least lighten her burden, whatever burden she has now,” Zarate said in an interview.

Napoles has already been implicated in the alleged irregularities anyway, he added.

Zarate said that in such a wide-ranging scandal, she would eventually be caught if she would tell lies.

He also said she would be damned if she answers the questions in the Senate, but would also be damned if she does not. She would likewise be damned if she just issues denials, he added.

It would be better for her to talk to clear up the extent of her participation in the alleged scam, he said. That’s what he would do if he were in her shoes, he added.

Asked if Napoles should disclose all that she knows in the Senate, Belmonte said, “It’s better if she does this now.”

He said Napoles was among those facing a plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman. Once she stands as defendant in court she might be able to claim that she cannot speak so as not to incriminate herself.

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