Napoles to face accusers on Nov. 7

Janet Lim-Napoles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

It will be a no-holds-barred hearing.

Barring any hitches, Janet Lim-Napoles will finally face her accusers and senators at the Nov. 7 Senate inquiry into the P10-billion pork barrel scam that she allegedly engineered.

After a monthlong delay, the Senate on Monday finally issued a subpoena for the 49-year-old businesswoman detained at the Philippine National Police antiterrorism school in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna province.

Senate President Franklin Drilon, who was blamed for the delay, approved the subpoena issued by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee looking into the scam.

“There will be no such condition,” Guingona told reporters when asked if Napoles would not be allowed to name senators implicated in the racket. He said it would a “bare-all” event.

No show

Napoles and her husband, Jaime, did not show up at the Department of Justice on Monday to answer tax-evasion charges.

Lawyer Romeo Villar III, who said he was temporarily representing the couple, said his clients had not yet hired a lawyer to represent them in the tax-evasion case.

He said the couple would formally answer the charges at the next hearing on Nov. 5. Napoles has been charged with failure to pay taxes amounting to P44.68 million for seven years, and her husband, P16.43 million for six years.

Lorna Kapunan, Napoles’ lawyer, said her client would invoke her right against “self-incrimination” during her Senate testimony.

In a statement on Monday, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who has been named in a plunder complaint along with Napoles, said he did not care if the businesswoman appeared before the Senate panel.

“But if I were her lawyer, and I’m speaking as a lawyer and not as a politician, I would caution her about her appearance or attendance precisely because there is an indictment against her,” he said. “But if she decides to appear, I will welcome that. Inasmuch as I have inhibited myself from participating in the ongoing investigation, I will welcome her testimony in the hearing.”

Guingona optimistic

Guingona said he expected the PNP to enforce the subpoena against Napoles, who is detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in connection with the charge of serious illegal detention for allegedly holding captive her former employee Benhur Luy, to prevent him from talking about her alleged illegal activities.

“Let’s not speculate,” he said, refusing to accept an earlier statement by Kapunan that Napoles would invoke her right against self-incrimination if and when she appears at the Senate.

“We will only know what will happen when she is actually there,” Guingona said.

The committee also issued subpoenas for the whistle-blowers—Luy and his mother Gertrudes, Marina Sula, Merlina Suña, Mary Arlene Baltazar and Simonette Briones—for the Nov. 7 hearing.

On Sept. 23, Guingona requested a subpoena for Napoles. Instead of signing it, Drilon, whose photograph with Napoles in one of her parties has been widely publicized, deferred to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who advised against her appearance in the inquiry ahead of a hearing of a plunder complaint against her.

Court agrees to subpoena

The National Bureau of Investigation on Sept. 16 filed the plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman against Napoles, Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Enrile, and 34 others in connection with the scam.

Guingona said Drilon was wrong to seek the Ombudsman’s comment, insisting that the power of the Senate was supreme. He later wrote Drilon appealing for reconsideration of his earlier move. Drilon referred the matter anew to Morales.

Morales responded by saying she was submitting to the “collective wisdom” of senators, but was standing by her original opinion.

At this point, Drilon called a caucus to decide the matter. Before the caucus on Wednesday, he announced on the floor that he had decided to sign the subpoena.

In a news briefing, Guingona said the Senate would strictly enforce the subpoena for Napoles.

“The PNP will bring her here,” he said on the prospect of a Napoles refusal to appear.

The Regional Trial Court in Makati City announced later on Monday it would allow Napoles to attend the Senate hearing.—With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Jaymee T. Gamil in Manila, and Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon

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