Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz is appealing to the six priests who will testify before the Makati Regional Trial Court in defense of alleged pork barrel scam chief operator Janet Lim Napoles to simply tell the truth in the case of serious illegal detention.
“Tell the truth, please. Only the truth will set them free whether they committed a wrong or not. They should tell the court the truth they know,” Cruz, the former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in an interview over the phone.
Six Catholic priests are among the 18 defense witnesses that the Napoles camp would present during the trial proper set early next year while Napoles herself and her fugitive brother, the co-accused in the case could appear in court.
Napoles, the alleged brains behind the P10-billion pork barrel scam and her fugitive brother Lim are facing a serious illegal detention case for keeping Napoles’ cousin and former employee Benhur Luy detained for three months at a retreat house run by priests in Magallanes Village in Makati City.
The priests who will reportedly back up the claims of Napoles that Luy was on a spiritual retreat for three months are Monsignor Josefino Ramirez, Fr. Paul Yang, Fr. Peter Guo, Fr. Joseph Gao, Fr. John Ma and Fr. Paul Do.
The priests are presumed to tell the truth and thus “they are good and credible witnesses.”
“But these presumptions should still be overridden by facts,” Cruz, who has been vocal about his opinions against the alleged embezzling of millions of government funds through bogus nongovernment organizations.
Cruz said the priests could be testifying for Napoles since they have been “beneficiaries of Napoles’ generosity.”
“But they will be under oath so they should stick to the facts,” the archbishop said.
Cruz advised the priests to secure permission first from their respective bishops because they “should consider themselves as public persons.”
Asked about the P150, 000- monthly stipend reportedly received by priests from Napoles’ family, Cruz said: “If you are going to ask me, I won’t be comfortable receiving such huge money for a little service. But I would presume, these priests don’t know where the money came from.”
“If they knew the money came from suspicious sources, they would not have received them. Dirty money is dirty money. It cannot be laundered by good deeds,” Cruz said.
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