‘I set up parties for politicians’

(Last of two parts)

Ruby Tuason with Janet Lim Napoles during happier days in 2009. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SAN FRANCISCO, California—She was the responsible party for Janet Lim-Napoles’ lavish parties.

Apart from being the alleged pork scam mastermind’s bagman, socialite Ruby Chan Tuason was Napoles’ party planner who mounted sophisticated and big-budget socials that brought together politicians, celebrities and government officials, among the country’s bigwigs.

The attractive widow with three children and two grandchildren who has just turned state witness said some of these extravagant parties—some of which lasted for three days—were held in Napoles’ posh homes and condominium units as well as in the estimated 3,000 square meters of “lawn and estate lots” in upscale Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City.

Tuason, who used to work as an aide to former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, said Napoles had specific instructions to make these grand and lavish.

During the wake of Napoles’ mother in 2008, for instance, Tuason said there was a different caterer every night with food overflowing for VIP guests.

“She called me up crying, saying her mother had died. She asked me to help organize the wake,” Tuason told the Inquirer.

At one time, Tuason said she even volunteered to loan Napoles crystal glasses for a welcome reception for “a high official from the Vatican.”

She said her association with Napoles began in 2004 when she was introduced to her by her late husband, Carlos “Butch” Tuason, former Philippine Olympic Commission chair.

She said her late husband introduced her as a rich businesswoman and a potential buyer of her house, which she was selling at that time.

After the meeting, Napoles requested that she be introduced to her politician friends to help expand her business of supplying farm kits and implements.

One thing led to another and before she knew it, she was working as a bagman for Napoles.

Conscience bothered

Tuason said her conscience was bothered not only by her involvement in the pork barrel scam but by recent unfortunate events like the devastation brought about by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

“Watching the victims of the super typhoon on television had given me more resolve to correct my mistake,” she said.

Tuason’s family owns the gun store Squires and Bingham, which she personally managed before.

Her late father, a Chinese-Filipino, was a tobacco and cigarette businessman.

Her friends described Tuason as a pious person who went to Mass, said novena every day and regularly visited the Blessed Sacrament.

Another friend described her as a good cook.

Misjudgment

Tuason said it was “misjudgment” and “friendship” that triggered her entanglement with the law.

“It was misjudgment on my part because I allowed friendship to prevail over values and principles,” Tuason said, when asked why she allowed herself to serve as conduit for what she said were the kickbacks of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada from their Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations.

Tuason, the prosecution’s latest witness against Enrile, his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes and Estrada, was interviewed by the Inquirer at a café at San Francisco International Airport before she boarded a plane for Manila.

Tuason declined to say whom she confided in when she finally decided to turn state witness. Her lawyer, Dennis Manalo, however, said they discussed her application as a state witness with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Tuason said that the day her name came out in the papers as among those mentioned by pork barrel scam principal witness Benhur Luy as involved in the scam was also the day she found out Napoles was engaged in ghost projects.

Freaked out

“I freaked out, I did not know what to do. I could not sleep and eat. I was angry with myself as to how in heaven’s name I did it, when I am neither hungry nor starving,” she said.

Tuason said she had no idea that Napoles used dummy nongovernment organizations and engaged in ghost projects when she agreed to do business with her.

She said she thought she was helping Estrada and Reyes, whom she described as her “close friends.”

“As a friend I thought I was doing them a favor because of lots of people going to their offices seeking financial assistance,” Tuason said.

“I valued our friendship, but I would be a hypocrite if I would say I did not earn from it, no matter how little,” she said.

Right thing to do

When she decided to come out, she knew her enemies could fabricate things about her.

“I have made up my mind, they can fabricate things about me and I could even die for this, but this is the right thing to do,” Tuason said.

“I realized that the time has come to make a decision on what path to take. I prayed for discernment and I kept on praying, and by the day, I was really more guilty and more guilty,” she said.

She added that her decision to come forward was not also borne out of personal interest.

“This has to stop, this kind of corruption should not thrive and should be put to an end,” Tuason said.

She said she expected her coming out to change her life.

“My movements will be restricted, this also takes a lot of sacrifice at my age. I should have just enjoyed life, but I have to do it for my peace of mind.

“I am ready to die, and in the event that I die for this, or because of natural causes, I have my peace of mind,” she said.

Tuason said her decision to come home and cooperate with the prosecution against Napoles, Estrada, Enrile and Reyes had given her that.

Peace of mind

“I feel relieved, I have peace of mind, but I’m nervous because I fear for my life,” Tuason said.

When asked who she thought would like to harm her and whom she feared the most, she said, “I guess anybody mentioned in the statement.”

She also said she expected no reward for coming out.

“I am not doing this to be famous or for any financial gain. I just want to tell the truth and avail of the government witness protection program and its benefits,” she said.

After her name was implicated in the scam, she realized that some of the people she knew had stopped talking to her.

“Usually, I receive lots of text messages on Christmas Day, but last year, most of those messages were not sent,” she said.

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