Tuason: I’d rather die than go to jail

Ruby Tuason. PHOTO by Kristine Sabillo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Ruby  Tuason told a Senate  hearing on Thursday that she  would rather  die  than go  to jail.

“I feel that if I would not get anything like that and I would have to go to jail, I pray to the  Lord  that  he take me,”  Tuason said when she testified at the blue ribbon committee.

She was responding to a question by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara how she would feel if she was not granted immunity from prosecution even after she testified against her co-accused  in the plunder case over “pork barrel” funds.

Angara then said: “Huwag naman ho sana (I hope not).”

“It’s ok.  I’d rather die,” Tuason said.

And when Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the committee, commended her for her “powerful words,” Tuason said: “But I’m serious. I would die if I were to go to jail. I know I will. I’ll probably get a heart attack or high blood. I am hypertensive.”

Before this, Tuason became emotional when she recounted the reasons that led her to return home and face the charges lodged against her.

“I don’t want to die with 80 millio Filipino people hating me. I don’t want  my grandchildren being ashamed of me so I felt I have to do something and I have to correct my mistake and I can’t possibly right a wrong with another wrong,”  she said.

“So after Senator Jinggoy had called me and (I asked him): May maitutulong ka ba  sa akin. Sabi nya anong maitutulong ko sayo? Wala. So parang ano ba ito? Bakit  ganun di ba?”  she said, referring to Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.

Estrada was also charged with plunder at the Office of the Ombudsman also in connection with the ”pork barrel” scam.

“So I made a decision. My lawyer explained to me the pros and cons of this. I knew that it’s a big risk. I’m not sure if I’ll get accepted in (the Witness Protection Program) but also I wanted to be sure that if I were to die, assassinated or of natural causes at least I can meet my maker, that I’ll ask for forgiveness and as I said I’d return the money to the government,” Tuason added.

Tuason also said she felt more convinced to spill the beans on the pork barrel scam when she saw the devastation caused by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan).

“I saw all these devastation. Mas lalo akong na-guilty (I felt more guilty). Not that the money would have made such a difference,” Tuason told the Senate blue ribbon committee Thursday.

She said she would have to sell her house to pay the government the amount of P40 million she received as commission in the scam.

“It’s a small price (I have to pay),” Tuason said.

Tuason, former social secretary of then president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, was also an alleged conduit for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

Tuason fled to the US after the scandal broke out before returning to become state witness. She said she was bothered by her conscience.

RELATED STORIES

Tuason: I was always five percent

Ex-Estrada aide Ruby Tuason faces Senate ‘pork’ probe