Ruby Tuason narrates how she met alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. PHOTO by Kristine Sabillo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—The “perfect witness” crunched chips as she fielded questions from the panel of senators, daintily flicking crumbs off her lips at times with her forefinger while holding the morsel in her thumb and middle finger.
She looked confidently at ease in a cream-colored pantsuit, as though engaged in a conversation in a café.
Described as “smart,” “sophisticated” and “classy,” Ruby Tuason, former social secretary to former President Joseph Estrada, on Thursday said she would not be fit to endure life behind bars in the event that she was not made state witness and granted immunity.
“I would die if I were to go to jail. I know I will. I’ll probably get a heart attack or high blood [pressure]. I am hypertensive,” she told senators investigating the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“I pray 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,” she replied when asked by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara about the possibility of her getting off the hook.
Tuason’s highly anticipated appearance at the Senate blue ribbon committee was a candid recollection of how she allegedly delivered pork barrel kickbacks to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in 2004 and 2008.
But apparently to the dismay of Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, the star witness fell short of nailing Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, maintaining that she handed the money to his former chief of staff, lawyer Gigi Reyes.
Applicant in good standing
Santiago described Tuason as a “perfect state witness.” But the senator dismissed her current “provisional” status, saying she was but an “applicant in good standing.”
Of the four other whistle-blowers present in the hearing, Tuason appeared most at home with Benhur Luy, the principal witness in the alleged racket that allowed legislators to pocket portions of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Seated beside each other, Tuason and Luy were often seen exchanging glances and comparing notes in trying to recall how the new witness delivered PDAF kickbacks. Unlike Luy, Tuason admitted she kept no records of her transactions and deliveries.
“I’m so happy. Thank you, Ma’am Ruby. She’s confirming that she received money [from us], that what she’s telling me is true, that lawmakers indeed received [kickbacks],” Luy said in the hearing.
“To those who have not yet come out, may the Lord bother your conscience. May they finally tell the truth.”
Tuason looked all-business in a pantsuit and was generally collected during the four-hour hearing. At times she looked stoic, munching on chips, while waiting for questions coming her way.
Perhaps due to the huge amounts generally involved in the PDAF racket, Tuason recalled once delivering “only” P1 million to Estrada when the senator allegedly needed cash. The exchange purportedly happened at a comedy bar on the corner of Wilson Street and Ortigas Avenue in San Juan City.
This is what Judas felt
Tuason turned emotional when explaining why she decided to return home and tell her story.
“I don’t want to die with 80 million Filipinos hating me. I don’t want to die with my grandchildren being ashamed of me,” she said, recalling how her conscience supposedly bothered her while she was in the United States where she sought refuge after she was charged with plunder last year.
“This was what Judas Iscariot must have felt,” she said. “I was at church every day, seeking forgiveness. But everything couldn’t be lip service. I think I had to do something, sacrifice something to be able to feel better and [so that] my conscience will get clear.”
Besides saying she was risking her life by testifying, Tuason promised to return her loot, which she estimated at P40 million. She said she should have to sell her lone property, a house, to raise the amount because “I am not liquid.”
Commended by Angara on her “sacrifice,” she replied: “It’s a very small price to pay.”
Tuason said she once thought she was doing Estrada “a favor” by delivering PDAF kickbacks in his office at the Senate. That’s because before she became a “go-between” for Napoles and Estrada, she said she often saw so many people going to his office for help.
‘Something else’
Tuason had a lot to say about Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam.
In 2008 during the burial of actor Rudy Fernandez, who was a close friend of Estrada’s, Napoles allegedly provided catered food, knowing that celebrities in attendance would stop by.
Tuason said Napoles eventually removed her as a go-between and transacted directly with Estrada after 2008.
She said Napoles once sent Luy to withdraw the “commission” already given to her, on the pretext that the PDAF project did not push through. But Tuason said she knew otherwise and told Luy to relay the message, an account corroborated by Luy.
“She’s something else,” Tuason said of Napoles.
Asked how she felt after her testimony, the 62-year-old said, “Relieved.”—With a report from Nancy C. Carvajal
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