Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. INQUIRER PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Whom should the government retain as state’s witness: Benhur Luy or Dennis Cunanan?
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III on Friday dared Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to sort out the conflict between the testimony of Luy and that of Cunanan lest it jeopardize the government’s case in the pork barrel scam.
Pimentel wondered how the Department of Justice admitted both Luy and Cunanan into the Witness Protection Program when they had “conflicting versions’’ of the alleged pay-off to Cunanan.
As a policy, applicants are accepted into the WPP only because they’re telling the “entire truth,” Pimentel told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
“So my challenge to the justice secretary is for her to sort this out. How come we have two people admitted into the WPP, and on one material incident, they have two conflicting versions?’’ he said. “One said it happened and one said it never happened. And they are both truthful. How did that happen?’’
At Thursday’s Senate hearing on the P10-billion pork barrel scam, Luy said that he handed a bag containing P960,000 to his senior, Evelyn de Leon, for Cunanan at the conference room of the JLN Corp. office at Discovery Suites in Ortigas. He said that he later saw Cunanan holding the bag as he left the conference room. Cunanan denied this.
Cunanan, who was deputy head of the Technology Resource Center that channeled pork barrel funds to non-governmental organizations at the time, testified initially that if he had accepted anything it would not be comparable to the sums given to heads of agencies.
Pimentel, a lawyer, said WPP witnesses should be truthful in the “entirety of their testimony’’ lest they be challenged on the legal principle “falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus’’ (false in one, false in all).
“When you’re lying (about) one item of your testimony, you might have lied (about) the rest of your testimony,’’ he said. “That will become an opening for the defense counsels. They will now take advantage of that.’’
Pimentel said that if the DOJ would present Luy as the “star witness,’’ then Cunanan’s testimony must be “measured against’’ Luy’s.
“And if it’s Cunanan who is inconsistent with Benhur Luy, and Benhur Luy’s testimony is more important, then the less important witness must be discharged from the WPP. Because you can’t have this funny situation where you have two truthful witnesses… contradicting each other,’’ he said.
“One criterion that you should accept a witness is that he’s believable and truthful,’’ he added.
Luy has detailed the alleged racket run by his former boss, businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, of converting lawmakers’ pork barrel into kickbacks through dummy foundations, forged signatures of officials and strong connections in government.
He has furnished the DOJ and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee with ledgers listing down alleged releases of kickbacks to lawmakers, including some senators.
Cunanan said some P600 million was funneled through the TRC by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. to NGOs set up by Napoles out of their pork barrel entitlements from 2007 to early 2009.
Cunanan said he had personally talked with Estrada, Revilla and Enrile’s chief of staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi’’ Reyes, to verify authorization for the use of their priority development assistance fund entitlements.
He said Revilla and Estrada pressured him on the phone to expedite the release of the money to pre-selected NGOs.
In Thursday’s hearing, he said Revilla, Estrada and Enrile submitted similarly worded project proposals to the TRC, proof these were prepared by one individual or group in what he called a “grand conspiracy’’ to plunder public funds.
Pimentel said he did not believe Cunanan’s testimony was indispensable.
He said that Cunanan’s “phone conversations’’ with the senators were “weak evidence’’ that could be easily punctured by the defense. He said he should have made personal visits to the lawmakers to verify their authorization letters.
If at all, he said, Cunanan could only provide documents used in processing the transfer of funds from TRC to the NGOs, which would constitute strong evidence, but others could also testify about these.
“His testimony is not really indispensable,’’ he said.
In a radio interview, Sen. Grace Poe aired reservations about Cunanan being made a state witness.
She recalled his evasiveness when pressed on Luy’s statement that he visited the JLN office at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City. “If you get answers like that, you’ll entertain doubts,’’ she said.
“He wasn’t telling the whole truth especially about himself…. He was pointing to others, John Travolta style. He’s blaming others, except himself,’’ she added.
Poe said if Cunanan admitted receiving the P960,000, he would have been more credible.
“And the reason he wouldn’t admit that is that there are reports that he’s about to accept a post in a big organization of like-minded people abroad. If he admits to such transaction, he could be rejected,’’ she said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, for his part, said Cunanan’s credibility was not as “cut and dry’’ as that of socialite Ruby Tuason, who admitted receiving commissions by acting as an agent of JLN Corp. in dealing with the lawmakers.
“He’s credible on some points but not all, especially where he differed with Benhur Luy,’’ he said in a text message.
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