Former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Sometime in March—Through a “common friend,” Jaime “Jimmy” Napoles sends feelers to rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson.
Napoles, a retired Marine major, approached Lacson last month and told him that his spouse, alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, wanted to “tell all, everything that she knew.”
March 24/25 – Lacson meets with Jaime Napoles and two of his children in his (Lacson’s) office in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, but Lacson can’t say exactly when.
Before the meeting ends, the Napoles family hands to Lacson a draft, unsigned affidavit of Janet Lim-Napoles listing more than 100 people allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam.
A meeting between Lacson and Janet Lim-Napoles was supposed to be set soon after, but it never took place, as Napoles instead talked with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and “spilled the beans” on several senators.
April 21 – De Lima seeks audience with President Aquino in Malacañang to get approval for a meeting with Napoles. (Sources say the justice chief met with the President at least twice; both closed-door meetings were unscheduled).
April 21, 10 p.m. – De Lima meets with Napoles at Ospital ng Makati.
De Lima says a Napoles emissary contacted her about two weeks before. The clandestine meeting was originally set for Holy Wednesday (April 16), but postponed to Easter Sunday (April 20) and finally took place on that day. De Lima was accompanied by Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano and unnamed NBI investigators.
April 22, around 3 a.m. – The meeting between De Lima and Napoles ends. Napoles, assisted by lawyer Bruce Rivera, signs a statement on the pork barrel scam.
April 22, morning – De Lima returns to Malacañang, briefing Mr. Aquino on what transpired during the meeting with Napoles. She says she earlier obtained (did not say when) a clearance from Mr. Aquino before agreeing to see Napoles.
10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – De Lima, along with Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma and other Cabinet members, joins a meeting called and presided over by the President “on energy concerns on electric co-ops and pilot projects on solar energy.”
“The President and SOJ (secretary of justice) met separately for about 10 minutes at about 11:30 a.m., and both of them returned to the meeting. Then [the] President attended a briefing on [US President Barack Obama’s] visit at 1 p.m. SOJ left the Palace to hold [a] press conference at DOJ (Department of Justice),” Coloma says.
1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. – De Lima holds a press conference at the DOJ to confirm the meeting with Napoles. Ben O. de Vera and Jerome Aning
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