Lacson rejects calls to name ‘pork’ execs

By: Maila Ager - 11 years ago

Former senator and now rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator and now rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson rejected calls for him to identify the government officials who had been implicated by Janet Lim-Napoles in the “pork barrel” scam.

Lacson claimed that more than a hundred government officials during the present and past administrations, including at least 12 senators, were mentioned in the “pork” list that Napoles’ husband had allegedly provided him when they met in March.

“The best person to name names is the one who prepared that list. Mrs Napoles is available and accessible,” Lacson said in a text message on Friday.

“She (Napoles) is also in the best position to substantiate with evidence the involvement of those in the list.”

“All those who wonder if they were guilty of abusing their pork barrelfunds must only ask themselves to get the most accurate answer to their question,” Lacson added.

The former senator also denied Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s allegations that he, along with Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile and his former chief of staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, were behind a massive psywar operations to stop the filing of cases by the Office of the Ombudsman against Enrile, and two other senators.

Aside from Enrile, the senators facing plunder and graft charges in connection with the “pork” scam were Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramin “Bong” Revilla Jr.

“It is not sane to think that I will protect and cover up for Sen Enrile. I have consistently advocated to abolish the pork barrel system as I believe it is the most hypocritical source of corruption among legislators,” Lacson said, reacting to Santiago’s allegations.