Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Not just yet.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima insisted Wednesday it was still premature to make public the list prepared by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles of the names of lawmakers and other personalities allegedly involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“We cannot be disclosing it [as] we’re still getting the rest of the statement from Napoles,” De Lima told reporters on the sidelines of the launching of the “e-Subpoena System” at Camp Crame.
“Nobody was added to the list. Any changes [to the list] will not come from us, but from Napoles herself,” she said.
A number of senators and congressmen have been urging the justice secretary to disclose the list which Napoles gave to De Lima during their meeting at Napoles’ room at the Ospital ng Makati where the latter underwent a medical procedure last week.
De Lima said the Department of Justice was also considering the possibility of allowing Napoles to submit a sworn statement prepared by her own lawyers detailing how nongovernmental organizations of Napoles cornered billions of pesos in allocations from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of several lawmakers.
She noted the advise of Napoles’ doctors that she had difficulty speaking after she underwent an operation to remove her uterus and both ovaries.
“We’re finding ways on how to… facilitate the completion of her statement given her physical condition. We would want to finish this as soon as possible,” she said. “We’re looking at other options and would make an arrangement with them. It’s better than our team going back to her several times just to complete her statement.”
However, De Lima said the affidavit that Napoles would submit to the DOJ “will be subject to our vetting.”
“If she could provide her statement in writing, which is based on her personal knowledge, we could avoid suspicions that we are dictating or influencing Napoles or trying to change her story,” she said.
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