Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Juan Ponce Enrile couldn’t care less about a new list implicating more senators in the pork scam, but Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. was emphatic this should be made public.
“It doesn’t matter to me whether they have a list or no list. It’s all the same,’’ Enrile curtly told reporters at Monday’s resumption of sessions in the Senate. He declined to answer other questions on the scam.
Revilla, on the other hand, demanded that the list be disclosed “for the sake of truth.’’
“For the truth to come out, they should release it. They have already shown it. Might as well tell the people. The truth should come out,’’ he told reporters.
Revilla lamented that while the government had been quick to “persecute’’ him, Enrile and Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, it had been dilly-dallying in releasing the list.
“Let’s hope and pray that the truth will come out,’’ he said.
Estrada offered a different take on this. “Well, they might, they might be sanitizing it. I do not know why they are keeping it from the public,’’ he told reporters.
Businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles handed her affidavit to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima after offering to turn state witness weeks ago. Prior to this, her family gave a copy of her affidavit to Secretary Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson claimed that Napoles named at least 12 senators as having been involved in the racket of converting pork barrel into kickbacks.
Enrile, Estrada and Revilla are fighting indictment for plunder. In April, the Ombudsman ruled there was merit to file plunder charges against them with the Sandiganbayan.
Meanwhile, Revilla shrugged off an online petition calling for their resignation.
“Let’s wait when we’re judged guilty. From the start, we’ve aired our sentiments, and left everything up to God. Whatever the judgment is, I will accept. But spare us from trial by publicity; have pity on our families,’’ he said.
Estrada also belittled this. “That’s been circulating a long time ago. Those who voted for me were 18 million Filipinos, and I cannot abandon them,’’ he said. Otherwise, he would wait for the final court ruling.
Commenting on the online petition, Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said the courts would still be the best venue to hear the complaint against his colleagues.
He said the Senate ethics committee would have been the appropriate body to tackle the complaint against the three senators, if the Ombudsman did not look into it.
“The easiest way and the fairest way is for the Ombudsman to file the case, and they will be automatically suspended and a warrant of arrest will be issued,’’ he said.
Cayetano also challenged Napoles to make good her promise to tell everything she knew about the alleged misuse of the Malampaya fund.
“Why doesn’t she just come here and tell all? I’m a little bit cautious in believing someone who never told us the truth in the past. My advice to her: ‘Just do it’,’’ he said.
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