Pangasinan lawyer asks SC: Order De Lima to bare Napoles list

Janet Lim-Napoles INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines–A lawyer here on Monday asked the Supreme Court to order Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to make public the affidavit made by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles naming incumbent and former lawmakers involved in the alleged pork barrel scam.

In an 11-page petition filed in the high tribunal on Monday morning, Napoleon Arenas Jr., legal counsel of the Pangasinan Press Club, said De Lima should reveal the list, as mandated by the Constitution, out of respect for the people’s right to information of public concern.

In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Arenas said the high court received his petition at 9:37 a.m.

“The revelation of the existence of the list to the media by [De Lima] has incited the public to demand its publication, in the name of accountability and good governance,” Arenas said in his petition.

De Lima got the list after she visited Napoles at the Ospital ng Makati a day before the latter underwent surgery last month. Napoles agreed to tell all and executed an affidavit after her meeting with De Lima.

“[De Lima], however, refused to reveal and disseminate the list to the public under the pretext that her department was still validating its veracity. But her refusal to reveal its content even endeared in the mind of the public suspicion and mistrust,” he said.

Arenas said the Napoles list, which he referred to as “Napolist,” is a public concern because accountability of public officers and transparency in government have been mandated by the Constitution.

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