Senate orders De Lima to turn over Napoles list
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima: I will comply. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Senate on Monday ordered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to hand over in the next two days a list that Janet Lim-Napoles gave to her purportedly containing the names of past and present lawmakers involved in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“Since it’s a subpoena, I will comply,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters, who asked her about the summon issued upon the request of Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, the chair of the blue ribbon committee, and approved by Senate President Franklin Drilon.
De Lima was ordered to turn over to Guingona’s panel by Thursday the document she received from Napoles during a five-hour “tell-all” meeting at the Ospital ng Makati on April 22.
Saying she was still “vetting” the document, De Lima had refused to release the document from the alleged mastermind of the racket involving the diversion to ghost projects and kickbacks of the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he would also submit to Guingona within the week a document prepared by Napoles, which her husband, Jaime, a former Marine major, gave to him in March.
Lacson told a news forum on Monday that he also had seen the digital files of whistle-blower Benhur Luy. From the two lists, he figured that at least 21 past and current senators were involved in the alleged racket.
Guingona told reporters at a news conference that he wanted to get hold of these documents before deciding his committee’s next action but added that reopening the inquiry into the pork barrel scam would be a “natural consequence.”
“In the spirit of transparency, it’s time that the list should be brought out,” said Guingona. He added that he intended to make the list public. “I don’t see any reason why I would put it in the drawer and hide it.”
Leave no stone unturned
After 10 hearings, Guingona announced on April 1 that his panel had prepared a report recommending the filing of plunder charges against Napoles, as well as Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.
This was hours after the Office of the Ombudsman said it had found merit in filing plunder charges in the Sandiganbayan against the three senators, Napoles and six other individuals. The senators have denied wrongdoing.
Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano had requested the production of the Napoles documents to help the Senate in its “search for the truth—to cast no shadow of doubt on our institution and leave no stone unturned.”
However, Guingona did not act on Cayetano’s request for the issuance of subpoenas that would compel the Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian Reform to release records and documents pertaining to the racket.
‘Scattered’ lists
In a news conference, Cayetano questioned why Napoles had “scattered lists with different names.” He said that “if her purpose is to tell all, she’s destroying her own credibility.”
He urged President Aquino to order the release of such documents as the special allotment release orders, notices of cash allocations and audit reports that could shed light on government officials and lawmakers involved.
Cayetano said that the emergence of several purported Napoles lists was meant to sow confusion. “History in past governments has shown that … if you can’t explain, you confuse.”
Attack dogs
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the committee should call to its hearing Napoles, Lacson and Sandra Cam, the president of the Whistle-blowers Association, who likewise claimed she has a Napoles list.
Santiago said the three “might be acting in concert as attack dogs, for one or all three senators indicted for plunder.”
Napoles in her appearance before the committee last November denied knowledge of the scam. She is under detention for the allegedly holding Luy hostage for three months. She has been hospitalized for over a month for treatment of a cancerous uterus.
At the Senate session on Monday, Estrada stood up to appeal to Sandiganbayan justices to give him “fairness and justice” in the event the plunder charge against him is filed. The offense carries a penalty of life imprisonment and is nonbailable, once the court agrees there is merit in pursuing the Ombudsman’s case.
De Lima earlier said she was still “validating” the list provided by Napoles to determine who among those named could be prosecuted.
Lawyer Romulo Macalintal said that since De Lima had given assurances that the Napoles list would not be sanitized or no names would be deleted or added, “then there is no need to make any verification as to the veracity of the information contained in the said list…. It should rise and fall on its own merit and let Napoles answer for it.”
Exterminate the termites
The independent bloc in the House also wants the House leadership to compel Napoles and De Lima to make the list public. The group, led by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, on Monday urged the House leadership to hold a caucus to address the “reputation crisis” plaguing the chamber.
But Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. noted that very few incumbent members had been mentioned in the controversy.
“The House is not at all in focus. The focus is on the senators. They should be allowed to address their own problem,” Belmonte said in a text message.
Termites
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza, in a press briefing, warned: “The Senate will collapse if the list is not brought out because termites will just keep on eating away at it and its foundation will weaken. If a person is sick, the bacteria must be removed.”
“It is safe to have the termites exterminated to save the entire house. What must fall, must fall,” said Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, the United Nationalist Alliance secretary general, in a statement.
Also yesterday, Napoleon Arenas, counsel of the Pangasinan Press Club, asked the Supreme Court to compel De Lima to release her list, citing the people’s right to know and in the interest of public accountability and transparency.—With a report from Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
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