Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago suspected that her enemy, whom she said “has always wanted to kill me with his bare hands,” was behind attempts to drag her into the “pork barrel” scam.
“…noon pa, gusto na akong tirisin ng taong ‘yun. He has always wanted to kill me with his bare hands. Unfortunately for him, I have nine lives,” Santiago said in a radio interview Wednesday.
She did not name the enemy she was referring to but said this person was also the “arch enemy” of former Senator Manny Villar and wife, incumbent Senator Manny Villar, whose names have also been mentioned in the news in connection with the “pork” scam.
Citing the ‘pork’ records of whistle-blower Benhur Luy, the Philippine Daily Inquirer named Santiago and the Villars as among those who had transactions with alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
But the three strongly denied the allegations. Santiago said Luy’s list was “fake.”
“Ako pinapanindigan ko na wala akong kinalaman dyan. Kaya nga ang pagkasama ko dyan, una, nanggagaling ‘yan sa kalaban ko. Hindi naman ako minamahal ng naglabas n’yan. Kung hindi ‘yan galit sa akin, bakit nya ako ilalagay ng walang rason?” she said.
(I stand by that I have nothing to do with that list. That’s why I was included in that list was because, first, it came from my enemy. The person that leaked that obviously does not love me. If he was not angry at me, why would he put my name in it without any reason?)
Santiago also found it incredulous that the Villars would receive a measly commission from Napoles.
Senator Cynthia Villar reportedly got P500,000 as “kickback” allocated for members of the House minority bloc in 2003 with the DOTC as the implementing agency and Jo-Chris Trading as the link to Napoles, while her husband supposedly supplied equipment also from Napoles’ firm.
“Pati itong si Cynthia Villar at Manny Villar, some of the richest people in the entire Philippines, bakit sila magki-kickback sa maliliit na bagay na ‘yan? Barya lang nila ‘yan,” Santiago said.
(Even Cynthia Villar and Manny Villar, some of the richest people in the entire Philippines, why would they get kickbacks from that small project? That is just loose change to them.)
She described her inclusion in Luy’s records as well as the surfacing of various “pork” lists as a “classic case of muddying the water.”
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