MANILA, Philippines—Instead of lawsuits, lawmakers should file libel cases against media outfits who unfairly implicated them to the pork barrel scam, minority leader Ronaldo Zamora said.
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora FILE PHOTO
In a press briefing on Wednesday, the San Juan Representative said he does not agree to filing of a class suit since various lawmakers have different versions in clearing themselves from the alleged racket.
Zamora was reacting to Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III’s suggestion that a class suit be filed against the Philippine Daily Inquirer for publishing the alleged list of scam beneficiaries provided to them by principal whistleblower Benhur Luy.
“Class suits are never a good solution,” Zamora said, noting that class suits are filed by a group with a common complaint against another.
“If you are going to pick me up as a lawyer I would say file individual (libel) cases, file against individuals, file for individual reasons,” the veteran lawmaker added.
Zamora also said libel cases should also be filed against the whistleblowers for tagging them in the scam.
“They are just as guilty as the principals except that they are able to use the law to their advantage…” Zamora said.
Zamora is among the 150 lawmakers in Luy’s list alleged to have benefitted in the scam of diverting public funds to ghost projects under the scheme of alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
The INQUIRER reported Luy’s records showed Zamora allegedly coursed his Priority Development Assistance Funds to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) when he was representative from 2001 to 2010 and from 2013 to present.
The Inquirer said there was no Special Allotment Release Order (Saro) but Zamora was on Luy’s record.
Zamora has denied making any transactions with DOTC for a Napoles racket.
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