Senators itching to confront Napoles
MANILA, Philippines—Senators are raring to confront Janet Lim-Napoles about her expanded affidavit on the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.
Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano demanded that the chamber’s blue ribbon committee be reconvened immediately to conduct a hearing on Napoles’ latest document submitted to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who forwarded it to the panel chair, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, late Monday.
“The public has the right to know. She should be brought here physically so she can answer questions,” Cayetano told reporters on Monday, hours before Guingona got his copy of the Napoles document. “We can tell who is telling the truth and who is lying.”
Sen. Francis Escudero bristled at the demand by Napoles’ lawyer that senators named in her affidavit or list should inhibit themselves from the hearing reopening an inquiry on the alleged diversion of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations to ghost projects and kickbacks.
“It’s not for Napoles to say who will attend or who will not attend,” he said by phone. “If we don’t confront her, people might think we’re afraid of her, or we’re guilty.”
Escudero was one of 11 senators named on a list that Napoles gave to De Lima on April 22 at the end of a five-hour “tell all” meeting during which the businesswoman offered to turn state witness in the prosecution of those who benefited from the filching of funds meant to ease the plight of the poor.
In her appearance last November before the panel chaired by Guingona, Napoles vehemently said she knew nothing about the PDAF scam.
On April 1, Guingona released a draft report on the committee’s PDAF hearings, recommending the filing of criminal charges against Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr.
Following the release of the Napoles list and a subsequent special report by the Inquirer on the contents of a hard disk drive it received a year ago from whistle-blower Benhur Luy, Guingona said the committee had to compile all affidavits before it decides to resume the hearing. He indicated the next hearing would tackle the Malampaya fund mess.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, who was still seething over the inclusion of her husband, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., on the Napoles list, was just as eager to confront Napoles, daring her to back up her list with evidence.
“I want to see what she’s talking about. Our problem is, we confront her on what? Because she listed us? Why did she do that? I want to see where she listed us. I don’t remember anything of that sort. I don’t know her; I didn’t transact with her. I didn’t issue any Saro (special allotment release order),” she said.
“It’s not good to release the list of names without support. It’s unfair. Like in our case, we don’t remember being involved in there. Why are we on the lists? We don’t know how to defend ourselves,” she told reporters.
While her husband’s name is on Napoles’ list, Cynthia Villar’s is not, although she is on Luy’s files.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said Napoles’ affidavit should be clarified by the committee.
“So we’d like to see her in the Senate as soon as possible, so there’s no doubt,” he said in an interview.
De Lima submitted Napoles’ initial signed list of at least 11 senators to the committee on May 15.
Those on the list were Estrada, Enrile and Revilla, who are fighting indictment for plunder and graft along with Napoles in the Sandiganbayan over the scam.
The list also includes Senators Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan II and Francis Escudero, former Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and the late Sen. Robert Barbers.
In an annotation, Napoles scribbled the name “Cong. Angara.”
