PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—President Aquino on Tuesday stood firmly behind his two Cabinet members implicated by Janet Lim-Napoles, warning that the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam was just trying to “make everyone else smell bad.”
The President demanded proof of allegations against two of the most trusted members of his official family, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
“I need to see the evidence,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Navy’s 116th anniversary celebration here.
In defending Abad, the President pointed to the secretary’s “innovations” in the budget department, such as “participatory budgeting” and a system for cash-less transactions.
“Why am I saying all this? The bottom line is: If you’re a thief and you want to hide [your loot], Secretary Abad has done nothing but to make the process of budgeting more and more transparent,” he said.
“So instead of enlarging the pie [of money] that could be the source of corruption, it seems that he’s making things difficult for those who might wish to steal.”
The President said his administration was “investigating certain things” supposedly within the Department of Agriculture.
“But at this point in time, I cannot see where there is a direct involvement by Secretary Alcala in areas that are questionable,” he said.
In her 32-page affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice, Napoles claimed that she had learned about the pork barrel racket from Abad while he was still a congressman.
She also tagged Alcala, whose department was said to be on the “shopping list” of legislators seeking to cash in on their Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations.
With his top lieutenants now dragged into the pork barrel mess, the President cited the possibility that Napoles might be deliberately “muddling” the issue.
“Someone said that she can’t defend herself and because of this, she would just make everyone else smell bad and that way, she would somehow smell good and perhaps, this would delay the case against her and perhaps, the one who would come after me would be easier to talk with,” he said.
“I don’t have evidence right now. But I know personalities who are actively trying to muddle the issue.”
Aquino earlier urged voters in the 2016 elections to go for someone who would continue the reforms that he had purportedly put in place.
Asked if he was concerned that a victory by his political opponents in 2016 might let pork barrel suspects off the hook, he said: “I can commit only to things that I can do. My commitment is: Develop the evidence, what they call case buildup must be solid, then file the case, regardless of who gets implicated.”
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