Napoles letter stalls De Lima OK by Commission on Appointments

MANILA, Philippines–And now, a letter to President Aquino purportedly written by Janet Lim-Napoles on her serious illegal detention case  stands in the way of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s confirmation.

At the hearing of the Commission on Appointments (CA), Sen. Jinggoy Estrada confronted De Lima, who had been bypassed four times, with the supposed letter of Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, to Aquino.

Estrada grilled De Lima even if he declared early on that he would not block the confirmation of the justice secretary. The justice department filed plunder cases in the Ombudsman against Estrada for his alleged involvement in the P10-billion pork barrel fraud.

“What was the action of the President?” Estrada asked De Lima, who replied that Aquino had asked her to comment on the letter.

Asked by Estrada what the President had written on the margin of Napoles’ letter, De Lima said she could not recall. “I’m not sure if it’s a marginal note from the President himself or a note given by his secretary on instruction of the President,” she said.

Estrada asked De Lima to produce the letter for the CA justice committee by next week when it would resume questioning her as part of the confirmation process.

Responding to the treatment of De Lima by the panel, President Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, said, “I think it will be good if the deliberations will be focused on the competence, the performance of a Cabinet official and not extraneous matters.”

Aquino will reappoint De Lima and Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman if they are bypassed again, Lacierda said.

Napoles is under police detention after her former finance officer, Benhur Luy, accused her of holding him hostage for three months allegedly to prevent him from going to authorities to reveal her activities concerning the purported diversion of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, to ghost projects and kickbacks.

Estrada told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that he wanted to know what Aquino had to say on Napoles’ letter, particularly his comment on a marginal note he supposedly made there.

It was the second letter to President Aquino by Napoles, who is now facing possible plunder charges in connection with the PDAF racket.

Napoles earlier wrote the President to allege that the former lawyer of Luy, Levito Baligod, had tried to extort money from her. Baligod has denied this.

At the hearing of the CA justice committee presided by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, Estrada accused De Lima of benefiting from a P1-million allowance given to her as the chair then of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She denied this, but admitted that the CHR received confidential funding.

Estrada also asked De Lima whether Joel Reyes, former Palawan governor accused in the 2009 murder of radio commentator Gerry Ortega, had recommended her to the top CHR post. She said she knew several people had recommended her but she was not aware if Reyes, a former client, did.

De Lima acknowledged that Reyes did text her asking for fairness in his case and she said she could guarantee fairness.

“When you were chair, didn’t you call Reyes to say you could not get anything from the CHR?” Estrada also asked, with De Lima denying it and saying “I do not know where you got that.”

De Lima will return to the commission on June 11, the sine die adjournment of Congress, when Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was absent on Wednesday, was expected to question her.–With a report from TJ Burgonio