Napoles camp hungering to grill whistleblowers at witness stand

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 10 years ago

Janet Lim-Napoles, POOL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The lawyer of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles dared the prosecutors to put principal whistleblowers in the witness stand.

In an interview after Napoles’ bail motion hearing on Tuesday, Atty. Stephen David said the prosecutors should invite principal whistleblower Benhur Luy and state witness Ruby Tuason to testify in the Napoles’ plunder case at the Sandiganbayan.

This is to enable Napoles to prove that the prosecutors’ witnesses are lying, David added.

“Sina Ruby at Benhur, sila ang iharap nila para malaman ng mga tao kung nagsisinungaling sila o hindi (Ruby and Benhur should be presented so that the people will know if they are lying or not),”

David also said they would also want Napoles to testify so that she could defend herself from the witnesses’ testimonies.

“Siya ang nakakaalam kung nagsisinungaling. Dapat ma-inform niya kami kung totoo yun o hindi (She would know if the witnesses are lying. She should be informed if they are telling the truth or not),” David said.

Luy is the former employee of Napoles who blew the lid off the scam using his ledger of alleged pork barrel funds transactions. Meanwhile, Tuason is a self-confessed Napoles’ aide who said she personally delivered kickbacks to Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.