Napoles asked drivers, errand boys to pose as farmer-beneficiaries, Luy tells court

Video by Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—While the lawyer of Janet Lim-Napoles kept insinuating that his client has nothing to do with the spurious P80 million deal with a government-owned and -controlled corporation, pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy in turn bared more of Napoles’ alleged schemes to rake in public funds.

Luy appeared before the Sandiganbayan First Division on Thursday to testify anew at Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s bail hearing where he was cross-examined by lawyer Stephen David.

At the start of the cross examination, David asked Luy if he had ever seen Napoles’ signatures on any of the papers used by the JLN Corporation in its transaction with National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor) funded by Revilla’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Luy wryly said in Filipino, “No, but I work upon the instruction of Napoles.”

David then quizzed Luy on who signed their liquidation reports, which contained JLN Corp.’s expenses on farm inputs supposed to be distributed to the

Principal whistleblower Benhur Luy. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

beneficiaries of Napoles’ ghost livelihood projects.

Bulacan warehouse

Luy said Nabcor official Shyr Ann Montuya was the signatory. This led to Luy’s narration of Nabcor’s physical inspection of a warehouse in Pandi, Bulacan storing 1,744 sets of agricultural products in 2008.

“(It was a storage) where fertilizers are dumped. The seeds there were rotting, sprayers were damaged,” Luy said.

When Nabcor officials inspected the warehouse, which Luy had said was about half the size of the 40-square-meter court room, he recalled: “She (Napoles) only made it appear as if there were (farming) items inside. But all of these were not shipped.”

Fake farmer photos

During the afternoon hearing, Luy told the court that Napoles asked her drivers, errand boys to dress up like farmers for a photo shoot. The photos showing they were receiving seeds and chemical sprays were attached in the ghost project’s disbursement report, he said.

Luy added this was to show proof that the “beneficiaries” have received their supplies during the actual implementation of the project.

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