Witness tells court of Napoles, Luy rift in pork barrel scam
MANILA, Philippines—Whistle-blower Merlina Suñas revealed the falling out between accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles and principal witness Benhur Luy that compelled him to turn his back against Napoles and tell everything he knew about the scam.
During Napoles’ bail hearing for plunder at the Sandiganbayan, Suñas said the good working relationship of Napoles and Luy broke down when Napoles accused her entrusted finance officer of starting his own scam.
The scam of pillaging lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) exploded when Luy was rescued from illegal detention and told Philippine Daily Inquirer about the elaborate scheme of spending public funds in ghost projects for kickbacks.
Suñas drew up the name of Maya Santos, an official from the Department of Agriculture, who was Napoles’ agent to other lawmakers and the alleged associate of Luy in crafting their own scam.
It was in December 2012, or days before Christmas, when Napoles called a meeting with Luy, Suñas and other employees Evelyn de Leon and Ronald John Lim.
De Leon faces graft in the scam, while Lim is at large for plunder.
What was supposedly a meeting for Napoles to ask updates on the status of checks of projects with the Department of Agriculture turned nasty when Napoles grabbed hold of Luy’s cell phone and discovered his text messages with a certain “Flor.”
The text messages supposedly showed that Luy had “hidden transactions” with Santos kept secret from Napoles.
“Hinablot ni Napoles ang cell phone at ini-scroll down niya at mayroon siyang kitang mga messages, mga text messages ni Flor, kaibigan ni Benhur, na manghuhula,” Suñas said.
“Dun na nagalit si Napoles. Baka itong tao ito ay kasabwat ni Luy,” she added.
As Suñas was recounting the incident, Napoles seemed to be getting excited by the minute. She was jittery while muttering “’Yan,’ yan (That’s it, that’s it).”
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Suñas said: “Ang ibig sabihin niya siguro, kasabwat sa hidden transactions ni Luy. Pag i-scroll down sa pangalan ni Flor, dun nakita ni Napoles ang pangalan ni Maya Santos.”
“Ang sabi ni Napoles, ka-transact ni (Benhur si) Maya na hindi alam ni Napoles,” she added.
Napoles was first arrested on a serious illegal detention charge when she allegedly detained Luy on suspicions that he was starting his own scam. The National Bureau of Investigation rescued Luy from the supposed detention.
Napoles is now detained for plunder over the scam.
When Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang asked Suñas who was Maya Santos, Suñas said Santos was a friend of Napoles who worked at the Department of Agriculture.
“That time po siya naging agent ng mga senators po,” Suñas said.
When asked who were the senators Santos transacted with, Suñas named Senators Loren Legarda, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Bongbong Marcos.
Napoles clapped her hands after Suñas told the court about Luy’s supposed transactions with Santos.
Asked for comment after the hearing, Napoles said: “Nagulat ako. Nadudulas siya eh. Lalabas din ang katotohanan (I was surprised. She slips up. The truth will come out).”
