Lawyer Alfredo Villamor, one of the counsels of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, also used to collect the kickbacks of detained Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, primary whistle-blower Benhur Luy told the Sandiganbayan on Friday.
Returning to the witness stand at Napoles’ bail hearing, Luy provided more details of how Enrile allegedly received nearly P173 million in “rebates,” or commissions, from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, which the senator allegedly funnelled to Napoles-controlled foundations.
The senator is now on hospital arrest at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in Camp Crame, after he was arrested in June last year.
In his testimony on Friday, Luy said Villamor, socialite Ruby Tuason, the latter’s late husband Carlos “Butch” Tuason and lawyer Ma. Theresa de Joya also acted as Enrile’s “agents” who received the senator’s share from his misdirected pork barrel allotments.
According to Luy, Tuason, who has since returned P40 million of her supposed commissions from the P10-billion pork barrel scam in exchange for immunity from suit, collected Enrile’s kickbacks from Napoles from 2004 to 2009.
Luy said Villamor, who served as one of Napoles’ lawyers in the illegal detention case that he brought against her, received P4.6 million in commission in one of the transactions involving Enrile’s PDAF.
Napoles has been convicted by a Makati court over Luy’s illegal detention case and sentenced her to up to 40 years in prison.
Luy, who usually appeared confident testifying against personalties tagged in the fund scam, looked tense as he was grilled by the three-member Third Division on the amount he entered in the “daily disbursement records” of the Napoles-owned JLN Corp. and his participation in the operation to siphon billions of pesos of public funds intended for poor farmers.
Under questioning by Associate Justice Samuel Martires, Luy described the operation thus: He said he and the other employees of Napoles called Enrile’s office in the Senate to propose projects which the senator could finance with his pork barrel.
Authorized agents
As part of a supposed agreement between Enrile’s office and Napoles, he said the Tuason couple, Villamor and De Joya were the only authorized agents of Enrile.
“Alfredo Villamor is the legal counsel of (Napoles) and one of the agents (of Senator Enrile),” Luy told the court during cross examination by Special Prosecutor Lalaine Benitez.
“Was there ever a time that all four of them went to your office to collect the supposed kickbacks of Enrile?” Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang asked Luy.
To which the witness replied: “Yes, your honor. They once collected the second payment for the first project we had with Senator Enrile.”
“Is there an understanding between Enrile and Napoles that these four people will collect his supposed kickbacks?” Tang continued.
When he failed to directly answer Tang’s question, Martires told Luy that his reply was unresponsive, prompting the justice to speak in Filipino and Visayan.
Luy then admitted that he had never personally met with Enrile and that his communication with the senator’s office was only through Jose Antonio Evagelista, Enrile’s deputy chief of staff.
Tang also asked Luy if he had discussed matters regarding Enrile’s commissions with his chief of staff, detained lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, who has been romantically linked with her boss.
The witness answered “no”.
RELATED STORIES
Napoles taxed lawmakers’ kickbacks in pork scam, says Luy
Benhur Luy: I talked with Gigi Reyes about diet, not kickbacks