‘Andrea Reyes’ was Ruby Tuason’s code name
Socialite Ruby Tuason, who is alleged to have acted as an agent of suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, was also known as “Andrea Reyes” on the list of people who allegedly benefited from the P10-billion scam bonanza, whistle-blower Benhur Luy told the Sandiganbayan on Friday.
Appearing for the third time at Napoles’ bail hearing at the antigraft court’s Third Division, Luy also disclosed that a fictitious person, Mae Ann Kilap-kilap, was made president of a bogus foundation that received P25 million from the pork barrel allotments of detained Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.
Questioned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires, Luy said lawyers Alfredo Villamor and Rocky Delson had provided request letters and lists of beneficiaries from various municipalities that Napoles allegedly used to hoodwink the government.
Code name
Scrutinizing Luy’s financial ledgers, Martires asked who was the Andrea Reyes whose name appeared in the documents.
“That’s the code name we used for Ruby Tuason,” Luy replied.
When the magistrate asked why they had to use another name for the socialite when Tuason had already been mentioned in several entries in the documents, Luy said: “That’s the instruction of Madam Napoles because we were dealing with the government.”
Tuason, who served as social secretary to deposed President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, fled the country when the fund scam broke out in the media in 2013.
Returning in February 2014 and testifying before a Senate investigation into the pork barrel scam, Tuason said she delivered to detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s office P8 million to P10 million in kickbacks from Napoles.
She also told the senators that she handed over millions of pesos to Enrile’s chief of staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, at posh restaurants in Makati and Taguig or in Reyes’ house.
Fictitious person
Tuason volunteered to become a state witness and returned to the government P40 million, which she claimed was the total amount she received for her role in the scam.
At Friday’s hearing, Martires asked Luy if Villamor, a prominent lawyer and one of Napoles’ counsels, “would go to the extent of delivering documents to provide the names of beneficiaries.” Luy answered that the documents were needed to facilitate the projects with the legislators.
Explaining how nongovernment organizations (NGOs) were able to corner projects financed by the lawmakers’ pork barrel, Luy said Napoles had instructed him to affix his fake signatures to all documents containing Kilap-kilap’s name.
Martires observed that Kilap-kilap was not among the people indicted for siphoning off billions of pesos from Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of the congressional pork barrel, to the spurious NGOs founded by Napoles.
