Benhur Luy admits getting P5M kickbacks from ‘pork’ deals

Video by Ma. Rhona Ysabel Daoang

Principal whistleblower Benhur Luy on Friday admitted receiving P5 million in kickbacks from the pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by Janet Lim-Napoles.

During Napoles’ bail hearing from plunder before the Sandiganbayan Third Division hearing the plunder case of senator Juan Ponce Enrile, Luy said he received P4 million to P5 million in kickbacks as Napoles’ finance officer from 2004 to 2012.

Luy said Napoles promised 0.5 percent kickbacks for foundation presidents and another 0.5 percent for the incorporators. Luy is president of the Napoles foundation Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc.

Luy later had a falling out with his employer who detained him for three months on suspicions of starting his own scam. Napoles now serves a life sentence after being convicted for the serious illegal detention of Luy.

Luy told the court that Enrile from 2004 to 2012 coursed P586.55 million of his Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to Napoles’ dummy foundations to get kickbacks amounting to 40 percent or at least P222.889 million net of taxes which Napoles demanded from lawmakers.

Luy maintained that Enrile’s agent Ruby Tuason received the kickbacks on behalf of Enrile, despite Associate Justice Samuel Martires’ reaction that Luy made the assumption even when he did not see Enrile receive kickbacks personally.

Luy insisted that Enrile transacted with Napoles because of the repetitive endorsement of Napoles’ dummy organizations used for the ghost implementations of his PDAF projects for kickbacks.

“You keep on saying repetitive… If I keep telling you, Benhur Luy, I love you, will you believe that? If I keep telling you, you’re so handsome, will you believe it, even in front of a mirror?” Martires asked the witness by analogy, amid laughter from the lawyers and audience.

“Siguro naman po, Your Honor, kapag palagi mong binabanggit,” Luy answered.

The hearings on the pork barrel scam have resulted in the detention for plunder of Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. as well as former representatives Rizalina Seachon Lanete and Edgar Valdez. Enrile, meanwhile, is under hospital detention. AU