What does the future hold for Janet Lim-Napoles?
A fortune teller apparently predicted the downfall of the corporation of Napoles, the accused architect of the pork barrel scam.
On Friday, during Napoles’ bail hearing on the plunder case filed against her, principal whistleblower Benhur Luy narrated a Dec. 19, 2012 meeting with Napoles over the backlog of collections in their scheme of using lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to ghost projects for kickbacks.
Luy then was coordinating with a certain agent Mike from Masbate on the distribution of fertilizers. When Luy said Mike wasn’t replying, Napoles checked Luy’s phone to see if it was the correct number.
Napoles then snooped around Luy’s phone and saw a text message that enraged her.
Luy said Napoles blew her top when she read a text message from a certain Flor to Luy predicting the downfall of JLN Corp.
Luy said Flor, a fortune teller, is his friend.
“Nung inabot ko sa kanya yung cellphone, nagscroll down siya at binasa yung ibang nagtext saken… She’s mad at this manghuhula. Sinabihan kami ni Flor na babagsak ang kumpanya ng JLN Corp.,” Luy said.
(When I handed over my phone to her, she scrolled down and read other text messages sent to me…She’s mad at this fortune teller because Flor had warned Luy about the downfall of JLN Corp. )
Apparently, Napoles fumed at Flor’s message because she thought Luy had been transacting his own pork barrel scam with Flor behind her back.
It was at that point when Napoles ordered Luy’s illegal detention for three months. Luy was rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on March 2013.
“She was suspecting I had transactions. Then she started cursing me… Akala niya sarili kong transactions kaya na-lessened ang kanyang PDAF… ‘P*tang ina, p*tang ina! Ikaw na kamag-anak ko ikaw pa nag-traydor sa akin! Ikulong na yan!'” Luy quoted Napoles, her second cousin, as saying.
Luy admitted that he had a transaction behind Napoles’ back with Pauline Labayen, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s deputy chief of staff who remained at large after being included in the plunder charges.
Luy said the transaction involved a P35 million project in 2012 when Luy was promised a two percent kickback in the amount of P700,000.
“To be honest, gusto ko kumita kay Pauline. Gusto ko malaman paano si Pauline kumikita. Nag-offer si Pauline ng percentage which is two percent (To be honest, I’d like to earn through Pauline’s terms. Pauline offered me 2 percent),” Luy said.
Luy said he received only a portion or P150,000 before Napoles had ordered him detained over suspicions of starting his own scam.
The witness said he served as the bridge between Labayen and another witness Merlina Suñas so that Labayen could use Napoles’ foundation–People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation (POPDFI)–to open a bank account for the project. Suñas was the president of POPDFI.
Luy said it was Labayen who opened the bank account that contained the P35 million funds for the project.
Luy refused to divulge the names of three lawmakers involved because he has yet to be granted immunity from the alleged transaction.
Luy, Napoles’ entrusted finance officer, turned his back against his employer after the NBI rescued him from detention by Napoles over suspicions that he was starting his own scam.
Napoles is serving life sentence after a court convicted her for detaining Luy for three months.
The hearings on the pork barrel scam have resulted in the detention for plunder of Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile, as well as former representatives Rizalina Seachon Lanete and Edgar Valdez. AU