Former President Benigno Aquino III —EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Council of Philippine Affairs secretary-general Pastor Boy Saycon on Friday alleged that former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III received up to P90 million in campaign funds from Janet Lim-Napoles.
In an interview with Radyo Inquirer, he said Aquino received the P90 million from Napoles, the accused mastermind of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, when he ran for the presidency in 2010.
Saycon on Wednesday turned over to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II evidence of corruption involving what he called “very high” officials from the “past administration.”
READ: Aguirre gets docs on ‘corrupt’ activities in Pagcor, flawed SOCEs
Saycon said that there was nothing wrong with accepting campaign contributions, but he pointed out that Aquino did not declare the funds in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditure (Soce) submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Hindi nila dineclare (Soce)… that is against the law,” he said.
Saycon said that Aquino and Napoles knew each other long before he ran for President since the latter was an important contributor.
“Kaya nga sinundo siya (Napoles) sa Heritage Park, pagkatapos naglunch pa sila sa Malacañang, pagkatapos hinatid pa siya sa Crame ng Presidente… pwede naman ‘yung guwardiya niya… bakit siya, personal, di ba?” he said.
READ: WHAT WENT BEFORE: Janet Lim-Napoles and PDAF scam
He added that there are 11 lawmakers who also received campaign contributions from Napoles, based on the documents he gathered from 2010 to 2016.
Saycon said he had long been in possession of the documents but decided not to give them to Senator Leila de Lima when she was still the justice secretary, because it would just have landed on the tables of Aquino and his party mates, allegedly among the beneficiaries of corruption.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, whom Duterte administration allies accuse of being a part of a destabilization plot against President Rodrigo Duterte, is among those who received contributions but did not declare them in his Soce, Saycon said.
READ: Lacson: Trillanes part of ouster plot vs Duterte
Saycon refused to give more details, saying Aguirre already has the documents, and that the justice secretary was studying them. RAM