Revilla preparing counter-charge of plunder vs whistle-blowers–lawyer

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines –The camp of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. is preparing a counter-charge of plunder against Benhur Luy and other whistle-blowers as well as heads of implementing agencies allegedly involved in the P10 billion “pork barrel” scam, his lawyer said on Friday.

“We will file it directly at the Office of the Ombudsman once we complete the documents,” Revilla’s lawyer Joel Bodegon said over the phone.

“If there was plunder, it was not committed by Senator Revilla but by the whistle-blowers and heads of the implementing agencies,” he said.

“Where did the money go? Of course, it was they who got it,” he said.

Revilla’s camp maintained that his signatures and documents used to transact with non-government organizations (NGOs) linked to Janet Lim-Napoles had been forged as admitted by the whistleblowers themselves.

Asked if the senator would also include Napoles in the complaint, Bodegon said no since he said his client had no dealings with the alleged mastermind of the “pork” scam.

But Dennis Cunanan, head of the Techology Resource Center (TRC), will be included in the complaint after he claimed in a newspaper report this Friday that the lawmakers, including Revilla, had confirmed their signatures when they endorsed non-government organizations identified with Napoles, said the lawyer.

Cunanan added that he was once scolded by Revilla for the delay in the release of his PDAF to a designated NGO when he called the senator’s office.

Revilla’s lawyer strongly denied the allegation.

“TRC Director Dennis Cunanan is lying through his teeth,” Bodegon said in a separate statement, saying that Cunanan’s statement was “clearly an afterthought.”

“It is only natural for an accused to say anything just to get out of his problem.  In fact, everybody would understand that a person in his situation would sacrifice others to save his skin.  He will say anything and point a finger at anyone as long as there’s a promise that he can get out of his own case,” he said.

“And how could Senator Revilla follow-up a fake transaction based on fake documents?  He doesn’t even know that the TRC was working with these NGOs.  He doesn’t know this Dennis Cunanan, he has never met him and he has never talked to him.”

“This is a contrived testimony with the end in view of having himself absolved of the charges against him. He is following orders from people who have promised that the case against him won’t prosper,” the lawyer added.

By Cunanan’s declarations against Revilla, Bodegon said the TRC head confirmed he was part of the sydicate with Benhur Luy who stole the people’s money under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel”.

“Senator Revilla is including Cunanan in his counter-charge of plunder against the syndicate with the Office of the Ombudsman,” Bodegon added.

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