Drilon says pork charges mere ‘black propaganda, revenge’

Senate Minority Franklin Drilon on Monday said any attempt to link him to the alleged misuse of pork barrel funds is mere “black propaganda” and “revenge” of the administration against members of the opposition bloc.

“I have said this many times before and I will say it again: I vehemently deny any insinuation by the Secretary of Justice that I was involved in any wrongdoing regarding the Priority Development Assistance Fund,” Drilon said in a statement.

“Any allegation that I misused public funds or that I coursed it through Napoles or any bogus non-government organization at any point is a blatant lie,” he said.

Drilon said he will await the copy of the supposed affidavit of alleged pork scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles, who supposedly tagged him, along with Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima, and former Budget secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad, in the PDAF scam, according to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Drilon said Aguirre’s insinuations are “outright black propaganda and political harassment intended to silence the members of the opposition.”

Drilon, a stalwart of the Liberal Party (LP), is the head of the six-member Senate minority bloc, to which both Trillanes and De Lima belong to.

“The intention is obvious from the personalities being linked. Sinu-sino ba ang target ng administrasyon...If this is not revenge, I don’t know what it is,” he said.

In a television interview on Monday, Aguirre said Napoles' lawyer Stephen David told him about the detained businesswoman's plan to press charges "in a few days" against other personalities who allegedly benefited from the corruption scam.

"Ang mga nabanggit niyang personalities noong nakaraang administrasyon ay sina Secretary Abad, parang kasama rin si Senator Trillanes, Senator De Lima at [former] Senate President Drilon," Aguirre said. —ALG, GMA News