Palace: Ombudsman should probe Napoles’ claim against Drilon

The Office of the Ombudsman should look into the claim of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles that she gave at least P5 million to Senator Franklin Drilon’s campaign kitty in 2010, Malacañang said Tuesday.

“The Constitution in providing for accountability of public officers is the legal basis for the relevant government agency to conduct an investigation. I would hope that the Ombudsman on its own will conduct its probe and I think the [Department of Justice] also on its own should conduct its own probe, based on the statement,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a briefing in Malacañang.

Roque believes that Napoles, as the “central figure” in the multi-billion scam, will have evidence to substantiate her claim.

“Obviously Janet Lim-Napoles is the central figure in this scam, let her speak, and I’m sure in addition to what she has to say, she would have physical evidence to back up whatever it is that she alleges,” he said.

He said the DOJ can submit its findings on its own probe to the Ombudsman.

On Monday, Roque also said that it is about time to investigate the Liberal Party members implicated by Napoles in the pork barrel scam. But during the briefing, he said that the Duterte administration wants the "whole truth" about the scam to come out.

Drilon tagged Napoles’ claim as "fake news."

"We deny having received any campaign contribution from Napoles. We have submitted our Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE), w/c are open for public scrutiny. We will not further comment on such obviously fake news intended to harass the opposition,” he said.

In an interview with state-run People’s Television, Napoles insisted that she is close friends with Drilon.

“Ang hirap na buhay talaga. Kapag nakakulong ka, nakakalimutan ka ng tao,” she added.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Office of the Ombudsman for comment, but it has yet to respond as of posting time. —ALG, GMA News