Jinggoy, Bong Revilla camps on new ‘pork’ scam witness: We don’t know him

The camps of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. denied on Friday that the two lawmakers ever pressured new pork barrel scam witness Dennis Cunanan into releasing funds to foundations linked to detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

 

In a text message, Estrada said he never contacted Cunanan, former general manager of the Technology Resource Center (TRC), since he doesn't know the latter in the first place. 

 

"I do not know him [Cunanan]. I have never talked to him. Such a big liar!" Estrada said.

 

Lawyer Joel Bodegon, Revilla's lawyer, likewise said his client had never talked over the phone to Cunanan in the past.

 

"Hindi naman niya [Revilla] kilala iyan. Walang dahilan para tawagan niya," Bodegon said.

 

He added that Revilla, who is part of the legislative branch, "has no jurisdiction" over Cunanan, who used to head an executive agency.

 

Summon Cunanan

 

Earlier in the day, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Cunanan has agreed to serve as witness against the senators linked to the pork barrel scam, which was allegedly engineered by Napoles.

De Lima said Cunanan, in his affidavit, claimed that he even spoke with Revilla and Estrada over the phone, as well as their chiefs of staff including Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile's aide, Jessica "Gigi" Reyes.

 

Cunanan, Revilla, Enrile, Estrada, Napoles and Reyes are all facing plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, for her part, asked the Senate blue ribbon committee through a resolution to summon Cunanan to the panel's probe on the alleged pork barrel scam.

 

"He [Cunanan] can divulge information on the criminal involvement of certain public officials in the scam, and how the scam is perpetuated through the exploitation of loopholes in the disbursement of government funds," Santiago said in her resolution.

 

As of posting time, GMA News Online was still trying to contact Senate blue ribbon panel chairman Teofisto Guingona III on whether or not he will grant Santiago's request to summon Cunanan.

 

Guingona had said that the pork barrel scam probe is now "hanging" while his committee is still trying to verify the whereabouts of some witnesses. — RSJ, GMA News