Zamora to lawmakers in Luy’s list: File libel cases if you wish

Lawmakers named in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s report as among the government officials who benefited from the P10-billion pork barrel scam should file libel suits individually against the newspaper if they felt slighted by the article, House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora said Wednesday.

 

Zamora told reporters in a press briefing that it would be better for legislators who want to take legal action against the paper to do so individually rather than collectively through a class suit.

 

“Filing a class suit is never a good solution [in this case] kasi ang kailangan doon, pare-pareho kayo ng reklamo. But in this case, although may iba na wala talagang kinalaman sa anomalya, meron rin namang innocent 'yung congressman pero 'yung staff nila ang nagkasala. Wala 'yung common link na kailangan para sa isang class suit,” he said.

 

A report published by the Inquirer on Monday listed Zamora as among the 150 former and current lawmakers as among the government officials who transacted with alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles between 2002 to 2012. The source is whistleblower Benhur Luy, who worked for Napoles' JLN Corporation and kept records of transactions with lawmakers and other individuals.

 

Zamora, however, refuted allegations he had dealings with either Napoles or Luy, saying he has never met either of them.

 

Several lawmakers have also denied their involvement in the pork barrel scam.

 

One-sided story

 

The Inquirer’s report was based on the digital files found in Luy’s hard disk drive, which his family and former lawyer, Levito Baligod, gave the paper in April 2013.
 

After the Inquirer’s initial report on Luy’s files came out, the whistleblower’s new lawyer, Raymond Joseph Ian Bautista, said in news reports that his camp cannot authenticate what was on the hard disk drive.
 

Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano III, who was also implicated in the newspaper report, slammed the release of the article as one-sided because the article was published without verifying the authenticity of the hard drive’s contents.
 

“Wala man lang verification [pero] bigla na lang nilabas 'yung report. Hindi ba kung may listahan 'yung nagbigay ng pera, may listahan din 'yung tumanggap? Pero walang [maipakita]. Hindi na tama 'yung nangyayari na nagiging one-sided 'yung story,” he said.

 

Zamora urged the Ombudsman to expedite the filing of cases against the individuals involved in the anomaly so that the names of innocent lawmakers will not be dragged into the anomaly.

 

“The prosecution process should not only start but continue [towards filing of cases]. It’s either the guilty are put in jail or those who are not guilty are set free,” he said. —KG, GMA News