Ombudsman investigator admits ‘pork’ probe was hinged on Benhur’s word

An investigator assigned to weed out the truth regarding the multibillion peso pork barrel scam on Thursday admitted that he took principal whistleblower Benhur Luy's word for matters regarding accounts of nongovernment organizations linked to trader Janet Lim-Napoles.

 

In open court, Justice Alex Quiroz of the Third Division questioned Atty. Ryan Medrano, Field Investigation Officer of the Office of the Ombudsman. Medrano was the witness presented by the prosecution panel for Napoles, the alleged pork scam mastermind.

 

"Did you follow up or investigate the bank accounts of the NGOs?" Quiroz asked, to which Medrano admitted he did not.

 

Quiroz then confirmed if, since he did not investigate bank documents, it means Medrano relied merely on Luy's word during the investigation, at a time when Luy was being considered for the witness protection program.

 

"So you hereby merely relied on the word of your intended state witness?" Quiroz asked. This time Medrano answered in the affirmative.

 

The justice prohibited Medrano from explaining his answers.

 

Quiroz also questioned if Medrano has the power to grant immunity to those he is investigating, to which Medrano said he can only recommend to the Ombudsman.

 

Meanwhile, Napoles' counsel Atty. Stephen David continued his cross examination of Medrano.

 

David asked Medrano to identify for the court the number of accused that he subpoenaed to sign an affidavit to concur with Luy's.

 

"How many individuals did you subpoena and threaten to charge with plunder if they did not sign the prepared affidavit?" David asked, to which the prosecution objected.

 

The court asked David to revise his tone of questioning and the lawyer relented.

 

However, in an interview after the hearing, David said he used the word “threaten” because it was what some of the accused told him.

 

"Pinatawag kasi nila 'yung ilan sa mga akusado at pinangakuan na tatanggalin sa kaso 'pag pinirmahan 'yung mga affidavit na ginawa nila. Naka-prepare na 'yung mga affidavit," David said.

 

When pressed for names, Napoles' lawyer said they were too many to recall, but noted that he remembered one Rodrigo Galay as an accused who claimed he was threatened by Medrano.

 

According to David, Galay said he could not stomach signing an affidavit which was full of lies, and that he'd take his chances with the case.

 

"'Hindi naman kayang magsinungaling. Haharapin na lang namin 'yung ikakaso nila,'” David quoted Galay as saying.

 

Galay, an incorporator of a Napoles NGO, is accused of graft in relation to the pork barrel scam. —KG, GMA News