Witness bares names of other lawmakers in alleged ‘pork’ scam

By ELIZABETH MARCELO, GMA News

Published March 13, 2015 12:04pm

(Updated 7:51 p.m.) A witness in the alleged pork barrel fund scam on Friday bared the names of three other senators and several lawmakers in the House of Representatives who supposedly had allocated their "pork barrel" funds to bogus foundations owned by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

At the continuation of the hearing of Napoles' petition for bail before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, the prosecution's witness Merlina Suñas told the court that Senators Loren Legarda, Bongbong Marcos and Vicente "Tito" Sotto III also allocated their Priority Development Assistance Fund to foundations supposedly owned by Napoles, the alleged brains of the P10-billion anomaly.

Suñas, a former employee of Napoles' JLN Corp. said a certain Maya Santos used to be the agent of the three senators.

"Pumupunta po si Maya Santos sa opisina ng JLN Corporation para i-submit ang mga SARO (Special Allotment Release Order), endorsement letter at iba pang dokumento galing sa opisina po nila Senators Legarda, Marcos at Sotto," Suñas said.

Suñas said Napoles used to personally turn over to her these documents from the three senators to have it compiled in separate respective folders.

"Ginawan ko po nga separate folder bawat senator and other lawmakers," Suñas said.

Aside from Legarda, Marcos and Sotto, Suñas also enumerated the names of some former and incumbent members of House of Representatives who also "had transactions" with Napoles.

Among the names mentioned were Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Abante Mindanao Rep. Maximo Rodriguez, and certain Representatives Umali, Ortega, Cagas, Fuentebella, Estrella, Biazon and Olaño.

Suñas also mentioned “the younger and the older Biazons”, which may refer to former Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon and his father, incumbent Muntinlupa City Rep. Rodolfo Biazon.

Suñas, said five former lawmakers, namely former Masbate Representative and incumbent Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, former Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa, former Cagayan De Oro Rep. Constantino Jaraula, former Agusan Del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza and former Association of Philippine Electric Cooperative (APEC) party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez, also allocated their PDAF to the Napoles-linked NGOs.

The Office of the Ombudsman last month formally filed before the Sandiganbayan multiple charges against Lanete, Dangwa, Jaraula, Plaza and Valdez in connection with their alleged involvement in the pork scam.

The justices of the Third Division, however, raised concerns over Suñas’ testimony.

Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang specifically questioned Suñas’ non-inclusion of the names she has mentioned in her four sworn affidavits submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Suñas instead focused only on the alleged involvement of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada in the pork scam.

“Bakit hindi mo ito isinama sa iyong affidavit? Why you only mentioned Senators Enrile, Revilla and Estrada (in your affidavit)?,” Tang asked.

Suñas replied that when she was about to execute her affidavits, she was “advised” by the investigators that the scope of their investigation would just be the period of 2007 to 2009.

“So, itong tatlong senators lang ba na ito ang may transaction with Napoles from 2007 to 2009? Bakit sakanila lang kayo nag focus?,” Associate Justice Samuel Martires asked.

“Kasi sila po yung matatagal nang kliyente ni Madam Janet Napoles. Hindi sila nawawalan ng PDAF-funding kay Napoles,” Suñas replied.

Enrile is currently under hospital arrest at the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital while Revilla and Estrada are detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, meanwhile, commented on the political affiliation of some of the lawmakers that Suñas was implicating to the scam.

“What you enumerated seemed to be not from the Liberal Party. You have sharp memory on non-members of LP. You mean to say that the members of LP are all saints and the non-members of LP are the sinners?” Quiroz said.

“Hindi ko po alam, your honor,” Suñas said.

Quiroz then asked Suñas to reveal everything that she knows about the scam, especially other personalities that she remember to have had transactions with Napoles.

“You are a state witness, one way or another, you have a certain degree of participation in the alleged commission of the crime. So please do not limit your knowledge,” Quiros said.

Suñas answered that the personalities she just enumerated were the ones she can remember as of the moment.

“There are still other, but sila lang po ang narerecall ko sa ngayon, kung mabigyan po ako ng time pa ay baka maalala ko pa po yung iba,” Suñas

During her earlier testimony with the Third Division, another whistleblower, Marina Sula, had likewise implicated Marcos and Legarda in the pork scam.

Marcos and Legarda have repeatedly denied the allegations. — LBG/JDS, GMA News

Tags: porkbarrelscam, janetnapoles, bantaykaban