Pork Barrel Scam Probe TRC CHIEF TURNS STATE WITNESS; LINKS REVILLA, ESTRADA, ENRILE ANEW

The online news portal of TV5

(UPDATED – 11:30 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines – Senators accused of plundering their own pork barrel allocations on Friday downplayed the Department of Justice’s decision to accept former Technology Resource Center (TRC) director general Dennis Cunanan as provisional state witness.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. also denied Cunanan’s allegations that they had endorsed and handpicked the non-government organizations allegedly controlled by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to implement the projects under the TRC that were bankrolled by the lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Estrada said he didn’t know Cunanan and he never talked to him on the phone. He also said that he had never dealt with government agencies implementing projects funded through his PDAF.

Also, Estrada said it was “unethical” for lawmakers to follow up with implementing agencies through phone calls the projects funded through their pork barrel allocations.

In his 36-page sworn statement submitted to the Ombudsman’s office on Friday, Cunanan said he had talked on the phone with Estrada, Revilla, and the chiefs of staff of the senators including Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, whose former boss is Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, to verify with them if the signatures on the letters they had sent to the TRC endorsing Napoles NGOs belonged to the lawmakers.

Estrada said the DOJ’s strategy against him, Revilla, and Enrile was to “kill us softly” by producing witnesses such as Cunanan.

He questioned the timing of the DOJ’s decision to make Cunanan a witness. The senator said that since last year, the former TRC chief had been expressing his intention to be placed under the government’s witness protection program but the DOJ decided on Cunanan’s application to become state witness only now after the alleged pork barrel scam became a hot issue again.

Estrada also said that the DOJ’s acceptance of Cunanan’s application as state witness only proved that the charges against him were weak as the department needed to produce additional witnesses to bolster its charges against the senator.

Meanwhile, Revilla’s counsel, Joel Bodegon, on Friday said the DOJ’s acceptance of Cunanan as provisional state witness was a “desperate” act as the former TRC chief’s testimony was nothing but lies.

“This is actually not new. It has almost been six months since Cunanan has been peddling these lies, and he was not admitted into the WPP (Witness Protection Program) until now. What went on in those months? Ang dami nang p’wedeng napag-usapan at napagkasunduan [Many things could have already been talked about and agreed upon] ”said Bodegon.

“This is a clear indication that what we are seeing is a contrived testimony,” he added.

Bodegon said Cunanan was among the “most guilty” of those accused in the corruption of public funds.

“From the facts of the case, it appears that he (Cunanan) is one of the most guilty, along with Benhur Luy, in defrauding the government. He is part of the syndicate that sourced, handled, and pocketed the funds,” Bodegon said.

Revilla earlier filed plunder charges against Cunanan, Luy, and other whistle-blowers and government offcials who allagedly conspired in falsifying the senator’s signature in PDAF-related documents.

Meanwhile, Revilla camp said it was preparing a disbarment case against Levito Baligod, the counsel of the pork scam whistle-blowers led by Luy, for allegedly “violating lawyers’ ethical standards.” -with reports from Ernie Reyes.