LACSON TELLS NOISY SENATORS: “YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE…”

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez and Dexter San Pedro, InterAksyon.com

April 25, 2014 12:10 PM

MANILA, Philippines — Piqued by dares from lawmakers to bare the list of those who allegedly benefited from the pork barrel scam, rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson on Friday fired back, saying those who benefited from the massive embezzlement of the Priority Development Assistance Fund know who they are.

“All those who wonder if they were guilty of abusing their pork barrel funds must only ask themselves to get the most accurate answer to their question,” Lacson said when asked for his reaction to the calls to bare the list he said was prepared by Janet Lim-Napoles, who is accused of engineering the scam.

Lacson, a former senator who shunned his share of the PDAF, said he obtained the list from Napoles’ husband Jimmy at a meeting last month.

Jimmy Napoles, he said, wanted to seek his help to have his wife granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for divulging everything she knows about how as much as P10 billion of the PDAF was funneled off through bogus nongovernmental organizations with the help of lawmakers and other government officials who, in turn, received millions of pesos in kickbacks.

Lacson’s revelation came after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she and Napoles had met early this week with the businesswoman submitting a draft affidavit and promising to tell everything she knows about the scam.

Napoles was admitted to the Ospital ng Makati where she underwent surgery to remove her ovary and uterus because of a tumor.

Lacson also claimed to have been given a copy of Napoles’ draft affidavit, several cheques, and a thumb drive with the recording of a “revealing” phone conversation, by her husband.

While refusing to name anyone on the list, Lacson said some of the senators named by Napoles were among the noisiest in denouncing the pork barrel scam while at least one allegedly took bigger kickbacks than the three charged for plunder for their alleged participation in the scam.

Following Lacson’s disclosure, several senators dared him to end the guessing game and reveal the names on Napoles’ list.

He refused saying: “The best person to name names is the one who prepared that list.”

“Mrs. Napoles is available and accessible,” he pointed out. “She is also in the best position to substantiate with evidence the involvement of those in the list.”

He also denied Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s description of him as the “attack dog” of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the three senators so far accused.

The others are Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Lacson earlier said Napoles’ list contained enough names of senators who supposedly benefited from the scam to constitute a “quorum,” which means at least 13 members of the chamber.

Calling Santiago’s remarks incredible, Lacson said: “It is not sane to think that I will protect and cover up for Senator Enrile.”

“I have consistently advocated to abolish the pork barrel system as I believe it is the most hypocritical source of corruption among legislators,” he pointed out.

Santiago had claimed the existence of a “massive psywar (psychological warfare) operation” supposedly waged by what she called the “trinity of holy conspirators” –Enrile, Lacson and Enrile’s former chief of staff, lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes.

Meanwhile, a Liberal Party lawmaker said speculation pointing to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a party stalwart, as the main author of the pork barrel scam, was meant to divert the issue away from the “true perpetrators of the crime.”

“The public should be forewarned against these machinations. They will try every opportunity to bring to the doorsteps of Malacanang the issue of pork barrel just to gain political mileage,” Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone said.