Image courtesy of www.philstar.com
Source: www.philstar.com
Most of the senators denied the accusations.
After the hubbub caused by the emergence of several lists of lawmakers linked to the scam, Napoles – though her lawyer Bruce Rivera – submitted yesterday the “expanded” affidavit to the Department of Justice containing the names of more lawmakers who had allegedly connived with her in embezzling their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Rivera personally handed the affidavit to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in a closed-door meeting in the afternoon.
A copy of the affidavit was immediately submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in compliance with a subpoena earlier issued by the panel.
“I am not the most guilty,” Napoles said in Filipino in her 32-page affidavit.
She said she got to know the people in the pork barrel scam through some agents, pointing to them as the ones who had peddled PDAF projects of the affected lawmakers.
“I learned from Cong. Butch Abad that NGOs and cooperatives were needed to negotiate with agencies,” she said.
She said that it was in 2000 when she was introduced by a certain Manuel Jarmin to Abad, then still a congressman of Batanes.
Napoles claimed that Abad told her about a P10-million project and showed her a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) and explained what it was for.
After their meeting, Napoles claimed that she handed P2 million to Abad and that when the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) was released, another P2 million was allegedly turned over to the then congressman.
She claimed that Abad asked her if she had a non-government organization (NGO) and because she had none, “he told me he would take care of it.”
Napoles said that Abad used the Batanes Electric Cooperative to implement the project.
“After some time, he returned the P4 million I gave him with an added P2 million more. That is when I started to transact using the PDAF,” Napoles said.
DA role
Napoles also linked Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to the scam. She said the Department of Agriculture is one of those in the “shopping list” of the Department of Budget and Management to which lawmakers may allocate their PDAF.
Other DA officials Napoles linked to the scam were Ofelia Agawin, Alan Umali and Kimmy Patocabe.
In her expanded affidavit, Napoles said she wanted to take the opportunity to correct the wrong system still prevailing under the “Tuwid na Daan” of the Aquino administration.
Napoles also identified Ruth ‘Allen’ Ruste as the person who helped her late trusted staffer Niel Tan in getting the deals with the House of Representatives, while Catherine Mae “Maya” Santos was her contact for transactions with the DA and the Senate.
Ruste was a staff of former Rep. Maria Clara Lobregat. Ruste had also worked as chief of staff of Rep. Enrico Fabian and is now working for incumbent Rep. Lilia Macrohon Nuno.
Santos was staff member of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she was still a senator until she became vice president and then president.
Santos was with the Office of the President before she was appointed as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the DA.
Napoles maintained that all her PDAF transactions were delivered and implemented since these were double-checked by the inspection teams of the implementing agencies and then verified by the lawmakers and their coordinators.
Napoles also identified former presidential social secretary Ruby Tuason as the point person in her distribution of campaign funds for some senators. These deals had no delivery receipts, she added. It was only later that she learned that the funds – which reports said had reached as much as P900 million – came from the so-called Malampaya Fund. This was contained in her May 12, 2014 affidavit.
In her expanded affidavit, Napoles tagged Senators Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano and former senator Manuel Villar in the misuse of the Malampaya Fund for election purposes.
Napoles painted herself as a victim of the anomalous system in the allocation of pork barrel, which had been called different names – from Countrywide Development Fund in the 1990s to PDAF beginning in 2000.
Transparency
Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III received copies of Napoles’ initial affidavit and “extended” affidavit. Despite De Lima’s written request that he hold off the release of the latest affidavit, Guingona told reporters he had to release copies of the documents to the media in the spirit of transparency.
“Let the documents speak for themselves,” he said.
Napoles said that in revealing the truth she was aware that she would be stepping on toes.
She said she expects people in high places to get mad at her.
“The possibility that they will get back at me and my family and friends really worries me,” she said.
“I am a mother and a wife foremost. I just wanted to make a living for my family. Thus, as a mother, I am appealing for the exclusion of my children James Christopher Napoles and Jo Christine Napoles in the above-mentioned complaints. My children had no knowledge, participation and involvement whatsoever in the subject cases,” Napoles said in her affidavit.
“I realized that indeed I should tell the whole truth. By telling the truth, which the people have been clamoring and I have been wanting to do for a long time, I intend to help my country and work towards minimizing, if not totally eradicating corruption, so as not to put to waste these revelations,” Napoles said in her affidavit, which she signed last May 12.
Rivera earlier declined to give details of the affidavit, but Napoles’ other lawyer – Stephen David – told reporters earlier yesterday that the affidavit listed 18 senators with questionable dealings with the detained businesswoman.
David represented Napoles during the hearing yesterday on her motion for an extended stay at the Ospital ng Makati (Osmak) at the Makati regional trial court. He also said that more than a hundred congressmen and agents were tagged in her affidavit as having profited unduly from pork-funded projects.
He also stressed that her wish to turn state witness is not the reason for her spilling the beans on the lawmakers.
“Nobody wants to go to jail, that’s why she really wants to turn state witness. But it’s not the main reason why she’s talking now. As I said, this is a contract between her and her creator,” he said.
Rivera said Napoles, in her expanded affidavit, “is not justifying what she has done.” He said that while her affidavit indicates that she is not the least guilty, it also shows that she is “not the most guilty.”
He declined to share more details, citing the confidentiality rule under the witness protection program to which Napoles is applying.
But he confirmed the inclusion of more senators and congressmen whose names were not in the initial affidavit submitted to the DOJ last May 13.
He said the new affidavit – purportedly the final one – explains in greater detail the operations of Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations from 2000 to 2009. An earlier special audit conducted by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the pork barrel scam covered only the period of 2007 to 2008 and implicated Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile.
“We have supporting documents against each one of those named. We cannot be implicating people if we don’t have proofs,” he stressed, adding that the affidavit has narrative on the specific participation of lawmakers linked to the anomaly.
Rivera said that apart from special allotment release orders readily available from the DBM, Napoles also has in her possession other documents to back up her sworn statement.
“We will submit them whenever we will be asked to do so,” he said, reiterating her client’s wish to be taken in as state witness.
He also confirmed that the detained businesswoman had a “mother-to-mother” talk with De Lima during which the businesswoman asked that her children be spared from the controversy.
De Lima submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee last May 15 an initial list from Napoles, but sought more time to submit a complete affidavit.
She asked the panel to withhold the release of the so-called “Napolist” until the completion of the final list and affidavit.
But soon after, committee chair Guingona made the list public.
The 10 incumbent senators in the first list were: Revilla, Estrada, Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Alan Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Escudero and JV Ejercito.
But the camp of Napoles would later clarify that Ejercito was wrongly included due to “encoding error.” The senator was not included in the new affidavit, Rivera confirmed.
Former senator Villar and the late former senator Robert Barbers were also in the list on which Napoles had affixed her signature and two thumb marks.
Former Batanes congressman and now Budget Secretary Abad, as well as Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head Joel Villanueva, were also included.
The list has the names of 69 incumbent and former congressmen as well as those of alleged conduits for implementing agencies like the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, National Livelihood Development Corp., Technology Resource Center and National Agribusiness Corp.
The STAR on May 13 published an alleged list from Napoles that included 11 incumbent and former senators: Enrile, Estrada, Revilla, Sotto, Legarda, Pimentel, Villar, Cayetano, Honasan, Escudero and Barbers.
Dapat blocklisted na sila sa next election. Kahit mag barangay kagawad pa sila
ReplyDeleteMga makakalaban ni Roxas sa 2016. Sossss, ang hirap ng paniwalaan netong babaeng to.
DeleteKung lalawakan Lang ng mga mamamayan ang kanilang kaisipan maiisip nila na sa tulong ng block voting ng I naluklok ang mga ito! Pumupunta pa talaga mga Ito para magbigay pugay tuwing eleksyon! And ang kapalit ang impluwensya ng religious group! Makikilala nyo ang isa sa nagpapatakbo ng gobyerno talaga natin! Hawak nila ang customs! Wag kayong mag focus lang sa katiting na ito lawakan nyo ang pananaw nyo at magiging matalino kayo!
DeleteAnd i thought Secretary Abad was clean.. So much for tuwid na daan..
DeleteNene pimentel and rodolfo biazon :( smh
ReplyDeleteNakakagalit pala lalo pag confirmed na. Noon naniniwala ka naman at galit ka pero pag sure na sure na nakakapag ngitngit
ReplyDeleteKamukha din pala ni kris ang tita tessie nya
ReplyDeleteSabi na nga si sotto copy kasali din.
ReplyDeleteI don' t believe na yang mga yan lang ang sangkot
ReplyDeletebakit may mga pangalan na hindi na kasama sa listahan ngayon na nababanggit noon? kaduda-duda!
ReplyDeleteKapag may bumoto pa sa mga yan sa susunod na eleksyon, sila na ang may problema
ReplyDeleteI think the Senate as a whole has lost its mandate, now that the list is sworn by Napoles. Those senators have lost their moral ascendancy.
ReplyDeletedapat lahat ng politician na nakareceive ng PDAF dapat ma impeach lahat para malaman kung saan ni ginamit yung pera, and that includes the president!! he was a senator before, right? which means he also received PDAF. he shouldn't be excluded just because he's the president.
ReplyDeleteone more thing, sino ba nagsimula ng PDAF? dba ang nanay ni Pnoy? everyone accused Marcos of being corrupt. sa tingin nyo ngayon sino ba mas corrupt?
Kakaduda na wala si Drilon. San nya kinuha pambili ng bahay sa North Forbes Park?
ReplyDeleteSalamat naman at wala ang kamaganakan ko.
ReplyDeleteomg sad ako kasi I like jaworski pa naman tas si sotto ugh ano kaya reaction ni bossing about sa kuya nya? yang mga revilla na yan mga walang kwenta lalo na yang lani na yan na super damot
ReplyDeleteThe usual suspects.
ReplyDeleteBakit nawala si Franklin Drilon???
ReplyDeletenever naman kasing lumabas sa list ni napoles c drilon...dun sya sa list ng whistleblower lumabas...intindihin din ang news pag may time ok...wag ung makikitsismis ka lang
Deletei hope this will be remembered by all Filipinos... it's really time for a CHANGE otherwise our country will be forever remembered as the most corrupt
ReplyDeleteHay naku... KOKO PIMENTEL. Buti pa si Migz Zubiri malinis!
ReplyDeletehaha...how do you know that he is clean?
DeleteKorek! Nakakahiya si Pimentel! Siguro kaya nya pinaglaban posisyon nya sa senado .
Deletemga p nyo!!!!
ReplyDeleteBkit di imbestigahan mga alipores ni Pnoy? Be fair panot. Kaduda-duda tlga govt na to.
ReplyDeleteThe investigation is not even finished yet.
Deletehahaha marcos whats new? ung mga sapatos ni imelda sana ibenta para idonate sa visayas sa mga nasalanta ng bagyo
ReplyDeleteAnong pakialam mo sa shoes ni Imelda? FYI mostly regalo mga yun sa kanya.
DeleteAnong pakialam mo sa shoes ni madam imelda eh mostly gifts sa knya. Its her choice kung ano gusto gawin. Gets mo?!
Deletehaha...gifts daw...wala kang alam.
DeleteSana Hindi nakakalimutan ng taong bayan na sa militar unang natutunan ni Napoles ang sistema sa tulong ng asawa nyang Mason sa si jimmy "so guilty pero Hindi kasama sa kaso" Napoles! Nakakatawang biktima sya dahil akala nya e legal ang ganung kalakaran e alam na nya yun sa military transactions plng nya! Mabigat Si jimmy at mga ka Masonic Nya! Pinaiikot Lang kayo ng mga Ito! Hanggat me Mason wlang mangyayare sa mga katiwalian! Tool and agent ni Satan ang Mason!
ReplyDeleteHuwow biglang andaming naalala ni napoles ngayon ha dati my amnesia girl ang peg. Pero alugin mo pa ng konti ulit ulo mo at ng madagdagan yan di ako naniniwalang yan lang asan na si Drilon!
ReplyDeleteso yung mga ibang nagsasalita against Napoles and nagdidiin kela Enrile, Revilla and Estrada, mga kasama din pala sa liatahan. OMG!
ReplyDeleteWhere's Abad, Drilon, and other Aquino people?
ReplyDeleteDa hoo ang mga religious groups n nagendorso jan? May ganung kult system kasi ang pinas. Kaloka lang
ReplyDeletemy gosh!! ang kakapal nmn ng mga to!! nakakainit ng ulo!!! Inday ilabas ang car!!! gusto kong magshopping for relief my stess!!!
ReplyDeleteBb. Lupita Ishiwahara
nawala ata si cayetano?! napakaipokrita talaga nito ni legarda! kaya kahit kelan di ko ibinoto yan! plastikada! environmentalist kuno! eh sa zambales nga kala mo pyramid na mga bundok sa pagkakakalbo! magtatani kuno ng puno para lang photo op! at san kaya kinukuha ni legarda kwarta nyasa sweldo lang ng senador eh keliit liit! dapat i check talaga ng COA ang life style ni legarda!
ReplyDeletetong term ni pnoy puro pagblame sa iba yun nangyayari. pag gawa ng ikasisira sa mga kalaban ng kaalyado nya. obvious namang this is to give way para sa 2016. eh paano kung lumabas yung totoo na si Napoles ang nagpondo kay Pnoy nun election.
ReplyDeletehaha...ano daw?
DeleteHwag na umasa ma blocklist ang mga nabanggit after or if ever man makulong. Kasi right after at pag nakawala ulit come election time tatakbo pa rin. Only in the Philippines lng naman nabgyayari na ang ex-con eh nananalo pa rin sa eleksyon. Truth hurts, aminin na lng natin na Engot pa rin karamihan sa mga mambobotong Pinoy.
ReplyDeleteKaya naman sobrang pinaglaban ni koko pagkasenador nya. Talk about dirt!
ReplyDeleteNo prominent names from Aquino allies? Hmmm.
ReplyDeletesabihin na lang kasi lahat sila involved.
ReplyDeleteNakakaloka... bat nawala si Cayetano,drilon at Lacson?????wat the heck...
ReplyDeletehoy gising, nawawala ka yata sa sarili. Cayetano was only given campaign fund (not his PDAF), Drilon is not included since the beginning, Lacson never accept his PDAF.
Deleteikaw ang gumising May 29, 2014 at 2:19 PM... ksama sya dun sa 3 list na binigay and now biglang nawala?pati nga si singsong wala e... gawa sa perlas ang bahay,,,, masyado ka kasing nagbubulagbulagan sa katotohanan... kitang kita na nga na nagungurakot sa harap mu patay malisya ka ap din kasi idol mu ung sangkot... magsama kau ng idol mung si cayetano
DeleteKaloka bat wala si Drilon? Paano ko paniniwalaan si Napoles eh mukhang umayon siya sa purging ng listshan niya.
ReplyDeleteDApat alisin na ang senado at congress kasi nagpapayaman lang mga iyan at binubulsa ang tax natin
ReplyDeletehay ginugulo lang ang listahan. bottom line pagkakatiwalaan ba si napoles agad agad??? napakaiksi naman nang memorya nang mga Pinoy. kahapon lang pigil na pigil kumanta yan eh. sa tingin ko idaan na lang sa masusing imbistigasyon. Kahit naman nasa listahan yang mga lintik na politiko na yan unless may naguugnay at may matibay na ebidensya bale wala din yan.
ReplyDeleteeh di effective ngayon ang ginagawa nang kampo nang mga satanas. diba naguguluhan kayo ngayon sa dami nang iba't ibang listahan na yan. To be sure, basehan natin eh yung mga ebidensya.
ReplyDeleteAno ito? Listahan ba ito ng mga iboboto ko next year??? In two weeks nakalimutan na ito. Next national scandal please.
ReplyDeleteGrabe naman. kanda kuba ang mamamayan sa pagbayad ng tax. vat. poor infrastructure. calamity. limited education resources. public health at marami pang iba. Nakaka tulog pa kaya tong mga to. Social injustice and mass plundering at its best!
ReplyDelete"misuse of the Malampaya Fund" misuse how?
ReplyDeletenapoles is a crook! she's just trying to please the masses with this!
ReplyDeleteHuwag tayong magpaloko kay Napoles
ReplyDeleteKawawa naman ang Pilipinas, nagpapaloko kay Napoles.
ReplyDelete