BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – President Benigno Aquino III confirmed that businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, who reportedly earned multibillion-peso kickbacks from pork barrel transactions, sent him a letter last year.
Aquino said he immediately forwarded the “self-serving” two-page letter dated April 17, 2013 to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
De Lima’s department is in charge of the alleged pork barrel scam investigation.
The President denied having any “pork” transactions with Napoles because he was under the opposition during his stint in the Senate.
He was not close to Napoles, added Aquino after he keynoted the Asia-Europe Meeting Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management at the Diamond Hotel here.
“Ang interes nya (Napoles) allegedly ‘yung pagse-secure ng PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund). ‘Nung nag-opposition ako wala akong PDAF. So wala siyang interes na maging close sa akin dahil wala siyang mapapala sa akin,” Aquino further said.
In Napoles’ letter, Aquino said, the businesswoman denied her involvement in the so-called “pork” misuses scandal.
She said she and her brother, Reynald Lim, were “decent, law-abiding citizens” and “not kidnappers…and criminals,” Aquino added.
Napoles said they have been in the business for nearly 30 years “because of the trust and integrity attached to our good name.”
Napoles also alleged that Benhur Luy’s former legal counsel, Atty. Levito Baligod and retired Gen. Rodulfo Diaz tried to extort money from her.
Four months after she wrote the President, Napoles surrendered to Aquino in Malacañang. She was accused in the alleged serious detention of her cousin Luy./PN
