By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — Sen. Loren Legarda denied her involvement in the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee the so-called “Napolist,” which contained the names of former and incumbent officials allegedly involved in the scam.
The list named senators Legarda, Ramon “Bong” Revillar Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara and Francis “Chiz” Escudero; former senator Manny Villar; and the late Senator Robert Barbers.
They allegedly channeled their pork barrel funds to fake nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) owned by businesswoman Janet Lim–Napoles.
“A list is a list is a list. There’s been a lot of lists [sic],” said Legarda, who was in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, on Thursday during the inauguration of country’s first large-scale solar power plant.
“Categorically, I have never endorsed any NGOs. I don’t know those NGOs,” she said.
Escudero downplayed the lists that had been circulating lately.
He instead challenged the alleged “pork barrel scam queen” to just “state her accusations against us.”
Escudero said he does not believe de Lima, rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, and whistleblowers Sandra Cam and Benhur Luy, have any list.
“It’s Napoles who has a list. It is Napoles who is accusing us, and if you believe Napoles, I can do nothing,” he stressed.
Angara, for his part, said his records will show that he never allocated his PDAF to any NGO.
The son of former senator Edgardo Angara said that between 2004 and 2013, while serving as congressman of Aurora, he allocated his public funds to “local government units, schools and hospitals.”
Pimentel, who admitted to having met Napoles, earlier branded Napoles’ list as “bogus.”
“There were attempts by Napoles to befriend me. I acted civil toward her but said, ‘No,’ when PDAF matters were raised,” the senator from Mindanao said.
He also stressed that he never endorsed any PDAF projects for implementation by an NGO.
Former senator Villar, husband of incumbent Sen. Cynthia Villar, called the allegation against him “very unfair” and “totally baseless.”
“It seems like a new list is being drawn every day. I, too, hope for the truth to come out, which the taxpaying public justly deserves,” he said./PN
