Miriam: Enrile out to taint Palace allies

SENATOR Miriam Defensor Santiago on Friday tagged Senator Juan Ponce Enrile as the “brain and financier” of a plot to tag presidential allies such as Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senator Francis Escudero as the most guilty in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

Santiago said the operation started with Friday’s publication in a local daily (not the Manila Standard) of an article which quoted unnamed sources as saying Abad was the tutor of the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Santiago branded the story as a “mere concoction of the fevered brain of the 90-year-old Enrile.”

She said part of Enrile’s diversionary tactics were statements from his allies Napoles and former senator and now rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson, whom she described as an “attack dog.”

Napoles, who had denied her role in the scam before a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing earlier, was no longer a credible witness, Santiago said.

Both Napoles and Lacson have a list of implicated persons that include the names of enemies of Enrile, such as Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano.

Santiago said her own name might also be on the list.

She said the best way to deal with the story was to laugh at it.

“It’s amusing and it may even be creative, but it is a waste of time. To foil the conspirators, let us simply go back to the basic principle that if a crime has been committed, there must be a punishment. Those who are charged with plunder should undergo trial. If convicted, they should go to jail for 30 years. That is the law, and no fairy tale should serve to distract us from this basic point,” said Santiago, a bitter enemy of Enrile.

She also hit the use of unnamed sources and the lack of references to any official documents in the story, saying such a thing would not be allowed in court.

“Enrile is clutching at straws because if the Ombudsman denies his motion for reconsideration, then the Ombudsman will file the case with the Sandiganbayan [anti-graft] court,” said Santiago.

“Ultimately, if the case is filed, the Sandiganbayan will suspend Enrile from office and hold him in detention, because plunder is non-bailable,” she said.

In an interview after a speech before the Philippine Association of Pathologists at Sofitel Hotel, Santiago said the “tall tale spun by a small opposition newspaper” is the first in a scheduled barrage of stories against the Aquino administration.

She said the story intends to destabilize Metro Manila, and to divert national attention away from the plunder charges against Enrile and two other opposition senators, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

On Wednesday, Santaigo warned of a vast psywar operation carried out by what she called the “trinity of unholy conspirators” composed of Enrile, his former chief of staff Jessica “Gigi” Reyes and Lacson.

Abad, on the other hand, denied “tutoring” Napoles in designing he PDAF scam.

“These fresh allegations that I tutored Janet Lim Napoles in designing the PDAF scam are simply not true,” Abad said in a statement.  “I’ve been called several names since I began serving in this administration, but ‘Pork King’is certainly the most ridiculous.

“It would in fact be funny if it weren’t such a blatant lie,” he added.

The report claimed Abad had a code name—“Straight”—because his kickbacks went directly to him and were deposited to a Singapore bank.

“These are all speculations at the moment, though, and until I receive a copy of Ms. Napoles’ affidavit, I cannot comment properly on the matter. Suffice it to say that I have never dealt with Janet Lim Napoles, much less acted as a mentor in executing her alleged schemes,” he said.

“Meanwhile, there’s a lot of work to be done. We in the Department of Budget and Management and the Aquino administration will continue to fight for a government free of corruption, even if our transparency and accountability reforms run counter to the interests of some,” Abad added.

Alcala also denied any involvement in the pork barrel scam and challenged his accusers to file charges.

“It is hard to be accused specially when you are not given the chance to explain your side,” Alcala said,

Alcala denied that he was summoned to Malacañang after De Lima announced that Napoles had given her a list of lawmakers and officials involved in the pork barrel scam.

“I was at  Malacañang for a meeting on the arrival of President [Barack] Obama. There are agricultural concerns there, so I was there,’’ Alcala said in a television interview.

“The President and I did not talk about the Napoles testimony. I discussed with him the Department of Agriculture’s own preparations in terms of agenda topics for the upcoming visit of US President Barrack Obama,” Alcala said.

“We did not discuss [the pork barrel issue]. He did not even ask me about it,” he said.

Drilon, for his part, reiterated his earlier remark that he never allocated his PDAF to any bogus non-government organizations put up by Napoles.

When asked to comment on the report, Drilon’s media relations officer Jeeno Arellano said they will no longer issue a statement because the Senate president had already done so in a media briefing on Thursday.

“We came ahead over the black operations,” Arellano added.

In the media briefing, Drilon told Senate reporters he is confident his name is not in the Napoles list “because I have not assigned a single peso of my PDAF to any NGO of Mrs Janet Napoles.’

He noted that the only NGO that he has been working with for the past several years is the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce, which builds schools around the country at half the cost of government contractors.

“We have built over 1,600 classrooms. I can account for ever peso of my pork barrel. That is why I am very confident and strong in my statement that I am not in any list and I have not utilized my PDAF with NGOs which are charged to be fake. I can account for every single of the funds that were allocated to me,” assured Drilon.

According to Drilon, he opted  to speak up on the possibility that he might be tagged in the Napoles pork barrel scam after receiving many text messages that he was among the 19 senators whom Napoles implicated in the pork barrel scam.

“Well, I guess they are at it again. These are the black propaganda operators who were doing the same thing last year. They have been tapped to muddle the issue by spreading lies and baseless accusations” he said.

“Having said that, I reiterate my previous statement that the process of ferreting out the truth and delivering justice should be blind of any political color. Those who have plundered the nation’s coffers should be put to jail and their political affiliation, their pedigree, should never be a consideration,” he added.

For his part, Escudero said he can prove he had never allocated his PDAF to any Napoles NGO although he was alarmed that Napoles may lie and include his name because he had repeatedly said that Napoles should be transferred to a regular jail.

He expressed reservations on  the credibility of  Napoles,  saying her testimonies might contradict the earlier statements exposed by the whistle blowers.

“Should we believe all the statements of Napoles? What if her testimony won’t match with the whistleblowers?” he asked.

He admitted being wary in Napoles’ change of heart, as she vowed to tell-all against those involved in the scam.

He warned the DOJ on accepting Napoles’ claim at face value and reminded them to review her testimony before making any recommendation to take her as state witness. With Joyce Pañares, Jennifer Ambanta and Anna Leah Estrada

Miriam: Enrile out to taint Palace allies