List naming Abad as ‘pork’ king inaccurate ­­– Janet

MANILA, Philippines - The reported list of lawmakers and officials supposedly tagged by Janet Lim-Napoles in her tell-all affidavit on the pork barrel scam was not accurate, her lawyer said yesterday.

Bruce Rivera confirmed to The STAR that there are personalities named in a report of another newspaper last Friday – and picked up by TV networks – who were not included in the actual list submitted by Napoles to the Department of Justice.

While there are names in the reported list allegedly from two sources mentioned in Napoles’ affidavit, Rivera stressed it was unfair to publish the names of several personalities who were not in the true list.

“That is a false list. They probably got it from sources intending to confuse the public and muddle up the entire case,” Rivera said.

Rivera, who is also a spokesman for Napoles, said their camp never gave the list to the media.

“They should have been circumspect in reporting that.

“It’s unfair because it would cast doubt on the actual list to be released by the DOJ once verification is completed. We’re very concerned about this,” he said.

Rivera also clarified the report was “too short to be true,” hinting the real one contains numerous names that he lost count.

Rivera however refused to mention some from the list or confirm if Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was included and named by his client as the real mastermind of the fund anomaly.

“We cannot confirm or talk about that yet. Let’s just wait,” he said.

Also in the list, according to the report, was Senate President Franklin Drilon who has just publicly denied any link to Napoles.

“We hope that everyone will just wait for the validation being done by the DOJ before the release of the list. We also want to make sure that we have evidence to support the statement of Mrs. Napoles,” Rivera said.

Rivera stressed Napoles is not the mastermind or architect of the pork barrel scam.

Therefore, he said, Napoles is qualified to become state witness in the plunder cases set to be filed in the Sandiganbayan.

He cited the Commission on Audit special report, which showed that only 10 of the 84 non-government organizations involved in alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund – official name of the pork barrel declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year – belonged to Napoles.

“How can she be the mastermind when her NGOs only formed part of the entire picture? Even the COA report showed that none of her NGO was the first to be involved in such operation. We’re very sure that she’s not the mastermind,” Rivera said.

As to the mounting calls for the DOJ to make public Napoles’ list, Rivera supported the position of De Lima to stay put.

“I hope they give us more time. If these lawmakers are confident that they are not involved and they will not be in the list, then there should be no reason for them to worry,” he said.

Rivera said Napoles is still recovering from her surgery last week. She has not been monitoring the developments in the media, he said.

Rivera added his client is also not yet ready to answer clarificatory questions from the DOJ as part of the verification process on her affidavit. Napoles is still suffering from stomach pains and was advised by the doctors not to talk for long hours.