Romulo: No dealings with Napoles

MANILA, Philippines - Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said yesterday he has “absolutely no dealings” with alleged pork barrel scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles despite her having stood as one of the sponsors at his wedding last year. 

“I take pride in the way my congressional office has cleanly endorsed all my Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations in favor of legitimate projects and programs in my district,” Romulo said.

“Everybody is also free to check the Department of Budget and Management website, and see for themselves all the particulars of my PDAF allotments. My office has also never been mentioned in any adverse audit report,” Romulo said.

Romulo was responding to a front-page photo published in The Philippine STAR yesterday. It was a file photo of Romulo and Shalani Soledad, together with their 22 wedding sponsors that included Janet Lim-Napoles, more than a year ago.

While they were still dating, through entertainment industry social circles, Shalani was introduced to Napoles. The relationship with her was only social, nothing more.

Romulo made it clear that at no time has he endorsed any NGO for the use of his PDAF allocation. As such, the congressman emphasized that no PDAF money has gone to any of the NGOs identified with Napoles through his office.

Romulo stressed that focus should be on the real issue of abuse and misuse of the PDAF by alleged public officials through fake NGOs and ghost projects.

And as the public clamor and demand, Romulo said that the guilty should be exposed and judged accordingly.