Lawyer: Revilla confirmed his signatures, why deny now?

MANILA, Philippines - Dismissing Senator Ramon Revilla Jr.'s claim that 'pork barrel' scam whistle-blowers are professional forgers, lawyer Levito Baligod said the lawmaker himself confirmed the authenticity of his signatures years ago.

"Bakit inamin niya noon pero ngayon ay dini-deny niya. Dahil ba may kaso na ngayon?" Baligod, legal counsel of the whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy, said in an interview with radio dzMM on Tuesday morning.

The lawyer said that Revilla was asked by the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2011 to validate documents requesting for his Priority Development Assistance Funds to be released to fraudulent non-government organizations of businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

"Kalakip ng sulat ay napakaraming dokumento na nagpapakita ng pirma ni Senator Revilla at ang tanong ng COA, 'Pirma mo ba ang lahat ng ito at galing ba ang mga dokumentong ito sa iyong opisina?" Baligod recounted.

In his priority speech on Monday, Revilla called the whistleblowers a "political wrecking crew" and dubbed Luy "Boy Pirma." The senator also denied that he earlier confirmed his signatures affixed in the said documents.

"Di po ba't malinaw pa sa sikat ng araw na iba-iba 'yang mga pirma na iyan? Hindi ko po pirma ang mga dokumento na sinasabi ng mga ito na ebidensya laban sa akin," Revilla said.

Previous reports, however, noted that Revilla told COA in writing that the signatures are his.

Some documents forged

Baligod said that while Luy admits he knows how to forge signatures, the lead whistle-blower did not illegally copied lawmakers' stamp on all documents that channel government funds to ghost projects.

"Yung mga dokumento sa liquidation ay inaamin naman ni Benhur na inuutusan sila ni Ginang Napoles na pekein ang pirma. At sa pagkakataon na pirma ng legislator ang pinepeke nila, ay humihingi muna sila ng pahintulot ng legislator," Baligod said.

The legal counsel claimed that only the liquidation documents are forged while the solons' letters to the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate President as well as letters of request to the budget department are authentic.

Baligod also maintained that there is enough evidence pointing to the involvement of Revilla and other senators in embezzling billions of pesos.