'Ruby Tuason will return'

MANILA, Philippines — Ruby Tuason will return to the Philippines to pursue her application to become state witness in the pork barrel controversy, her legal counsel said Wednesday.

Lawyer Dennis Manalo said in an interview over Bombo Radyo that Tuason is busy with raising P40 million, the amount that she said she pocketed from businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles' pork barrel racket.

Manalo said that Tuason will not renege on her word to cooperate in the investigation, which has so far implicated three senators and several members of the House of Representatives.

Tuason had said that she would sell her house in Makati City's upscale Dasmariñas Village, which she said was her "only property."

According to her lawyer, potential buyers are offering less than what Tuason is asking for the property's fair market value. Manalo said Tuason acquired the house for P84 million.

Manalo, however, refused to to reveal when Tuason will fly back to the country. Tuason has been placed under the Witness Protection Program after she returned from the United States wishing to be a state witness.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada, among the main respondents in the plunder case connected to the scam, claimed that Tuason earned about P242 million from another Napoles-led scam funneling the Malampaya Funds.

Estrada also said that Tuason used the money to purchase her current home in Makati City as well as her properties in Ayala-Alabang and other posh villages.

Manalo denied Estrada's allegations and said that her client only possesses the mansion in Dasmariñas, which she purchased using her benefits from two insurance policies.

He explained that the Malampaya scheme occurred in 2009, but Tuason acquired the house a year earlier.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also refused to confirm whether Tuason left and where she would go, saying that the department ensures security for its witnesses.