Jinggoy smells something fishy

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Jinggoy Estrada smells something fishy in the government’s plan to allow Janet Lim-Napoles to turn state witness in the pork barrel scam.

But Estrada said yesterday he is not worried about Napoles linking him and two other senators to the scam as long as she had not been coerced into doing so by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, with whom the businesswoman had a five-hour “tell-all” meeting Monday night.

“My only concern is that the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) may have forced her to mention our names,” Estrada told students and officials of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila during the school’s 46th commencement exercises yesterday.

He said he and Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr. were the “usual whipping boys” of the administration.

“If there is no influence, we do not have anything to worry about. But if there is an imposition to implicate the three, that’s something to worry about,” he added.

Estrada said he was surprised by reports of Napoles being eyed as state witness in the pork barrel case, considering that officials had earlier declared her not eligible to stand as one.

“There is something fishy here,” Estrada said.

Estrada, Enrile, Revilla and more than 30 others have been indicted on plunder and malversation charges in connection with the alleged misuse of some P10 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers. Napoles was alleged to have masterminded the scam.

Napoles is in detention at Fort Santo Domingo in Santa Rosa, Laguna for an unrelated offense of serious illegal detention filed by former employee and main whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

In his speech, Estrada maintained his innocence and stressed he has no intention of resigning as demanded by some quarters for his being linked to the anomaly.

“No, I will not resign. And just like my right to defend myself and to fight for what is right, and so I hope that you will not deny me this right,” Estrada said.

“The last time I checked, our Constitution still holds that an accused is innocent unless proven otherwise. But in our case, it seems that this is now the opposite. We are considered and condemned guilty unless proven otherwise,” he added.

He said he could not understand why prosecutors were focusing on him and his Senate colleagues when several other legislators had also endorsed their PDAF to non-government organizations.

“Is this selective justice where you focus on destroying those perceived as potential and viable candidates for election? Your guess is as good as mine,” Estrada said.

Lynch mob

He also described some members of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee – particularly its chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III – as belonging to a “lynch mob” out to destroy him and his two opposition colleagues.

“The chair of the Blue Ribbon committee, as I have said, had already prejudged the case even before the conclusion of the investigation. And when a report was made unilaterally by the chairman and released on April Fool’s Day, I was no longer surprised because the committee has transformed itself as part and parcel of a lynch mob,” Estrada said.

“It has become a hanging party which does not hear both sides and reeks of bias and partiality,” he added.

He lamented being “pilloried and lambasted in the media by biased reporting coming from those harboring hidden agenda.”

He said his attackers in the Senate should be given a refresher course on ethics, selective justice and the importance of conducting a fair investigation.

While he does not care about the political plans of his colleagues, he said it was unfair for them to carry these out at his and his colleagues’ expense.

“Do we have to be the whipping boy of their misguided ambitions?”

Desperation

For Revilla’s lawyer Joel Bodegon, it would be in a fit of desperation if Napoles would link the senator to the scam. Bodegon said Napoles may have received too much pressure from the government, especially from De Lima, that she had to fabricate lies.

In her appearance before the Senate earlier, Napoles had chosen to remain silent and vowed to speak only before the courts.

“If ever she gives statement to the contrary, that would mean that she was forced to do so at the sacrifice of the truth – what with all the cases filed against her and her family and whatever other pressures that have been brought to bear upon her,” Bodegon said.

“This gives credence to the saying, ‘Ang taong ginigipit kahit sa patalim kumakapit (A desperate person would grip even a blade),” the lawyer added.

Bodegon said that from Day 1, Revilla had always called on individuals linked to the scam, including Napoles, to tell the truth.

“He has embraced truth as his life’s guiding principle. He has urged early on Mrs. Janet Lim-Napoles to come out, tell the truth,” Bodegon said in a text message to reporters.

He said the senator himself had conducted his own investigation to get to the bottom of the so-called PDAF scam, and to unmask those responsible.

“As a result he has filed civil suit against those who confessed responsibility for the scam. He has filed a criminal counter-charge with the ombudsman against those he found liable for the plunder of the PDAF funds,” Bodegon added.

Bodegon was referring to the case filed by the senator’s camp against the whistle-blowers led by Luy for their allegedly having conspired with one another to dupe the government by faking signatures of the senator.

Bodegon also pointed out that Napoles had early on declared that she had no transactions with Revilla.

“She herself confirmed that he had no criminal involvement in the scam,” the lawyer noted.

Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon said that while he welcomed Napoles’ decision to bare everything she knows about the PDAF scam, he expressed hopes she would not be used for launching a smear campaign against him and other officials.

He was apparently referring to photos making the rounds in social media showing him with Napoles at a social event.

He said he was unaware of Napoles’ decision to apply to become state witness until De Lima made it public yesterday morning.

“That is guilt by photography,” Drilon said in jest. He has denied doing business with Napoles, saying their relationship was merely social in nature. - With Christina Mendez