Lacson told: Name senators, show documents

MANILA, Philippines — No less than the leader of the Senate is urging former Panfilo Lacson to name the other senators that Janet Lim-Napoles allegedly implicated in the pork barrel scam.

"If the list [of senators and other officials] is supported and substantiated by credible documentary evidence, please, go ahead [name names]," Senate President Franklin Drilon said in a televised press briefing on Thursday afternoon at the Senate.

Lacson, now the rehabilitation czar, had said that before Napoles met with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Monday night, the family of the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind had reached out to him.

He said Napoles' family handed over documents including a draft affidavit which supposedly linked more than 100 government officials from the present and previous administrations to the embezzlement of lawmakers' Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

According to reports, the list included at least 10 other senators, congressmen and other government officials even from the executive department. Napoles also purportedly listed down the supposed kickbacks received by the officials or their representatives from the diversion of the PDAF to her fake non-government organizations (NGO).

But Drilon said the new allegations should be supported by compelling documentary evidence. He said under the rules of court, when the subject of inquiry is the content of a document, the best evidence is the document itself.

"No other evidence is better than the document because documents do not lie. Kaya po kung anuman ang sinasabing mga listahan ay dapat na may suporta ng ebidensya lalo na ng documentary evidence," Drilon said.

The Senate leader, a known ally of President Aquino, reiterated that the search for justice "should be blind to political colors."

He, however, also expressed confidence that he will not be among the new officials who might be linked to the scam.

"Insofar as I am concerned, my name is not and will never be in any list because I have not assigned a single peso of my PDAF to any NGO of Mrs. Janet Napoles," Drilon said.

He said the only NGO that he has been working with for the past several years is the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which has built schools over the country.

Drilon also warned the public against those who seek to muddle the issue by spreading lies and baseless accusations.

"We must not allow mudslinging and smear campaigns dahil lalo lamang nagugulo ang proseso sa paghahanap ng katotohanan," he said. "These are the kinds of propaganda that will only ruin our quest to find out the truth."