Senate receives signed ‘Napolist’

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee yesterday the list signed by Janet Lim-Napoles containing the names of over 80 lawmakers allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam.

To end speculation on the names, committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III and vice chairman Sen. Sergio Osmeña III released the so-called “Napolist” after a closed-door conference with De Lima in Guingona’s office yesterday afternoon. The meeting lasted for about an hour.

It was the same list Napoles signed and handed to De Lima on April 22 at the Ospital ng Makati before the businesswoman underwent surgery to remove a cyst in her ovary. Napoles also affixed two thumb marks on the document.

On the list are Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Manny Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Francis Escudero and the late Robert Barbers.

Former Batanes congressman and now Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, as well as Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head Joel Villanueva, were also included in the list.

The list also included the names of 69 incumbent and former congressmen as well as those of alleged conduits for the implementing agencies like the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, National Livelihood Development Corp., Technology Resource Center and National Agribusiness Corp.

Osmeña said De Lima took a photo of Napoles’ list since there was no available photocopy machine at the time she met with Napoles overnight at the hospital.

Osmeña said De Lima had sought an extension to present the list so as to allow the justice department more time to finalize the details of Napoles’ testimony on the pork barrel scam.

But as far as Osmeña is concerned, Napoles’ signed list has no evidentiary value unless corroborated by her own testimony and backed up by evidence.

“This is just a signed list,” Osmeña said.

De Lima brought documents about two inches thick, reportedly containing statements from Napoles, but nothing has been finalized.

“She has to support her claims. I guess she would come up or look for those documents. But it cannot be that she just produced the list of names, otherwise this (paper) will not hold in court,” Osmeña said.

“This is not evidence in itself, that cannot hang anybody. Unless the person who signed it says, ‘I have personal knowledge’ but it has to be corroborated with documentary evidence,” Osmeña said.

Napoles has not yet signed her affidavits, supposedly in the custody of De Lima, since the statements are not yet complete, Osmeña said.

Except for additional handwritten names of possibly congressmen such as “Renato Unico,” “Julie,”  “Zalcita,” Ricky Sandoval, Gullas, Emano, Cong. Angara-APO, Ceila Cuasay, a certain Maite, and Butch, Napoles’ list was similar to what was published in The STAR last Monday.

The list was practically the same as the one submitted by presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery Panfilo Lacson, now in the custody of the Blue Ribbon committee, except for additional handwritten annotations by Napoles.

Guingona said De Lima asked for another week to submit documents on Napoles’ revelations.

The first batch of documents is expected to contain Napoles’ narrative of events.

Guingona said Napoles and her lawyers are still working on her affidavits.

“The second document is the list that has been signed by Janet Lim-Napoles, she asked for one week extension for both. As to the affidavits, we agreed to give her one more week, but I did not agree to the list, I said it should be submitted today as stated in the subpoena,” Guingona said.

“I will not comment on the list. The list will speak for itself,” Guingona added.

He presented to the media the signed Napoles list in a briefing after De Lima’s visit.

“There are handwritings here and according to Sec. de Lima, these are personally written by Janet Lim-Napoles,” Guingona said.

Guingona said he and other members of the Blue Ribbon committee would first evaluate the two lists – from Napoles and Lacson – before deciding on the possible reopening of the pork barrel inquiry.

“It’s time that we put an end to all these speculations. So here is the first list that is personally signed by Ms. Janet Lim-Napoles,” Guingona said.

“We will have to evaluate everything. We will have to wait for the affidavits, for now we have the signed list,” the senator added.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, in a statement, maintained that all his PDAF allocation from 2004, when he was still congressman, up to 2013 were all allocated to local government units, schools and hospitals in his district in Aurora.

“In light of the list released by the Blue Ribbon Committee which included my name (if it was indeed referring to me), here is my reply: All my PDAF from 2004 to 2013 were allocated to LGUs, schools and hospitals within my congressional district in Aurora,” Angara said.

“For transparency, I have released all my PDAF records to the media. In my three terms as congressman, I have never allocated any of my PDAF to any NGO. Records will bare me out,” he added.

Meanwhile, De Lima yesterday denied a report that Napoles had implicated only three senators and five former congressmen in her tell-all affidavit on the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

She said she was surprised by the banner story of The STAR yesterday, especially since she had repeatedly clarified in an interview that what she received last Tuesday was the signed and duly executed affidavit of Napoles and that it was only initial.

“Who said that the list only has three senators? Nobody said that the list only contains three senators. I never said it. I don’t think Secretary (Edwin) Lacierda said it because the information from that affidavit came from me. Not even Secretary (Panfilo) Lacson will say that because the list is long,” she told reporters in an interview.

De Lima reiterated that Napoles would submit a more comprehensive, complete affidavit.

De Lima pointed out that the list signed by Napoles, which was given to her during their meeting last April 21 to 22, is different from the affidavit.

“I think there are really slants and distortions of information and facts. What was said in the interview is different from what comes out in the report,” she said.

The DOJ chief singled out the report in The STAR, which she referred to as a “major broadsheet,” although the same story came out in other newspapers.

In the report that quoted presidential spokesman Lacierda, it was disclosed that only three senators and five former congressmen were included in the affidavit signed by Napoles and submitted to De Lima.

Those reportedly named by Napoles were Enrile, Revilla and Estrada; and Representatives Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza, Samuel Dangwa, Constantino Jaraula, Edgar Valdez and now Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete.

Lacierda said Napoles’ unsigned affidavit, which was submitted by Lacson to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, is “a mere scrap of paper.”

Earlier, Lacson publicly confirmed some names included in the list given to him by the family of Napoles.

He bared that Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Escudero, Alan Cayetano and Honasan, and Abad are in the list.

Lacson also revealed in an interview yesterday that there were 21 former and incumbent senators, 90 congressmen and two Cabinet members implicated in the multibillion-peso scam and the Malampaya Fund anomaly, based on the list of Napoles and that of whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

The STAR also published yesterday an alleged list from Napoles that included 11 incumbent and former senators: Enrile, Estrada, Revilla, Sotto, Legarda, Pimentel, Villar, Cayetano, Honasan, Escudero and Barbers. – With Edu Punay