Bong's lawyer: Senate body violated Napoles' right

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. expressed concern Friday that the Senate may have committed a brazen violation of Janet Napoles’ constitutional right to presumption of innocence when some senators already indicated her suupposed guilt in the alleged pork barrel scam.

“The sad thing is that the investigation was a brazen violation of Janet Napoles’ constitutional right to presumption of innocence as most of the senators already condemned her guilty without benefit of trial,” said Joel Bodegon, legal counsel of Revilla, who is one of the three senators facing plunder over the pork barrel scam.

Bodegon also took exception to the violation of Napoles’ constitutional right to counsel of her choice.

“The appointment of the PAO lawyers as her counsel when Janet Napoles wanted to have counsel of her preference cannot be countenanced under the Constitution,” Bodegon added.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III opted to assign lawyers from the Public Attorneys Office after Napoles requested a rescheduling of the hearing last Thursday due to lack of a lawyer.

Bodegon added that Revilla is “happy” with the way Napoles reiterated that she was not privy to the scheme to siphon millions of pork barrel funds of some lawmakers as alleged by the whistleblowers led by Napoles’ second cousin, Benhur Luy.

He said that it shows Napoles really did not have any transaction with Revilla pertaining the latter's use of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which is now the basis of a plunder complaint filed againstthe lawmaker before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The lawyer also pinned the blame on Luy and his cohorts for conniving to form the fake non-government organizations.

Bodegon also noted how Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago forced Napoles to invoke her right against self-incrimination when she was answering the questions.

“Then, too, Senator Santiago’s calling the lawmakers charged by the DOJ, as murderers should not have been allowed by the Blue Ribbon committee and stricken from the records,” Bodegon added.

Bodegon was referring to Santiago's statements that the senators being implicated in the scam may order Napoles' assassination.

During the hearing, Santiago advised Napoles to tell all what she knows about the scam and warned her that she be ordered killed by the senators tagged in the controversy.

“It is not that we are defending Janet Lim Napoles, rather we are defending the Constitution and the regime of law. We should always be vigilant that we should ensure that the Rule of Law us upheld under any and all circumstances,” Bodegon said.

The topnotch lawyer, who was part of the defense team of former chief justice Renato Corona, said there is not attempt to denigrate or look down on the PAO lawyers who assisted Napoles in last Thursday’s hearing at the Senate.

“In fact, we salute them for doing such a good work in the face of tremendous pressure,” he added.