Who’s out to discredit Drilon?

BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter

MANILA – If Iloilo City’s Sen. Franklin Drilon were to be believed, certain quarters are trying to implicate him in the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

“They are resorting to desperate publications just to link me to (suspected scam mastermind Janet) Napoles,” Drilon told Panay News.

Based on the “digital files” of whistleblower Benhur Luy, the senator is among the 15 incumbent senators who purportedly had deals with Napoles.

“This new round of accusation against me simply lacks logical explanation and has no basis. When will we see the end of this,” said the Ilonggo Senate president.

Other senators in the alleged Luy list are Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Lito Lapid, Cynthia Villar, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Ralph Recto and Alan Peter Cayetano.

Drilon said it is “impossible” for him, in 2005 as Commission on Appointments (CA) head, to receive P5 million under the CA-Department of Agriculture project because “I only met Napoles sometime in 2010 or 2011.”

Members of the Commission do not get pork barrel allocations, he added.

“Certainly, Mrs. Napoles was not occupying any government position which required CA confirmation,” Drilon added.

The senator reiterated that he never dealt with any of the fictitious non-governmental organizations (NGOs) managed by the so-called pork barrel scam mastermind.

He added that Luy, in his affidavit, even stated that the Ilonggo lawmaker refused to funnel a part of his pork barrel funds to Napoles’ NGOs when they approached him.

Drilon said the only organization he had allocated his “pork” funds with was the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“Details of my PDAF are available online and open for public scrutiny,” Drilon stressed.

Drilon also came to the defense of government officials and other persons on the list of Napoles.

The list, which was submitted by former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday, includes the names of 11 former and incumbent senators as well as 69 former and incumbent congressmen. It also contains the names of bureaucrats and “agents” allegedly involved in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

Drilon said it is unfair to have all these people’s names dragged into the whole controversy without sufficient evidence to back up the allegations.

He noted that the Napoles list submitted by Lacson merely enumerated names, and did not provide any details regarding the government officials’ alleged anomalous transactions with Napoles.

He said the list must be backed up by evidence, so that those implicated may also be able to defend themselves.

Drilon said it is now up to Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Teofisto “TG” Guingona III if he will again summon Napoles to shed light on the list her camp gave to Lacson as well as the two other pork scam lists handed to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Whistleblowers Association of the Philippines president Sandra Cam./PN