MANILA, Philippines - Pork barrel scam witness Benhur Luy was allegedly ordered detained by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles for having secret deals with a project coordinator of Senators Loren Legarda and Ferdinand “Bongbong†Marcos, a former employee of the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind revealed in court on Wednesday.
Taking the witness stand as the prosecution panel’s third witness in the continuing hearing of Napoles’ bail petition before the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150, Merlina Pablo Sunas told the court that she was present at an afternoon meeting presided by Napoles at her office at suite 2502 of the Discovery Suites condominium at the Ortigas Center.
Sunas claims to be one of the people employed by Napoles’ JLN Corp. to prepare the documents needed by the businesswoman in her dealings with senators and representatives.
Sunas told the court that she was present in a meeting at Napoles’ office on December 19, 2012. Also at that meeting was Napoles, Luy, Napoles’ nephew John Lim and Evelyn de Leon, another JLN Corp. employee.
Sunas recounted that in that meeting, Napoles asked Luy to call someone. When Luy answered that he could not reach the person, Napoles allegedly grabbed his iPhone 4 and then scrolled through his text messages.
It was at this point that Napoles allegedly got angry when she came across a text message allegedly sent to Luy by “Ma’am Maya.†“Ma’am Maya†was later identified by Sunas as Maya Santos, whom she said was a project coordinator of Legarda and Marcos and was a frequent visitor at Napoles’ office.
“Maya Santos is a frequent visitor to the office of Napoles, especially if they have projects,†Sunas told the court.
She said Napoles ordered Luy detained immediately after reading the text message.
Sunas said Luy was then taken to the suite 2501, which was adjacent to their office, where he was guarded by the businesswoman's bodyguard identified as Napoleon Sibayan.
Sunas told the court that she was not able to read the text message sent allegedly by Santos.
After Luy was taken to the adjacent suite, Sunas said Napoles ordered that Luy’s bag, a steel filing cabinet and wallet be taken to her office.
Sunas said that Napoles, her brohter, Reynald Lim and nephew inspected Luy's belongings and steel filing cabinet and confiscated two car keys and P40,000 cash in P1,000 bills from the wallet.
She said Napoles ordered he cash deposited in the bank account of the JLN Corp. Sunas added that Napoles also ordered another employee, Marina Sula to call Metrobank and inquire how much cash was Luy keeping in his savings deposit.
Luy's bank account
Sunas said Napoles found out that Luy was keeping P800,000 in his bank account. The amount, was also ordered transferred to JLN’s account by Napoles, said Sunas. According to Sunas, she heard Napoles said “ikulong na yan†(jail him), which she said was in reference to Luy.
According to Sunas, Luy was still inside unit 2501 when she left Napoles’ office at about 8 pm on December 19, 2012. She said that that was the last time when she saw Luy, until they met at the office of the National Bureau of Investigation last April 2, the date when she executed her sworn affidavit.
Luy was "rescued" from the custody of Napoles last March 22.
Sunas said that it was Luy who asked her to serve as witness in the case of serious illegal detention case that he would file against Napoles and her brother, Reynald.
In that conversation, Sunas said Luy told him that he was detained since she last saw him at the Discovery Suites on December 19.
“I was asked by him (Luy) if I could testify since I knew what happened on December 19, 2012,†Sunas said.
Meanwhile, Napoles’ lawyer Lorna Kapunan tried to demolish Sunas’ credibility saying that the witness did not have an official employee-employer relationship with her client.
Sunas, however, argued that she was an employee of JLN for 12 years and was given a company identification card, pay slips and even health insurance coverage.
Kapunan also told the court that Sunas mentioned a different name of the man that allegedly guarded Luy. She said that in the affidavit, Sunas named the man as Napoleon Sebastian, but she wrongly said in cout that the man's surname was Sibayan.
Sunas said she did not lie in her affidavit and was referring to the same man.
“It is the same person madam,†Sunas told Kapunan. “Si Nap Sebastian at si Nap Sibayan ay iisang tao. Siya ang kakilala ko."
Meanwhile, the prosecution panel told presiding Judge Elmo Alameda that they would be presenting next on the stand witnesses Mary Arlene Baltazar and Luy’s sister, Anabelle Luy-Reario, when the bail petition hearing resumes on October 7 at 2 pm.