Cunanan as witness? No way, says lawyer

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer for the second batch of whistle-blowers in the pork barrel scam yesterday questioned the inclusion of former Technology Resource Center (TRC) director general Dennis Cunanan in the list of state witnesses in the case.

“We do not welcome him as a witness in the case,” said lawyer Stephen Cascolan, counsel for whistle-blowers Marina Sula, Arlene Baltazar and Monette Briones.

On Thursday, lawyer Levito Baligod, legal counsel for the first batch of whistle-blowers, said Cunanan would testify against Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. by revealing the lawmaker’s participation in the scam.

Cunanan will also prove the authenticity of Revilla’s signatures on documents allowing the transfer of his pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the TRC, and eventually to dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) set up by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Cunanan’s decision came days after Ruby Tuason, former social secretary of former President Joseph Estrada, offered herself as state witness and linked Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to the scam.

Revilla, Enrile and Estrada are respondents in the plunder and malversation complaint – along with Cunanan – filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the PDAF scam.

Tuason is also a respondent in the case.

Bad precedent

According to Cascolan, accepting Cunanan as a witness in the case would only set a bad precedent because he was already charged with plunder for the pork barrel scam.

“We were made to understand that the evidence for the case was already strong. Admission of new witnesses would definitely cause unnecessary delay,” Cascolan said, adding in Filipino, “If all respondents were made witnesses, what would happen to the case?”

Cascolan said the job of the DOJ is to make the investigation sufficient enough to conclude that there is probable cause to file the case of plunder.

“As to the details of the case, that’s the job of the Ombudsman, not the DOJ,” he added.

Cunanan was charged with plunder for his agency’s involvement in the scam.

According to the whistle-blowers, the lawmakers used the TRC under Cunanan to divert their pork barrel funds to the dubious NGOs of Napoles, and eventually got millions in kickbacks. – Aie Balagtas See